They Threw Grape at us No Way Slow: Opening Stones River with Co. F of the 77th Pennsylvania

Company F of the 77th Pennsylvania had the unfortunate honor of being on the picket line tasked with defending the Federal right in the opening moments of the Battle of Stones River. The company, on the far left of General Kirk’s picket line, scarcely had time to fire three volleys before the onrushing Arkansans of Colonel Evander McNair’s brigade forced them to retreat.

          After the battle, three enlisted men of Co. F wrote letters home to their families providing their perspectives on what they witnessed that morning. Included in their letters are accounts of McNair’s assault, the 77th Pennsylvania counterattack on Douglas’s Texas Battery, and even a rare sighting of General Richard W. Johnson who ordered the men of the 77th to “take a tree and die there or be taken prisoner.”

          As I read the following accounts, I can imagine myself sitting around a campfire in Murfreesboro in the days after the battle as these three enlisted men of Co. F describe what they experienced on the fateful morning of December 31, 1862…

 

The 77th Pennsylvania numbered 19 officers and 288 enlisted men at the outset of the battle. Armed with a mixture of Enfields, Dresden/Suhl rifles, French Liege rifles and a few M1861 Springfields for good measure, the Pennsylvanians fell back and pivoting of their left as they did so and fell into line with the neighboring regiment of Colonel P. Sidney Post's brigade. It was Post who ordered the 77th to charge upon Douglas' Texas Battery but failed to support their charge with the rest of the brigade. 

Corporal Curtis L. Seibert

          We moved up into a small strip of woods where we lay in line of battle all night. We did not sleep much as it was rather cold. We had one company on picket and early the next morning our company was ordered to relieve it. No sooner were we on post than we could see the Rebels form their line of battle. They were not long in forming it and soon advanced on us.

          Our first corporal and first sergeant and myself were on post together and as soon as the Rebels came within shooting distance our boys let them have it on the left of our lines and presently we commenced on the right, firing a few shots at them while the balls whistled around us like hail. We had to fall back into the woods for they were coming on us too strongly.

          Colonel Housum marched us up within 150 yards of the Rebel battery, not discovering it until we were there. I tell you, they threw grape at us no ways slow. We had to fall back. Our flag bearer was shot there and many of our boys had holes shot in their clothes. ~Corporal Curtis L. Seibert

 

Lieutenant Colonel Peter B. Housum, 77th Pennsylvania 


Corporal John W. Bowman

          On the morning of the 31st, our company was on picket duty. About daylight, we saw the Rebels coming across the country in four lines of battle. We waited till they came pretty close then poured in three volleys and fell back on the regiment. Then again we attacked them but it would not do and we had to fall back. They came too thick; they took our battery [Edgarton’s] before the horses were hitched.

          Our regiment then charged on a Rebel battery and when we got within 150 yards they opened on us with grape and canister, mowing down our men like grass. I got down in a fence corner and know I shot at least one. I took steady aim at one on horseback and he fell. The canister came so thick we got orders to fall back then they kept us going for about two miles.

          Our regiment was the first to make a stand. General [Richard W.] Johnson came riding up and said, “Men of the 77th, I know you have been tried. Every man take a tree and die there or be taken prisoner.” We could not stand there but fell back a little farther and then made a stand but shot all of ammunition away. After this we charged on the Rebels who broke back over the rocks like a flock of sheep. ~Corporal John W. Bowman

 

Brig. Gen. Richard W. Johnson

Private Edward Murray

          We lay all night on our arms. Part of our regiment was on picket and about daylight our company was sent out to relieve Co. A. We had not been on duty but a few minutes when they rushed upon us in countless numbers with a terrible volley of musketry. They completely cut off our regiment from the rest of the brigade. They took Captain Edgarton’s battery without firing a shot.

We were compelled to fall back from there; we were then formed again into another brigade [Post’s] when we were ordered to charge upon one of their batteries. We did so but they threw such volleys of grape and canister that it completely riddled us and we again had to fall back. We had retaken our battery [Edgarton’s] but could not hold it. I was within a few yards of it.  We then formed up with another brigade [Post’s] and moved out into an open field to support the battery [5th Wisconsin Battery] when the Rebels came up again in overwhelming force and drove us back again.

It was at this time that a ball struck Colonel [Peter] Housum in the side, passing through the left lung. I helped him out of the field into the woods. We then got a stretcher, placed him on it, and conveyed him through a storm of shell, grape, and whistling bullets to an ambulance and started off to the hospital. He took off his sword and gave it to me to keep. Whilst we were crossing a cotton field, the Rebel cavalry made a dash in on our left so we had to change direction to the right. The ambulance went so fast that I could not keep up and so lost sight of the colonel. I then could not find the regiment anymore and so at last found myself on the pike. ~ Private Edward Murray

 Lieutenant Colonel Peter B. Housum died the following day from the effects of his wound; at the time of his death, he was carrying a photograph of his wife Lucy and infantry daughter Cynthia on his person.

 To learn more about the Battle of Stones River, check out my Stones River Campaign page which includes links to more than 100 articles covering various units and aspects of the battle.

 


For a deeper dive into the campaign, please purchase a copy of my award-winning book Hell By the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign available through Savas Beatie.

Source:

Letters from Corporal John W. Bowman, Corporal Curtis L. Seibert, and Private Edward Murray, Co. F, 77th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Mercersburg Journal (Pennsylvania), January 30, 1863, pg. 2


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