The Regular Brigade of the Fourteenth Army Corps, the Army of the Cumberland, in the Battle of Stone River, or Murfreesboro', Tennessee   By: Frederick Phisterer

BY FREDERICK PHISTERER, Late Adjutant 2d Battalion 18th U. S. Infantry .

To his Comrades, THE SURVIVORS OF THE REGULAR BRIGADE, ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND, IN REMEMBRANCE OF PAST DAYS, AND TO PLACE ON RECORD A TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE PARTICIPATION OF THE BRIGADE IN THE BATTLE OF STONE RIVER.

JULY 1ST, 1883.

When General Rosecrans took command of the Army of the Ohio there were in that army five battalions of regular infantry in two different divisions; when he reorganized this army he determined to bring these battalions together, to give them a regular battery, and form of them a Regular Brigade. The 15th, 16th and 19th were already at Nashville; the orders organizing the brigade found the two battalions of the 18th near Gallatin, Tenn., as a part of General Stedman's Brigade. On receipt of the orders, the 18th marched, on the 23d of December, 1862, from Pilot Knob to Nashville, Tenn., arriving there on the 25th day of December, 1862, and, joining the other battalions and the battery, it completed the formation of the brigade, which, as then organized, consisted of:

The 1st Battalion of the 15th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H; commanded by Major John H. King.

The 1st Battalion of the 16th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H, 1st Battalion, and Company B, 2d Battalion; Major A. J. Slemmer commanding.

The 1st Battalion of the 18th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H, of the 1st, and A and D, of the 3d Battalion; Major J. N. Caldwell in command.

The 2d Battalion of the 18th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E and F, of the 2d, and B, C, E and F, of the 3d Battalion; commanded by Major Frederick Townsend.

The 1st Battalion of the 19th Infantry: Companies A, B, C, D, E and F; Major S. D. Carpenter commanding.

Battery H, 5th U. S. Artillery, commanded by 1st Lieutenant F. L. Guenther.

Lieutenant Colonel O. L. Shepherd, 18th U. S. Infantry, the senior officer, was placed in command of the brigade.

When the Army of the Ohio then become the Army of the Cumberland, or the 14th Corps advanced from Nashville, Tenn., toward its objective point, the enemy, the Regular Brigade broke camp on the 26th, encamping on the evening of that day on the Petersburg Turnpike; on the 27th it encamped near Nolansville, Tenn.; on the 28th, at night, it marched across the country to Stewart's Creek, and on the 30th to a point on the Murfreesboro' and Nashville Turnpike about four miles from Murfreesboro', Tenn.

On the morning of the 31st of December the brigade left its bivouac at an early hour and advanced on the Nashville Turnpike to a point a little less than three miles northwest of Murfreesboro', and, with its division, was posted in reserve. The division consisted of Scribner's, John Beatty's, Starkweather's and the Regular Brigade, and was commanded by Major General Lovell H. Rousseau. Starkweather's Brigade had been left at Jefferson's Crossing on Stone River. The division was part of the centre, commanded by Major General George H. Thomas. The formation in the brigade was from right to left as follows: 15th, 16th, 18th, 1st and 2d Battalions, and the 19th.

To fully understand the events now following, it will be necessary to preface them with a short résumé of the opening and progress of the battle from 6.30 A. M. until noon; from the right of the army to the left of Palmer's Division of the left wing.