Letter from Lieut. Jackson

A friend in Elmira has sent us an interesting letter from Lieut. Wm. Jackson of Co. B, 19th Ill., to his brother, for publication. On account of its length, and our want of space, we can only give the following extracts from it:

In Camp Near Murfreesboro,
Jan. 10 1863;

My dear brother;

I am thankful to God that he as spared me through this bloody contest. Our company suffered severely. We were in the engagement five different times. I know what it is to drive the enemy and what it is to be driven by them, which is no pleasant thing I can tell you. We went into the battle, Dec. 30th, with thirty-nine enlisted men and two commissioned officers, myself and Hunter; Capt. Murchison was with the wagons, lame with Rheumatism. We lost one man killed, and one slightly wounded: J. L. Kinion killed, and George Dugan wounded in the hand.

Dec. 31st, Capt. Murchison joined us. The enemy pressed on our right flank and drove Gen. Johnson back. We were the reserve and in the center. Gen. Negly’s division was small, consisting of only two brigades; but we disputed every inch of ground with them, while Gen. Johnson’s division was falling back in disorder. Column after column advanced on us and we were outflanked [at] every position we took. We were forced to stand in front of the enemy’s batteries to save our artillery and cowardly men, who were falling back through the woods in great disorder; but the old Nineteenth stood up to it like soldiers.

We suffered severely that day: Capt. Murchison was bruised on the back by a tree that was shot down by a shell; Lieut. Hunter was wounded in the right thigh by a musket ball. Serg’t. Robinson, wounded in the right shoulder; William Douglas, wounded in the foot. C. W. Leason and James O. Imes were killed instantly by a shell. J. M. Leacox was slightly wounded in the arm while taking Hunter off the field. Columbus Morgan was mortally wounded by a shell; he fell into the hands of the enemy and was taken to Murfreesboro and died on Jan. 7th 1863. I saw him before he died; he was a gallant soldier. T. W. Oziah was slightly wounded in the [?] by a piece of shell; G. T. Sharer was severely wounded in the right thigh and had his arm broken; Thomas Turnbull had the thumb shot off his right hand by a shell. Corporal J. L. Kennedy was taking Morgan off the field and was taken prisoner, and we have not herd of him since. Wednesday was a bloody day!

We took four guns from them and the colors of the 19th were planted on a rebel gun for once, and I stood with my hand on it. They had another battery about forty rods from it, and they threw shells at us by the wholesale, but we brought the battery off with us. We lost heavily on that day also; Col. Scott was wounded in the thigh. Capt. Chandler, Co. F, was killed; Lieut. Wood, Co. C. wounded in the hand; Lieut. Wood, Co. H. was mortally wounded and has died since. Captain Garrett was wounded slightly in the leg – Corporal George Ryerson of our company was killed; Walter Clark got a buck shot in his knee, very slight; Corporal Worth had a buck shot through his finger. We had a glorious victory on that night! The loss in our company was very heavy. We lost in the regiment some 115 or 120; there are 14 killed.

Elmira need not be ashamed of the boys she sent to the war. Our brother, Dave, and James Turnbull were with me all the time. They did not get a scratch; they are two good boys. Our wounded are all in Nashville; Capt. Murchison is there, and I am left all alone with the company. Robert Turnbull was in Nashville during the battle unwell. John Thornton was with us and fought like a tiger.

We suffered a great deal during the battle. It rained nearly all the time. We had to stand in mud and water to the knees; but it is all over now, and we are resting quietly in camp.

Wm. Jackson, Lieut. Co. B.

– Published in the Stark County News, Toulon, Illinois, Thursday, February 5, 1863