The U.S. Regulars Monument at Stones River.
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Editor's Note: With the 19th U.S. Regulars re-enactment group visiting Stones River Battlefield this weekend, it seems appropriate to discuss the part the actual unit played during the battle.
Forgotten in most re-telling of the Civil War were those journeymen soldiers of the regular U.S. Army.
Ironically, they were often the best-equipped, best-trained and most elite troops on the field of battle with many of them having combat experience from the Mexican-American War or from serving on the Western frontier.
Among those forgotten troops were the elite fighters of the first battalion of the 19th United States Regular Infantry, who witnessed some of the heaviest fighting during the first day of the Battle of Stones River. During the Civil War, an infantry or cavalry battalion was an ad hoc grouping of companies from the main regiment, which usually had 10 companies, A through K.
At Hell's Half Acre, the greatly outnumbered 19th Regulars duked it out with the frenzied fighters of the 8th Tennessee Infantry in the cotton fields and cedars near the Cowan House.
Entering into the Stones River campaign, the 19th was seriously depleted after 18 months of service, including a 1,000-mile march, two major battles and several skirmishes. At the start of the Civil War, the battalion had 500 men. Its numbers had dwindled to less than 150 at Murfreesboro.
Many of its experienced officers had been reassigned as staff officers with the brigade and division commanders and one was commanding a volunteer regiment, so that at the battle of Murfreesboro only one major, one captain, two first lieutenants and four second lieutenants were serving with the battalion.
Other companies from the 19th were scattered across the country. Companies G and H were assigned to the Army of the Potomac, where H served as bodyguard for Gen. George B. McClellan.
Major Stephen Decatur Carpenter commanded the 19th at Stones River. His story was typical of U.S. Regulars. A native of Bangor, Maine, he was a member of the 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment prior to the Civil War. A West Point graduate, he served in the Seminole War and the Mexican-American War. After that conflict, he was stationed in Texas, where he was wounded in a skirmish with Indians.
While in Texas, Carpenter established Fort Lancaster on the left bank of Live Oak Creek above its confluence with the Pecos River near Sheffield. He commanded two companies of the 1st U.S. there. The fort is now a Texas historic site.
The 19th Infantry was organized in conformity with the President Lincoln's proclamation of May 4, 1861, and the officers were assigned to the regiment in pursuance of General Order No. 33, A. G. O., dated June 18, 1861. Carpenter was named senior major. Reporting for duty on Aug. 7, 1861, he was placed in charge of the recruits.
Initially, Company A, 1st Battalion was assigned under Carpenter to help maintain the peace in Indianapolis. In February 1862, Companies C and D were ordered to report to Gen. Don Carlos Buell in Kentucky.
On April 6-7, 1862, companies A, B, C, D and E, under Carpenter's command fought at Shiloh where the battalion's casualties were 37 killed or wounded. The battalion was used in support of Union artillery and to help hold the final Union line on the first day of the battle.
His brigade commander, Gen. Lowell Rousseau, complimented Major Carpenter for his gallant conduct in this engagement. With the battalion's top brass stripped to command other regular army or volunteer units, Carpenter was left, in effect, as commander of the entire 19th, however his petition for the battalion's "colors" fell on deaf ears as did his requests for Companies G and H to join the rest of the unit, along with the unit's military band.
Late in the fall of 1862, the War Department agreed to allow the battalion's band to join the units in Tennessee, but the musicians didn't arrive in time for the Battle of Stones River.
Shiloh had been a wake-up call for Carpenter, and he passed that message up the federal chain of command.
"It is not unreasonable to suppose that my battalion in battle may be ordered to support a battery as it was at Shiloh, and be met by a battalion or regiment numbering eight hundred or a thousand men; ... the result would be certain disgrace," he wrote in a letter to the War Department.
Just two weeks later, the 19th Infantry fought at Stones River and were thrown into a cedar thicket west of the Cowan house in what soldiers described as Hell's Half Acre. It was the battalion's role, once again, to support Union artillery, (Capt. Charles Parson's 4th U.S. Artillery, batteries H and M) but then they were sent into the cedars in a delaying action.
In the woods just past McFadden Lane, Carpenter's nightmare came true.
His battalion was struck by a full brigade of Confederate troops, led by the nephew of one of the nation's most notable fighters, Andrew Jackson.
Brig. Gen. Daniel S. Donelson's Rebel brigade was split by the walls and fences of the burned Cowan house, but the 8th Tennessee Infantry turned west and collided with the 19th U.S. Regulars.
In the brief, but horrible fight, both the Union and Confederate units were decimated.
Col. W.L. Moore, commanding the 8th Tennessee, had his horse shot from under him, but continued to press the Confederate charge on foot until he was shot through the heart, dying instantly.
The Union Major Carpenter fell from his horse, bleeding from what was described as six mortal wounds. His small battalion lost 65 killed and wounded, while the Confederate brigade lost 306 casualties out of 474 engaged.
Private Joseph R. Prentice of Company E, 19th Regulars, was involved the conflict.
As the Confederates began to flank the U.S. Regulars, Carpenter ordered his men to retreat in good order.
"No sooner did the enemy see us retreating, than they opened fire on us again ... Suddenly above the din and roar of battle, I heard our major call out: 'Scatter and run, boys!' and I was about to join the rest in the rush to a place of safety when I heard a horse bearing down on me like mad," Prentice recalled.
It was Carpenter's wounded horse. Prentice was able to turn the horse to keep it from trampling retreating troops. Joining his comrades, the private told them of Carpenter's fate and asked permission to return and look for the major.
"Back I went at the top of my speed, and as soon as I entered the clearing the enemy's sharpshooters opened a brisk fire on me. Still I was bound to find the major if possible, and, knowing about where he fell, rushed to that spot. Bullets ploughed up little puffs of dust at my feet and whistled around my head. A short spurt more and I was at the place.
"But, poor fellow, he was past need of human assistance. Nevertheless I picked him up and carried him to my rear, my ears filled with the mournful dirge of the bullets that threatened me at every step," Prentice said.
Prentice was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in retrieving his commander.
Carpenter's body was returned to his native Maine, where he was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor where citizens decided to erect a monument in his honor. On June 17, 1864, the cemetery dedicated "Soldiers Monument" at his burial site.
Mike West can be reached at 869-0803 or at mwest@murfreesboropost.com
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