Greg Tucker, Daily News Journal, June 28, 2015
Twenty-six died to save a hundred. The Texas Rangers and the Georgia Cavalry made the sacrifice. It was July 13, 1862.
After surprising victories at Forts Henry and Donelson on the lower Cumberland River in early 1862, the federal army took control of upper Middle Tennessee without organized resistance.
This 6-foot-tall granite monument, soon to be placed in the Murfreesboro City Cemetery, honors the 26 Southern cavalrymen who died in the Confederate raid July 13, 1862. Their individual graves in the old cemetery are unmarked.
By late May, Rutherford County was subjected to marshal law directed by a Union army colonel as “town governor” and by U. S. Army Capt. Oliver Cromwell Rounds as provost marshal.
According to the diary of John Spence, this early period of occupation was marked by aggressive looting of civilian homes and farms, and by intimidation through numerous civilian arrests. See Spence, “A Diary of the Civil War” (April 1861-September 1865), pages 33–39. Capt. Rounds is remembered and characterized in the memoir of William H. King, a Murfreesboro resident: “…the tyrant, the usurper, the threatener, the cruel avenger, the arrogant assaulter of ladies— under whose iron mandates innocent citizens were sent to northern prisons.” See “Confederate Veteran” (November 1924), page 430.
In early July, the attention of the occupying force shifted from goods to personnel. Alleging that federal soldiers had been fired upon, federal scouting parties “swept through the Rutherford countryside arresting suspects…soon the jail was filled. Word went out that for every Union patrol fired upon, 100 hostages would be taken.” See Womack, “Call Forth the Mighty Men” (1987), page 150.
Just prior to the arrival and command of Union Gen. T. T. Crittenden on or about July 10, 1862, a federal patrol was trapped at the river crossing north of town by a Confederate detail out of Wilson County. Five federal soldiers were killed when they refused to surrender.
Outraged and embarrassed by this incident, the Union occupiers arrested a dozen prominent local citizens, including Dr. Lunsford Black, a physician, and Elder W. R. Owen, a Primitive Baptist preacher.
“These citizens were incarcerated in an upper room of the Courthouse, closely guarded by about 200 soldiers, with no communication allowed between them and anxious relatives,” according to the King memoir.
On July 11, a federal patrol went into Woodbury in Cannon County and arrested most of the men of the community. They were brought to Murfreesboro and confined with the other hostages. By one estimate as many as 400 Rutherford and Cannon County citizens were held captive as of July 12, 1862. The threat of execution became even more real with the arrival of Crittenden. The new commander announced that for every soldier “bushwhacked” within his command, 100 local citizens would be executed. To confirm the threat, six executions were set for the following morning (July 13, 1862). These six were to be from among the dozen arrested after the Union soldiers werekilled at the river crossing on the Lebanon turnpike.
On the evening of July 12, Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest rode into Woodbury leading a force of 1,300 infantry and mounted cavalry. The command included Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Texas brigades. On arrival, Forrest found the people of Cannon County “…in a state of terror and excitement.”
“He was surrounded by the women of Woodbury who related to him that on the evening before a large detachment of federal soldiers raided the town and carried off almost every man, young and old, and rushed them to prison in Murfreesboro.” See Brown, “History of Cannon County” (1936), page 120.
They pleaded with Forrest for help. He responded with a promise that “they should have their loved ones again before another night had passed,” recalled King.
On the following morning Forrest and his troops defeated the occupying Union forces and freed all of the civilian prisoners without any civilian casualties. Forrest lost 26 of his men— seven Texas Rangers, 17 Georgia cavalrymen, and two Tennessee cavalrymen. The Confederate dead were buried in the Murfreesboro City Cemetery.
On July 11, 2015, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Murfreesboro Camp 33, will place a stone monument memorializing these 26 men who died on July 13, 1862.
Although the names of these fallen soldiers and their burial location had faded with time, several years of SCV research have confirmed their identities and final resting place. On one side of the monument the story of the raid will be told as follows: “On July 13, 1862, urged forward by news of civilian prisoners and planned executions, Nathan Bedford Forrest led an early morning cavalry raid on Union troops occupying Murfreesboro. Using surprise and deceptive tactics, Forrest and his Confederate force of approximately 1,300 mounted volunteers from Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky prevailed against a larger Union force.
“Forrest approached from the east on the Woodbury Pike. At the eastern boundary of the city, he ordered part of his force, including the Tennessee and Kentucky units, to circle to the north to cut off Union retreat or reinforcement on the Nashville and Lebanon turnpikes. Another contingent was sent into the encampment on the Oaklands plantation north of the town center where it surprised the sleeping soldiers. Forrest himself led the charge on the heavily guarded courthouse square where the citizen prisoners were being held. The Confederates encountered intense fire from the Courthouse and surrounding buildings, but eventually gained entry to the courthouse. Believing they were surrounded and outnumbered, the Union troops surrendered unconditionally, and the citizen prisoners were released unharmed. The Confederates captured about 1,200 Union soldiers including commanding Union Gen. T. T. Crittenden and his staff. The capture included munitions and supplies worth one-half million dollars, 60 wagons, 175 horses, 300 mules and four cannons.”
A special thanks to SCV Adjutant James G. Patterson for research assistance.