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Articles by Bryan S. Busharticles main • recommend▼ • print viewARTICLES ◣ Brig. Gen. William Woodruff (U.S.) - 2nd Kentucky Infantry
Born in Kentucky, William Woodruff studied in the local schools, studied law and passed his bar exam and established a successful practice in Louisville. When South Carolina seceded from the Union in December of 1860, Kentucky declared her neutrality. The local citizens of Louisville began to choose sides. Unionists confronted arrant secessionists. On January 17, 1861, Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin, in his message to the legislature, recommended that the state militia should be prepared for war. Woodruff was an ardent supporter of the Union and feared that the Kentucky State Guard under General Simon Bolivar Buckner might side with the Confederacy. Woodruff formed a local militia unit called the Marion Rifles and became their major. On February 22, 1861, the pro-Union citizens of Louisville decided to celebrate George Washington’s birthday with a celebration. The event took on a whole new meaning with the political affairs. The citizens of Louisville decided to raise the national flag with pomp and circumstance over the Jefferson County Court house. Fifty thousand people attended the event at the Courthouse. At 2:30 P.M. the Louisville Battalions formed on Jefferson Street, fronting the Courthouse. After a short prayer, James Speed delivered a patriotic speech. At the end of James Speed’s speech, Colonel J. H. Harvey and George D. Prentice raised the national flag over the Court House. Colonel William Woodruff and the Marion Rifles fired three volleys from their muskets. When the citizens of Louisville raised the flag, General Simon B. Buckner, commander of Kentucky State Guard, gave no order to salute, as required by the published program and patriotic duty. Buckner and a large portion of his command moved from the Jefferson County courthouse yard. Major William Woodruff of the Marion Rifles, saluted the national colors.1 Divisions among the Kentucky State Guard and the local pro-Union militias began to divide over which side the state would chose, either Union or Confederate.
On April 14, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor, starting the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 men to join the Union army. Governor Magoffin refused Lincoln’s call for troops and stated that Kentucky “will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.” William Woodruff, at the age of thirty-four, headed the call from President Lincoln and signed up in the Union army for three years. On May 6, 1861, he became a Major in the 2nd Kentucky Union Infantry and on June 28, 1861, the regiment elected him to the position of Colonel of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry. On June 28, 1861, he arrived with his new rank at Camp Dennison. During the battle of Scarey Creek (Charlestown), Virginia, on July 17, 1861, Rebel forces captured Woodruff, while he reconnoitered the Confederate position and the Rebels held him as a prisoner of war in Richmond, Virginia. His career almost ended resulting from an incident that occurred while he was a prisoner. Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Acting Secretary of War for the Confederacy Judah P. Benjamin wrote to Brigadier General John Winder in Richmond, Virginia asking him to select thirteen prisoners to be treated as infamous criminals. The reason for the harsh treatment of Union prisoners of war was because thirteen Confederate Navy men were being treated as pirates in New York, and they were going to be executed for piracy. In retaliation, Brigadier General Winder vowed to execute as many Yankees, if the Confederate prisoners of war were executed. The Union prisoners chose lots and Woodruff happened to be one of the men selected to be executed, along with Captain Bowman, Keffer, and J.W. Rockwood; Colonel Lee, Cogswell, Wilcox, Wood, Cochran; Lieutenant Colonel Bowman, Neff; and Major Potter, Revere, and Vogdes. Fortunately the Confederates never carried out their sentences. Woodruff remained a prisoner of war and later moved to Columbia, South Carolina. Woodruff sent numerous letters to the Governor of Kentucky asking to be paroled. Woodruff stated that he and Captain Austin, and Lieutenant Colonel Neff were still prisoners and should be the first to be exchanged. Woodruff remained a prisoner of war for nine months. Finally, Major General George B. McClellan set the wheels in motion and on April 4, 1862, McClellan exchanged Woodruff for Confederate Colonel W. J. Willey. The War Department transferred Woodruff to a skeleton regiment. articles main • print view • back to top ““The old flag has waved over me in Mexico-it has waved over me as my flag
since my birth-with God?s help it shall wave over me till I die.”
