Where’s Eli Munson Buried?

Recently while walking at Secor Metropark west of Toledo, my wife and I visited Wolfinger Cemetery which is inside the park boundaries. While walking through, we discovered a gravestone for Private Eliakim Munson of Co. F, 14^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Intriguingly, it stated that he was killed in action September 19, 1863, during the Battle of Chickamauga. The 14^th Ohio suffered 245 casualties out of 460 engaged during Chickamauga including 35 killed.

That said, it is unusual to find a gravestone in the North for a Federal soldier who was killed at Chickamauga. As the Army of the Cumberland was defeated during this fight, the dead were (by and large) left behind on the battlefield. So, was this stone a cenotaph erected by his family, or was Private Munson actually buried in Wolfinger Cemetery?

Gravestone of Private Eliakim Munson of Co. F, 14th Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Wolfinger Cemetery in northwestern Lucas Co., Ohio

Before answering that, let’s dig a little more into what happened at Chickamauga on September 19, 1863. At the time of the engagement, Munson’s company commander was Captain John A. Chase. Munson wasn’t the only member of Co. F who was killed at Chickamauga on the 19^th of September: Corporal Cornelius O’Callahan, Privates Adelbert (Albert) Knapp and William B. Kitchell were also killed while Morgan Dings died of wounds. Archibold Nicholson was captured and died in Danville prison on Christmas Eve, 1863.

So, what happened to the 14^th Ohio on September 19, 1863? Lieutenant Colonel Henry D. Kingsbury reported the following:

The morning of the 19^th, before any firing was commenced, after moving in line, my command occupied the right of the second line, in rear of the 10^th Indiana, consisting of 18 commissioned officers and 442 enlisted men. In this position we advanced 500 yards when we were ordered to the extreme right of the front line, where skirmishers were thrown out covering our front.

A heavy force of infantry were seen approaching our extreme right, and the 74^th Indiana were formed upon our right to meet them. The enemy advanced with three columns of infantry, without skirmishers, and forced us to retire.

In the afternoon, when the advance was again made more to the right, our position was still on the extreme right.

In this position we were ordered to [move] forward until we came to an open field or the left of the line should halt. In this position we advanced about 200 yards, when the enemy's skirmishers were met and driven back. We then charged upon their line and drove them for over 200 yards, when our line met a superior force and, being outflanked, retired fighting.

We were then moved to the right, but without any more fighting. We lay in an open field near where the brigade was halted for breakfast till 6.30 p.m., when we were ordered to the rear for the night. Our loss during the day was 29 killed, 7 commissioned officers and 130 enlisted men wounded, and 31 reported missing.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry D. Kingsbury, 14th O.V.I. 

Years ago, I constructed a more detailed story of the 14^th Ohio on September 19, 1863, for inclusion in one of our regimental newsletters. Here’s a deeper dive on the story I just shared:

The morning haze hung heavily in the tangled woods near Jay’s Mill on the morning of September 19, 1863. After an all-night march, the weary 14^th Ohio was just settling down to the morning routine of brewing coffee and cooking breakfast went the order came to fall in. Cursing and grabbing their still steaming coffee boilers, the men formed into line, filed onto an overgrown farmer’s trace and marched off to the east, downing the needed stimulant while on the march.

“Although in a bad condition for fighting, still the boys were all willing to do their whole duty, and when the order came for the 14^th to take the advance, very man’s countenance seemed to beam with new hope and determination,” remembered Captain James A. Chase of Co. F. Forming into line just to the rear of the 10^th Indiana, the 14^th advanced slowly through the dense forest eerily reminiscent Adjutant Joseph B. Newton wrote of the “oak openings around Toledo.”

          “When within a few hundred yards of the enemy, a line of skirmishers was sent out-the regiments forming in line of battle- and advancing a short distance came in contact with a force of Rebel cavalry [10^th Confederate Cavalry] who advanced with the customary yell and whoop and attacked our skirmishers, but a volley of musketry from our lines emptied many Rebel saddles and sent back the balance to their lines,” Newton said. The badly outnumbered and outgunned, the surviving cavalrymen bolted from the field, in the process throwing two regiments of their brigade into confusion.

