The brigade of Colonel Manigault, which was immediately on the right of that of Colonel Coltart [Deas'], followed the movement of the latter according to instructions; but as Coltart failed in the first onset to drive Sheridan's right, Manigault, after dashing forward and pressing the enemy back on his second line, was brought under a heavy fire of artillery from two batteries on his right, supported by infantry, and was compelled to fall back.... But the gallant South Carolinian returned to the charge a second, and a third time, and being aided by the brigade of General Maney, of the second line, which came to his relief with its Napoleon guns and a deadly fire of musketry, the enemy gave way and joined his comrades on his right in precipitate retreat across the Wilkinson pike. This movement dislodged and drove the residue of Sheridan's division, and completed the forcing of the whole of McCook's corps out of line of battle, and placed it in full retreat.
With these operations, thus described, the honorable part borne by the South Carolina regiments in the battle was practically ended. Manigault was in line with Hardee and touching the troops on the pivot, and night ended the great contest.
The brigade of Colonel Manigault lost a total of 517. The Tenth South Carolina had 109 killed and wounded and 2 taken prisoners; the Nineteenth had 80 killed and wounded, among the killed its gallant colonel. Maj. John A. Crowder and Lieut. J. T. Norris, of the Nineteenth, faithful and true men and officers, were among those mortally wounded. It is to be regretted that Colonel Manigault's report of Murfreesboro is not at the writer's command, and there is no official report from either regiment of record.
On the roll of those "conspicuous for courage and good conduct on the field of battle" at Murfreesboro, published by order of the Confederate Congress, are the following:
Tenth South Carolina: First Lieut. C. C. White, Sergts. C. W. Cockfield (killed) and S. B. Rhuarck; Privates A. J. McCants, J. S. Beaty, W. D. Hewitt, G. S. Flowers, G. W. Curry, J. Cannon, N. Gray, W. H. Posten, J. W. H. Bunch (killed) and J. A. Boatwright.
Nineteenth South Carolina: Col. A. J. Lythgoe, Maj. John A. Crowder; Sergts. W. H. Burkhalter and Martin Youce; Privates Benjamin W. Boothe, Samuel S. Horn, W. A. Black, S. D. McCoy, Samuel Bloodsworth, Seth A. Jordan, James McClain and James Jones.
It is a grateful task to copy, in this connection, a paragraph from the report of Lieutenant-General Polk, in which he perpetuates an act of self-sacrificing heroism which is worthy of lasting remembrance, and gives an example of patient courage and devotion which the writer has never known surpassed by any of his Confederate comrades. It occurred just before the last charge of Manigault and Maney. Says General Polk:
I think it proper to bring to the notice of the general commanding an instance of self-sacrificing devotion to the safety of their immediate commands, and to our cause, which for heroic courage and magnanimity is without a parallel. A battery was pouring a murderous fire into the brigade of General Maney from a point which made it doubtful whether it was ours or the enemy's. Two unsuccessful efforts had been made by staff officers (one of whom was killed in the attempt) to determine its character. The doubt caused the brigade to hesitate in returning the fire of the battery, when Sergeant Oakley, color-bearer of the Fourth Tennessee, and Sergt. C. M. Hooks, color-bearer of the Ninth Tennessee, gallantly advanced eight or ten paces to the front, displaying their colors and holding themselves and the flag of their country erect, remained ten minutes in a place so conspicuous as to be plainly seen, and fully to test from whom their brigade was suffering so severely. The murderous fire was increased and intensified, and demonstrated that the battery and its support were not friends, but enemies. The sergeants then returned deliberately to their proper places in line, unhurt, and the enemy's battery was silenced and his column put to flight.
With this act of devotion we leave the battle of Murfreesboro, making the following general remarks about it:
General Bragg's army, infantry and artillery, numbered 33,475. His cavalry, under Wharton, Wheeler and Pegram, aggregated 4,237, making his army, of all arms, 37,712. Wheeler's brigade reported on December 31st, 1,169, and was not in the battle, but was operating on Rosecrans' immediate communications. Pegram and Buford, with five regiments, 1,118 strong, were on the extreme right and scarcely engaged. Hanson's brigade, of Breckinridge's division, 1,893 strong, was east of the river. Deducting Wheeler's and Hanson's brigades from Bragg's total, that general fought in actual battle against Rosecrans' columns a force of 34,650, of all arms. These figures are taken from the field returns of the army, as they are given from the originals in the War Records of the Union and Confederate armies.