Official Reports of the Action at and Surrender of Murfreesborough, Tenn., July 13, 1862: No. 4. – Report of Maj. James J. Seibert, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry.

No. 4.

GENERAL: I respectfully submit the following as my report of the battle at Murfreesborough, Tenn., on Sunday, July 13, 1862:

I first assumed command of the cavalry attached to that command, consisting of the Third Battalion Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, and one squadron of the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, on May 29, but was called to Nashville on duty on June 19, returning again on July 6.

When I first assumed command it was the custom, as well as the order, of Colonel Lester, then in command, to send out daily from the cavalry a patrol of 5 men on each of the seven pikes leading to and from the town, starting out in the morning and returning in the evening. This order was not changed while I was in command until the day before the occurrence. When you assumed command you ordered me to double the number of the patrols on the roads to Lebanon and McMinnville, which was done. When the patrols returned in the evening I received the report daily from each of the non-commissioned officers in charge, which, after committing to writing, I handed to Colonel Lester.

The attack was made at daybreak in the morning, and I first saw the enemy when charging on my camp, which was a short distance to the right of the Woodbury pike. I had not over 80 duty men in camp at the time of the attack, most of whom were captured there. We then left my camp and joined the Ninth Michigan and surrendered with them at noon. I lost 5 killed and 20 wounded.

Before closing this report I would state that a report reached me about midnight that several men were seen in the night between our pickets and the town on the Bradyville pike. I immediately mounted  12 men and went to the points named, but after examining the fields and several houses and barns on the Bradyville and Woodbury pikes and discovering no signs of the enemy I returned with the men to camp, having reached it only a little more than an hour before the attack.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 JAMES J. SEIBERT,

 Major, Seventh Pa. Cav., Comdg. Cav., Twenty-third Brigade.

General T. T. CRITTENDEN,

Commanding Forces at Murfreesborough, Tenn.:

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 16, Part 1 (Serial No. 22), p. 798-9