          Colonel John Croxton halted his brigade and the 14^th Ohio was pulled from the reserve and placed on the right of the 74^th Indiana. Companies A and F from the 14^th were sent forward as skirmishers. The advance resumed and soon came under a steady fire from the dismounted troopers of General H.B. Davidson’s brigade under the personal guidance of Nathan Bedford Forrest. The fighting was done more by feel than by sight, the thick forest and dense overgrowth preventing either side from getting a good look at their adversaries. Delivering several crisp volleys, the 14^th Ohio surged over a small ridge as Davidson’s men fell back to a higher ridge to the east where Forrest frantically worked to rally the brigade. Davidson’s troopers had lost nearly a third of their number.

Details from the 14th Ohio regimental monument located at the position they held on September 20, 1863. If you look closely, you can see "14th Ohio" called out on the national colors while the phrase "Rock of Chickamauga" lies in the background. 

But Forrest’s salvation soon arrived on the field in the form of a Colonel Claudius C. Wilson’s Georgia brigade. Approaching Croxton’s line (facing east) from the southeast, Wilson’s brigade opened a devastating flanking fire. Under this initial and unexpected blast, the 14^th Ohio’s color bearer was instantly shot down.  Wilson’s Georgians advanced a few paces and reloaded while First Sergeant Frank Brumhoffer of Company C raised the fallen colors. In their next volley, Brumhoffer instantly killed by a bullet through the forehead and the colors fell again. Flashes from hundreds of muzzles lit the morning air, the acrid smoke from thousands of discharging muskets already blanketing the woods in a ghostly plume.

Corporal Andrew B. Clements of Company D pulled the flag from Brumhoffer’s grasp as men fell all along the line. Wilson pressed his advantage and Croxton’s brigade started to retreat. With his ammunition nearly exhausted, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Kingsbury ordered a withdrawal in accordance with Croxton’s command and the 14^th retreated off to the west. In this harrowing retreat through the woods, Clements was hit. Private Jacob Lohr of Company D later remembered that Clements clung to the colors despite his wound and fell back with the regiment. As his strength failed, Clements said, “Let the Rebels take me but save the flag.” Corporal James Wells of Company D then grasped the now bullet-riddled and blood-spattered flag and safely drew it off the field. He was killed the next day.

After a difficult passage of the lines, the 14^th retired to the field where they had attempted to brew their coffee that morning. In a little over two hours of confused and savage fighting, the 14^th had lost 207 men. Nearly half the regiment had been lost in this, its first large-scale engagement.

14th Ohio position marker for their second position held between 10-11:30 a.m. on September 19, 1863

    So where is Private Munson buried? It appears to depend on what source you consult. Reviewing the state roster for the 14^th Ohio, Private Munson is listed as being killed at Chickamauga on September 19, 1863. The Roll of Honor in the back of Volume 2 repeats that fact with the additional information that he was buried at Chattanooga, Tennessee. This makes sense as most of the Federal dead from Chickamauga were moved from their battlefield graves to Chattanooga National Cemetery in the years after the war.

However, consulting the records of Chattanooga National Cemetery shows no soldier by that name buried in the cemetery. It is possible that he is buried at Chattanooga but lies in an unknown grave; this would also make sense and many of the Federal dead brought back from the Chickamauga battlefield laid on unmarked graves.

The state of Ohio also states via its Soldiers’ Grave Registration Cards that Private Munson is indeed buried at Wolfinger Cemetery in Lot 98, Block E, Grave No. 6. However, it notes that his date of burial as being September 19, 1863, a rank impossibility as Munson died 500 miles south of western Lucas County on that very day!

    I suspect that taking all this together, Private Munson most likely lies among the 4,981 unidentified or unknown graves at Chattanooga National Cemetery. A total of 1,798 of those unknowns were reinterred from the Chickamauga battlefield. The stone I visited today was most likely a cenotaph (an empty grave or tomb) erected by his loving family after his death. Such a stone provided a physical place for them to grieve and pay their respects. As I did this afternoon.