21
Henry Kilburn, Horace Cookingham, 12th Battery Ohio L.A.
Battle of Wilkinson Pike
October to December 1864
Henry Kilburn and Horace Cookingham were still in garrison at Murfreesborough in October. The 12th Ohio Battery at this time consisted of 138 men, of whom 35 were veterans. Nothing was happening at the moment, although General Thomas was beginning to worry about the whereabouts of General Hood. He started sending scouting parties out to find the Confederates, and began realigning his own forces. It was at this time that Fred Hale and Theodore Willis were being sent to Johnsonville. Sometime during October, the District of Nashville was renamed the District of Tennessee.
Henry Kilburn was still sick since September. He was examined by the fort surgeon on October 11, 1864, and diagnosed as having rheumatic fever. Henry was given a certificate of disability (we don’t have a copy of this), which allowed him to put in a request for a medical furlough. On November 10 his furlough was granted, and he returned home to New London for several weeks. We do not have a return date; we know he was gone at least three weeks, since he is listed as absent on medical leave at the end of November.
* * * * *
Sherman started his march through Georgia on November 16, and the Confederates under Hood retaliated by invading Tennessee. General Thomas, commanding in Nashville, started pulling in some of the outlying posts (such as the 43rd Wisconsin) and building up the strong points around Nashville. At the beginning of the campaign, Fortress Rosecrans was manned by 1800 men, mostly new recruits except for a few veteran units like the 12th Ohio. On November 24, 3000 more men were sent to Murfreesborough from Alabama. General Rousseau arrived there on November 28 to take direct command of the garrison.
Hood struck first at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30. The unofficial Battery history lists this among the 12th Ohio’s engagements, but Dyer does not list them as participants, and I have found nothing in the Official Records mentioning them.
On December 1, the outlying railroad guards were pulled back, and 3000 more troops were brought in from Tullahoma under General Milroy. They called in all their small outposts from the surrounding villages and blockhouses, giving a total of over 8000 men now in the fort. The next day some of Hood’s raiders cut the telegraph line between Nashville and Murfreesborough, and the fort was without communications for the next ten days.
December 3 was quiet, then on the 4th they could hear rifle fire. Part of the 13th Indiana Cavalry was sent out to investigate, and they found a railroad blockhouse under attack on Overall’s Creek five miles north of the fort. The scouting party sent back for more help, and Milroy was sent out with three regiments of infantry and one artillery battery. They don’t say which one, but it probably wasn’t the 12th Ohio – Dyer does not list them as participating in this.
Milroy arrived at the blockhouse in the late afternoon. He thought at first that he was facing a small cavalry raid, and sent the 13th Indiana Cavalry on a mounted charge up a long hill. They were driven back by Confederate artillery on the crest. Meanwhile, Milroy’s infantry had run into three Florida regiments. They drove the Confederates across the creek, but then found a much larger force and had to retreat under heavy fire. At this point Milror realized that he was facing an entire division (it was Bate’s Division) of infantry. He ordered a withdrawal, and the Union troops arrived back at the fort about 1:00 a.m.
This was the beginning of a series of actions called the "Defences of Murfreesborough," which lasted through December 12. There is no way to know if Henry Kilburn was involved. We know he was still home on leave at the end of November. We know he was back in Murfreesborough at the end of December. He returned sometime during December, but we have no date, so he may or may not be present for the following actions. But we can be fairly certain that Horace Cookingham was involved.
The Confederate General Bate, with a Division of 1600 men, was supposed to tear up all the railroad tracks between Nashville and Murfreesborough. He thought that Murfreesborough had been evacuated, and was completely surprised by Milroy’s attack. He did not try to pursue Milroy, even though he outnumbered the Union force.
Nathan B. Forrest arrived the next day with one of his cavalry divisions (Jackson’s Division), under orders from General Hood to force the Federal troops to abandon Murfreesborough and Fortress Rosecrans – this was the only strong point southeast of Nashville. Forrest ordered Bate to stop his work tearing up the railroads and join him in attacking the fort. They were reinforced by two small brigades sent from Hood’s army, giving Forrest a total force of 6000 men (notice how the size of the units has been reduced during the course of the war – at the beginning of the war, two divisions would have been about 25,000 men).
Forrest found that the fort was too strong for him to attack, so he prepared to put it under siege. The Confederates began building earthworks around the fort and blocked all the roads leading in, trying to force Rousseau to come out and fight. On December 7, Milroy was sent out again to discover where the main Confederate concentration was. This time he took seven infantry regiments, a small cavalry detachment, and the 12th Ohio Battery; Horace Cookingham was most probably in this expedition, and Henry Kilburn may have been, if he had returned from leave – the fact that Henry will be promoted sometime after this suggests that he was in it.
