A Scene of Public Grief: Bringing the Boys Home After Stones River

A few weeks after the Battle of Stones River, a trio of gentlemen from Salem, Ohio traveled to the battlefield to retrieve the bodies of some of their townsmen who died during the battle. In an extraordinary account from the editor of the Salem Republican, he described the sad scene that marked the arrival of the bodies at the town hall.

 “The rough boxes containing the dead were placed side by side on the platform of the hall and were opened as speedily as possible,” he stated. “The first box opened contained the body of Captain Bean; the next was Hale’s, and so on until all were opened. Among the few men present was an aged father whose son lay in a rude coffin before him. How eagerly he gazed at his boy and said, “That’s my son!” and left the room.”

“Few of us present on this occasion ever saw such a sight as was here presented. There lay the bodies of four young men in the pride and glory of manhood, three of whom has been buried on the battlefield just as they fell and presented a ghastly appearance which we do not feel like describing. Captain Bean had been buried in a coffin and did not look so bad,” he wrote.

          The article goes on to describe the nature of the wounds suffered by each man and explained how the community both honored and grieved for its dead heroes the next day. Special thanks to friend of the blog Ken Bandy who shared this remarkable source from his personal collection of 65th Ohio accounts.

 

Broadway in downtown Salem, Ohio

Messrs. Hudson, West, and Wilson, who left this place on Monday after the Battle of Murfreesboro for the purpose of procuring the bodies of Captain Urwin Bean [Co. E, 19th Ohio], Thomas T. Hale [ Co. B, 65th Ohio], Robert D. Wilson [Co. D, 19th Ohio], Joseph Bull [Co. B, 65th Ohio] , Abner J. Crampton [Co. B, 65th Ohio], and Benton Speakman [Co. B, 65th Ohio] returned on Tuesday evening of last week at 10 o’clock with the above bodies except Crampton’s which they were unable to procure.

Mr. West arrived at home on the Sunday morning previous, leaving the bodies in charge of Hudson and Wilson. Mr. West left the party at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, some 40 miles south of Louisville, the snow being so deep, some three feet, that the train was unable to proceed further. Mr. Hudson, seeing no chance of getting to Louisville by rail, hired a wagon and eight horses to take the bodies by the Lebanon Pike to Louisville, 46 miles through the snow. At Louisville, they came by boat to Cincinnati where they were again placed on board the cars and safely arrived as we stated above.

Although the night was a dismal one, quite a large number of our citizens were at the station to receive the bodies and have them conveyed to the town hall where they were to be dressed before delivering them to their friends. We could not, at this time, but notice the marked difference in the mission of those here congregated on this cold, stormy winter’s evening with those who had assembled over a year ago to bid the same young men, whose lifeless and lacerated bodies lay before them, the last farewell and a heavy Godspeed in the service of their bleeding country.

But tonight, how changed! The earth is robed in a white mantle and the cold winds of mid-winter are hurling the rain and snow on every hand, a fit emblem of the occasion. Back then, the beautiful autumn had showered her richest treasures upon us and our hearts were light. A sad change has come over that scene and we are walking amid the wreck of a bloody battle as the rude boxes before us attest. We hear not the cannon’s roar, nor the quick, sharp crack of the rifle, but here are the remains of a few of the brave men who participated in that death struggle and have given their lives for the country they loved.

Salem City Hall
Local History Collection, 
Salem Public Library

The bodies were conveyed to the hall with the exception of Wilson’s which was taken to New Albany where his mother resides. The rough boxes containing the dead were placed side by side on the platform of the hall and were opened as speedily as possible. The first box opened contained the body of Captain Bean; the next was Hale’s, and so on until all were opened. Among the few men present was an aged father whose son lay in a rude coffin before him. How eagerly he gazed at his boy and said, “That’s my son!” and left the room. Who can tell the agony of a fond parent for their child under such circumstances?

Few of us present on this occasion ever saw such a sight as was here presented. There lay the bodies of four young men in the pride and glory of manhood, three of whom has been buried on the battlefield just as they fell and presented a ghastly appearance which we do not feel like describing. Captain Bean had been buried in a coffin and did not look so bad.

As to the nature of the wounds, Captain Bean was shot in the breast, the ball passing through his right lung, causing almost instant death by suffocation. The hair on the left side of his head was clotted with blood but no signs of a ball mark could be found. The ball entered the right hip of Sergeant Hale, passed through him, and came out on the left side just below the hip bone. He was carried to the camp hospital nearby and did not die until the next morning.

Joseph Bull was killed by a piece of shell which exploded near to where he was standing and struck his right side, just below the ribs, and passed through him making a frightful wound. A piece of the same shell wounded Lieutenant R.S. Rook who was standing near him at the time. Benton Speakman was shot; the ball entered just in front of his left shoulder and passed through his chest and bowels, coming out near the hip bone on the right side. He must have been leaning over, or stooping down, at the time. He was killed instantly.

The bodies, after being washed and dressed, were placed in their coffins and on Wednesday morning they were delivered to their friends. Captain Bean’s remains were encased in an iron burial case and remained in the hall during the forenoon and were visited by a large number of citizens. His body, in charge of his brother, was taken to Norristown, Pennsylvania for burial where his mother resides. Speakman was taken to the residence of Mrs. Maria Woodley near Lynchburg in this county where he lived before he enlisted.

Methodist Episcopal Church
Salem, Ohio
Local History Collection
Salem Public Library

The funeral services of Hale and Bull took place at the Methodist Episcopal Church on Broadway at 10 o’clock on Thursday the 22nd instant. The hour appointed for the meeting at the church was announced by the ringing of the town bell which was afterwards tolled during the services at the church. The principal stores and places of business were closed. The large audience chamber of the church was filled at an early hour by our citizens who evidenced by their presence that this sad occasion was not a private but a public grief.

The exercises commenced by singing an appropriate hymn followed by prayer by Reverend Stevens, and a sermon preached by Reverend C.H. Jackson from the 3rd chapter of 1st Corinthians, 22nd and 23rd verses, which read as follows, “Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, are all yours. And you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.”

We should like to have given a portion at least of the remarks made on this occasion but we are unable to do so. Suffice it to say that the sermon was one worthy in every respect of the time and place. At the close of Rev. Jackson’s remarks, Rev. Stevens narrated the following incidents relating to the death of these young men as told him by Mr. Hudson who learned the facts from their officers and companions in battle. After the recital of these incidents, a song was sung by the choir befitting the occasion. The congregation then formed in procession and took at last view of the departed heroes. They were both buried in the cemetery.  

Source:

“From the Battlefield,” Salem Republican (Ohio), January 28, 1863, pg. 2

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