To his Comrades,
THE SURVIVORS OF THE REGULAR BRIGADE,
Army of the Cumberland,
IN REMEMBRANCE OF PAST DAYS,
AND TO PLACE ON RECORD A TRUE ACCOUNT
OF THE
PARTICIPATION OF THE BRIGADE
IN THE
BATTLE OF STONE RIVER.
July 1st, 1883.
When General Rosecrans took command of the Army of the Ohio there were inthat army five battalions of regular infantry in two different divisions;when he reorganized this army he determined to bring these battalionstogether, to give them a regular battery, and form of them a RegularBrigade. The 15th, 16th and 19th were already at Nashville; the ordersorganizing the brigade found the two battalions of the 18th near Gallatin,Tenn., as a part of General Stedman’s Brigade. On receipt of the orders,the 18th marched, on the 23d of December, 1862, from Pilot Knob toNashville, Tenn., arriving there on the 25th day of December, 1862, and,joining the other battalions and the battery, it completed the formationof the brigade, which, as then organized, consisted of:
The 1st Battalion of the 15th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, Gand H; commanded by Major John H. King.
The 1st Battalion of the 16th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, Gand H, 1st Battalion, and Company B, 2d Battalion; Major A. J.Slemmer commanding.
The 1st Battalion of the 18th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, Gand H, of the 1st, and A and D, of the 3d Battalion; Major J. N.Caldwell in command.
The 2d Battalion of the 18th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E and F,of the 2d, and B, C, E and F, of the 3d Battalion; commanded by MajorFrederick Townsend.
The 1st Battalion of the 19th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E andF; Major S. D. Carpenter commanding.
Battery H, 5th U. S. Artillery, commanded by 1st Lieutenant F. L.Guenther.
Lieutenant-Colonel O. L. Shepherd, 18th U. S. Infantry, the seniorofficer, was placed in command of the brigade.
When the Army of the Ohio—then become the Army of the Cumberland, or the14th Corps—advanced from Nashville, Tenn., toward its objective point,the enemy, the Regular Brigade broke camp on the 26th, encamping on theevening of that day on the Petersburg Turnpike; on the 27th it encampednear Nolansville, Tenn.; on the 28th, at night, it marched across thecountry to Stewart’s Creek, and on the 30th to a point on theMurfreesboro’ and Nashville Turnpike about four miles from Murfreesboro’,Tenn.
On the morning of the 31st of December the brigade left its bivouac at anearly hour and advanced on the Nashville Turnpike to a point a little lessthan three miles northwest of Murfreesboro’, and, with its division, wasposted in reserve. The division consisted of Scribner’s, John Beatty’s,Starkweather’s and the Regular Brigade, and was[Pg 3] commanded byMajor-General Lovell H. Rousseau. Starkweather’s Brigade had been left atJefferson’s Crossing on Stone River. The division was part of the centre,commanded by Major-General George H. Thomas. The formation in the bri