No. 9.
Report of Col. Henry C. Lester, Third Minnesota Infantry.
LIEUTENANT: I have the honor to report the share taken by my
regiment in the action at Murfreesborough, Tenn, on Sunday, July 13, 1862.
The attack was made about daylight upon the camp of the
Ninth Michigan, the pickets having been captured without firing a shot. With
the first alarm my regiment was formed in line and marched from camp toward
town, for the purpose of effecting a junction with the other troops, the
camping ground of the two regiments having been necessarily separated about 1½
miles in consequence of scarcity of water. We had proceeded nearly half a mile
when the enemy appeared in force in the woods in our front, and also upon our
left flank. Line of battle was at once formed upon the crest of a hill and we
opened upon the enemy with shell. The firing was principally directed to the
woods in front, where they were evidently forming for a charge. In the mean
time a small force had made its way through a corn field on our left and
attacked our camp, which, after a sharp skirmish with the camp guard they took,
killing or capturing the guard and firing the tents. Some time was passed in
shelling the woods, when a train arrived from Nashville, and was only stopped
when it had reached a point opposite our position and distant from it about 100
yards. As soon as the enemy had seen the train pass they commenced to tear up
the track between it and Nashville, and were repeatedly driven off by the
artillery. A charge was made upon our left from the woods, but was easily
repulsed, with some loss to the enemy. At this time a scout returned from the
camp of the Ninth Michigan, reporting the enemy in strong three on the Lebanon
road between the Michigan regiment and our position; and as the force in front
seemed to be still too strong to attempt to push through with any prospect of
success I determined to maintain my own position for the present. The firing in
town having ceased for some time I sent a scout through the corn field to try
and get news from our friends, but the effort was unsuccessful, the enemy being
still in strong force on the Lebanon road. Shortly after a soldier of the Ninth
Michigan came through and reported his regiment as having surrendered.
Thereupon we fell back to a farm-house a short distance in our rear, which
being surrounded by a fence I expected to make as strong as possible and to
hold until the end.
While taking up our new position a flag of truce appeared,
borne by yourself, and sent at the request of Colonel Duffield, commanding
Twenty-third Brigade, for the purpose of procuring an interview with me. I
returned to town with the flag and had an interview with the colonel
commanding, in which I learned that we were attacked by the rebel General
Forrest with a brigade of cavalry. Learning from the Colonel that the enemy
were in overwhelming force, and that even should the road be uninjured the
forces at Nashville were absent upon an expedition and that there was no hope
of re-enforcements, at his suggestion I agreed to refer the matter of surrender
to my officers. Accordingly the matter was represented to them as derived from
Colonel Duffield, and the great majority, looking upon further resistance as
involving the certainty of an ultimate defeat with great loss, and with no possibility
of an escape or assistance, it was decided to surrender, which was done at 3.30
p.m.
The force surrendered by me consisted of about 450 infantry.
The enemy's force consisted of about 2,600 troops, together with some hundreds
of citizens of the country between McMinnville and Murfreesborough, being in
all about 3,000 men.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient
servant.
H. C. LESTER,
Colonel, Commanding
Third Minnesota.
Lieut. H. M. DUFFIELD,
Acting Assistant
Adjutant-General, Twenty-third Brigade.
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. 807-8
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