This closed the enemy’s and our operations for that day as far as active participation by the Regular Brigade was concerned; the battery, however, continued to play on the enemy’s position, and when later in the afternoon an attack was made to the left of the brigade, it assisted in the repulse of the enemy in that quarter. During the night parties were organized to collect the wounded of the brigade; the pickets of the enemy and of the brigade were within speaking distance, and one of the parties was captured; another party claimed to be an informal flag of truce, asking for the privilege to collect our wounded, and thus after some parleying was permitted to return. During the night also our lines were straightened out; positions changed; the right of the first division of the left wing posted on the left of the turnpike, by which movement our front was thrown back about three hundred yards; and the left wing formed on a new line toward Stone River; this gave us a shorter line, more reserves, and allowed the Regular Brigade, at about 4 o’clock A. M., of the 1st of January, to fall back to a little piece of woods near General Rosecrans’ headquarters, there to bivouac and seek rest.

Early on the 1st of January, 1863, the brigade, with its battery, was ordered to the right to support McCook’s wing, against which demonstrations were made, and several positions were held by it without coming into action. Shortly after two o’clock the brigade was ordered to Stewart’s Creek; having marched about four miles, it received orders to return double quick, and marched nearly the whole distance at that gait. Night coming on, the brigade bivouacked again to the left of the pike, near General Rosecrans’ headquarters.

On the morning of the 2d of January, before breakfast, the brigade advanced under heavy artillery fire to the support of the left wing, remaining as its support in different positions during the day and night; the battery, being in action off and on during the day, assisted in the enemy’s repulse by the left wing in the afternoon of the day.

On the morning of the 3d, the fourth day of the battle, the battery opened fire upon one of the enemy, which was annoying our troops, and soon silenced and drove it from its position. During the forenoon the brigade and battery advanced again to its position, the key of the field, held on the 31st of December, threw up slight intrenchments and held them for the remainder of the battle. The heavy rains during the day filled the ditches partly with water and rendered them almost untenable, while the surrounding ground was fast turning into a bed of mud; the men, at their option, could stand or recline in water or mud, but not a word of discontent escaped their lips in this trying and painful, as well as arduous and dangerous service. About 6 P. M., under the cover of the brigade and other batteries, an attack was made to the front by parts of John Beatty’s and Spear’s Brigades; this attack, though spreading to the front of the brigade, required on its part only increased watchfulness to prevent surprise in case of a reverse; the battery, however, was actively engaged in shelling the enemy’s position in the woods to our front, south.

Before daylight of the morning of the fourth, the brigade pickets reported the retreat of the enemy. The day, Sunday, was spent in the sad duty of collecting the dead of the brigade, who were interred at night by moonlight and with military honors just in front of the intrenchments.

Thus ended the battle of Stone River, or Murfreesboro’; and here it may be proper to relate a few of the many incidents occurring in and during it, showing the spirit which pervaded the officers and men of the brigade, ready to laugh one moment, the next to suffer, and, if need be, to die.

During the fight at noon of the 31st of Dec., the color-bearer of the 2d Battalion of the 18th was killed by a shot in the head and fell with and on the colors; the color-guard at once raised the flag, when the top became entangled in a low cedar; the Adjutant of the battalion, then still mounted, finally called Lieut. Bisbee to the aid of the color-guard and the colors were at last free again and thrown to the breeze; it was a moment of great anxiety to all near, for it was understood that there was to be no losing of the colors. When the left reformed after leaving the cedars, Major Townsend, when on the rise took the colors and rode along the new line for all to see that and where the stand was to be made. Capt. Douglass, of the 18th, described the rebel artillery fire in the open field, as if a blacksmith shop full of rotten iron was being thrown at the command. When the brigade was reformed near its battery, there was a large pile of knapsacks back of it, and many men rested against it from time to time; pretty soon a rebel battery commenced firing solid shot at it, making the knapsacks fly in all directions, but doing no other harm. For a while it was a pastime to watch the solid shot coming through the air, and one ball was especially noticed, going apparently straight toward a man crossing the large open field to the rear, coming from the hospital probably; the ball seemed to strike in front of and close to the man, ricochetted and passed over the man, who at the same time made a profound obeisance; to all appearances the ball would have decapitated him, had the man been erect; a shout of laughter, seemingly from all parts of the field, at the ludicrousness of the scene, relieved the anxious feeling of suspense. But what a closing and beginning of a year was that! A large number of officers and men, in fact all, were without rations on the 1st and 2d, and parched corn, horse and mule steaks were in demand and appreciated; the double quick back from near Stewart’s Creek was doubly hard on empty stomachs; at last, on the evening of the 2d, some bacon, flour and coffee were received and helped to tide the command over the worst; though the men were hungry, they were in the best possible spirits. When on the 2d the brigade advanced by the right of companies double quick to the front, one man, seeing a solid shot rolling along very leisurely, put his foot out to stop it; the opposing forces did not overcome each other, and, the shot being stronger, the man found himself nicely tripped and rolling along with the ball, much to his surprise, and, not being injured, to the merriment of his comrades. The Battalion Quartermasters, with the teamsters, servants, cooks and sick, defended their trains against the charges of rebel cavalry repeatedly, repulsing the enemy every time, and saving and preserving their trains. Of the three rebel brigades of Jackson, Preston and Adams, General Bragg, the commander of their army, says: “How gallantly they moved to their work, and how much they suffered in the determined effort to accomplish it, will best appear from the reports of subordinate commanders, and the statement of losses therewith.” This shows some of the work done by the Regular Brigade, and later by its battery repulsing the determined charge of these troops on to the left of the line of battle. General Thomas, when asked why he sent the brigade into the cedars, a regular holocaust, replied that it became a necessity to do so.

The casualties in the brigade were fearful, and almost all were suffered at noon of, and all occurred on, the 31st of December.

The following statement is taken from official sources, and shows the casualties in the brigade in detail:

NUMBER
ENGAGED.		 NUMBER
KILLED.		 NUMBER
WOUNDED.		 NUMBER
CAPTURED.		 TOTAL
LOSS.
Comissioned
Officers		 Enlisted
Men		 Comissioned
Officers		 Enlisted
Men		 Comissioned
Officers		 Enlisted
Men		 Comissioned
Officers		 Enlisted
Men		 Comissioned
Officers		 Enlisted
Men
Field and Staff of Brigade 4
1stBattalion,15thU. S. Infantry 16 304 2 10 3 74 — 17 5 101
1st"16th" 15 293 — 16 7 127 — 16 7 159
1st"19th" 10 198 1 6 — 55 — 7 1 68
1st"18th" 16 273 1 27 6 109 — 2 7 138
2d"18th" 16 298 1 30 5 98 — 5 6 133
Battery H, 5th Artillery 3 120 — — — 5 — — — 5
————— ————— ————— ————— —————
Total 80 1486 5 89 21 468 — 47 26 604
Aggregating 15669448947630