Milroy’s force started out from the fort about 10:00 a.m., heading southwest along Salem Pike. About four miles out from the fort, they came to a farm where they were told that the Confederates had a large force several miles north. Before leaving the farm, Milroy had the farmer’s 60 hogs taken back to the fort to prevent the Confederates from eating them.
Forrest had seen Milroy leaving the fort and was hoping to trap him. He planned to have Milroy attack his infantry at Wilkinson’s Pike, then when they were locked into the battle Jackson’s Cavalry Division would come in behind them from the north and cut them off from the fort.
When the two forces found each other they were on the opposite ends of an open field. The first action of the afternoon was an artillery duel between the Confederate batteries and the six guns of the 12th Ohio Battery. This went on until the 12th Ohio had shot all of its ammunition. They had to return to the fort for more. I am not sure what they did after that; one source says they had no further involvement, but another says they returned in late afternoon in time to fire a few more shots.
After the artillery stopped, the two small armies sat and looked at one another for a while. Milroy knew he was outnumbered, so he was waiting for the Confederates to attack. But the Confederates were wanting Milroy to attack, so they could spring their trap. When nothing happened for some time, Milroy suspected something was wrong and decided to try something else.
The Union force went back into some thick woods, and made their way further northeast toward Wilkinson Pike. When they came out of the woods onto the road, they found that they had gone beyond the left end of the Confederate lines. The Confederates were now in a bad position, and had to shift their lines to the left quickly; this got them disorganized and off balance just as the Federal army attacked.
Milroy’s infantry formed two lines of battle and started through a cotton field toward the Confederates. They stopped at about 200 yards and started firing; then the whole front line spontaneously charged without any orders. Finley’s Florida Brigade panicked; they immediately broke and scattered in all directions. That left Palmer’s Brigade suddenly wide open; most of them also dropped their guns and ran. Forrest had to forget any ideas of trapping Milroy. He called in Jackson’s cavalry to rescue his infantry from complete destruction, leaving the road back to the fort open. If the 12th Battery did in fact return to the battle, it would be at about this time. The Confederates lost about 100 men killed, the Union about 20. Milroy’s men captured over 200 prisoners and two 12-pound cannon and withdrew safely back to Murfreesborough, having beaten a force four times their size.
It took Forrest several days to regather the two scattered brigades, and all he could do in the meanwhile was try to block the main roads into the fort. Bate’s Division was called back to Hood’s main army on December 8, in preparation for the attack on Nashville. The other two brigades were called back the next day, leaving Forrest with nothing but Jackson’s Cavalry Division.
Rousseau and Milroy were able to send out large foraging parties just about anywhere they wanted to. One of the Confederate brigade commanders complained that he could do nothing more than follow them around all day. General Thomas’ orders from Nashville on December 11 said he expected the fort to hold out on their own against any attack. Rousseau replied the next day that they were not bothered by the siege and were able to "forage without molestation."
Forrest continued his loose siege of the fort for several more days. Hood’s attack on Nashville came on December 15 and 16; it was a failure, and all Confederate forces left the state. The 12th Ohio Battery is not recorded in any other engagements for the remainder of the war.
Henry Kilburn is listed as back on active duty at the end of December.
Confederate Forces at Wilkinson’s Pike
Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest Commanding
Bate’s Division (part of Cheatham’s Corps), Maj Gen William Bate
Tyler’s Brigade (Brig Gen T.B. Smith)
2nd, 10th, 20th and 37th Tennessee (Confederate) Infantry
37th Georgia Infantry
four battalions of Georgia Sharpshooters
Finley’s Brigade (Col R. Bullock)
1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th Florida Infantry
1st Florida Cavalry
Jackson’s Brigade (Brig Gen H.R. Jackson)
25th, 29th, and 30th Georgia Infantry
one battalion Georgia Sharpshooters
Jackson’s Cavalry Division (part of Forrest’s Cavalry Corps), Brig Gen William H. Jackson
Armstrong’s Brigade (Brig Gen F.C. Armstrong)
1st, 2nd, and 28th Mississippi Cavalry
Ross’ Brigade (Brig Gen L.S. Ross)
5th, 6th, and 9th Texas Cavalry
Sears’ Brigade and Palmer’s Brigade (detached from French’s Division of Stewart’s Corps)
4th, 35th, 36th, 39th, and 46th Mississippi Infantry
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