The National tribune., 1885-01-08
Stones River.

To THE EDITOR: In Comrade D. D. Roses
account of the battle Of Stones River he does
Gen. McCook and the right wing an in ustice,
and leaves the impression that, on the first in
dication of danger, they ran; which was not
the case. In the first place, he claims to have
been in Negley's Division. and on the right.
The position of the army was this: The right
OF Woods Division rested upon the Nashville
| Turnpike and his left on Stones River; Pal
mers left rested on the turnpike, joining
Woods right, his right joining Negley's left;
Negley's Division was obiiqued to the right,
joining Palmer; Rousseau's Division was stu-
ated on the turnpike. in the rear and center;
Sheridan's Division joining Negley's his right
| resting on the Wilkinson Turnpike; Davis to
the right of Sheridan. his left resting on the
same turnpike; johnson on the right of Davis;
Kinks Brigade facing in the general line east
ward Willich's Brigade in line nearly per-
pendicular to Kinks line, and facing due south,
near the Franklin Turnpike. and not west, as
ID. ID. Rose would have it. / was in the Sec
ond Brigade, Second Division Twentieth Corps,
which was commanded by E. n. Kirk, and was
on the extreme right and in the front line.
Comrade Rose states that long before day
light our pickets reported the sound of NOV
ing troops in cur front from left to right. Now,
] viii say, there was no report of that kind in
front of the Second Brigade. By 3 o'clock
in the morning OF the 3lst of December the
commanders were astir and vigilant Capt E.
L. Edsall and Lieut. A. t. Baldwin of Gen.
Kinks staff visited the line of outposts and
found everything quiet in front. At the same
hour Gen. Which ordered Lieut.-Col. Jones,
of the 39th Ind. to patrol the woods 600
yards in front of his pickets Co. executed
this perilous night mission but no indications
of the presence or purposes of the foe were dis
covered. At 5 o'clock in the morning the
Division (Johnson'sl was quietly called to arms
and thus awaited daylight Just as day
dawned, there being no indication OF the enemy
advancing, the order was issued to prepare
breakfast.
AT precisely % minutes past in the morn
ing. and not 10 minutes after the dawn of
day, brisk firing was heard upon the extreme
right of Gen. Kinks line. They moved in four
heavy columns, battalion front four battalions
deep, with strong reserve held in mass. 1t
was an overwhelming force. The advance COL
umn moved directly on the 34th ILL., Cen
Kirk ordered the 34th to advance to the sup
port of its skirmishers, with the hope OF check
ing the enemy The regiment nobly stood it's
ground, firing with great effectiveness, but suf-
fering terribly; but on they came, maddened
with gunpowder and whisky, and terribly in
earnest. The 29th and 30th Ind. and nth
Penn. also directed an oblique fire on the ad-
vancing column, but it moved on like an au-
tomaton, and scores of our men were killed and
wounded. / saw no one run and leave their
guns standing in the stack as Rose indicates
They all stood their ground until ordered to
fall back, but fired as they retreated. The loss
of the Second Division is the most eloquent
testimony to its bravery. It entered the battle
with only 6,676 officers and men, and lost 239
killed and 962 wounded. ing total of POI
This excludes 81 slightly wounded and many
wounded who were captured, that we have no
account of. V. PowNALL, 1st Serg't, Co. Z,
29tb Ind Fulton Ind