After his incarceration as a prisoner of war, Woodruff returned to Louisville. On April 24, 1862, a large assembly gathered to present Woodruff with a sword. Nat Wolfe, a member of the Union Central Committee of Kentucky, presented Woodruff a “splendid sword” and invited him to address the crowd. Wolfe eulogized Woodruff’s patriotism and asked for God to protect him. Wolfe closed his speech stating: “The right will triumph. The Constitution will be upheld. The flag of the Union will be born aloft in triumph everywhere, by gallant and patriotic hands like your own. Col. Woodruff, accept this sword as a testimonial from Louisville to your devotion to your country; wear it —use it; swear with your country to live-for your country to die.”2
After receiving the sword, Woodruff addressed the crowd stating that he never would dishonor the sword and he would endeavor to do his whole duty on the field, to the United States, and to his native state and the city. During his speech he told the crowd that his capture resulted from his commanding officer. While imprisoned, he stated that the Confederates treated him and his fellow prisoners “worse than wild beasts.”3 The Confederate guards thrust and crammed into Woodruff and his fellow prisoners into hog pens and slaughterhouses, where they suffocated, and became covered and wreaking with filth and vermin. The Confederates displayed Woodruff and his fellow prisoners as wild animals for the amusement of male and female spectators. The public mocked, jeered, hissed, hooted at Woodruff. Woodruff and his fellow prisoners ate coarse beef, hard bread and dirty water served in tubs and buckets. Woodruff told the crowd that the Confederates treated him worse than a dog. Woodruff claimed that the Union wounded died from neglect and that worms were allowed to fester in undressed wounds and that the Union dead were buried like dogs in black cemeteries, which at the time would have been very offensive to white officers. Woodruff concluded his speech by stating: “The old flag has waved over me in Mexico-it has waved over me as my flag since my birth-with God’s help it shall wave over me till I die.”4 On October 15, 1862, Brigadier General Robert Mitchell assigned Woodruff to command the 32nd Brigade of the 2nd Division, by Special Order No. 10. On November 25, 1862, by Special Order No. 285, Major General Wright promoted Woodruff to Brigadier General. Wright put Woodruff on special duty and sent him to Louisville, where Wright gave him command of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Kentucky.
On September 11, 1862, Woodruff wrote a letter to the War Department confirming his appointment to Brigadier General. The War Department replied, telling Woodruff that his appointment as Brigadier General “was premature, the appointment never having been made.” On November 25, 1862, Woodruff was assigned to Major General Horatio Wright, who was commanding the Department of the Ohio, for special duty. At Nashville, Tennessee, on December 12, 1862, Major General William Rosecrans made Woodruff the Brigade Commander of the 10th Ohio, the 3rd, and 6th Tennessee regiments. Rosecrans changed Woodruff’s position to command as Colonel of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division (under General Jefferson C. Davis), Right Wing, 14th Army Corps, Department of the Cumberland. articles main • print view • back to topUnion General William S. Rosecrans was feeling pressure from Washington to launch an offensive campaign against Confederate General Braxton Bragg. Washington was afraid that Bragg might attack Nashville, reinforce Confederate General Robert E. Lee, or possibly outflank the Capitol and move against Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Instead, Bragg decided to wait for Rosecrans at Murfreesboro, Tennessee and take a defensive position. The day after Christmas, 1862, William Rosecrans, with over half his Army of the Cumberland, advanced southeast from Nashville, Tennessee. Rosecrans attempted to fool Bragg by moving in three different directions. Union General Thomas Crittenden came from the Murfreesboro Pike, Major General Alexander McCook parallel to and fifteen miles west of Bragg, and Major General George Thomas was to move straight south on McCook’s right, then turn east and strike the Confederate flank. The ruse worked and Bragg was confused. From December 26, 1862 to December 30, 1862, the Yankee army moved ahead in separate columns marching thirty miles to Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s position in front of Murfreesboro. On December 30, Woodruff received orders to move forward in line of battle and directed to join his left with Brigadier General Joshua Sill’s brigade, holding the right of the 2nd Division, under Brigadier General Phil Sheridan, and Colonel Carlin, commanding the 2nd Brigade, of the First Division, who would connect his line with Woodruff’s right. Woodruff formed two lines of battle, the 35th Illinois Infantry, under Lt. Colonel Chandler, on the right; the 25th Illinois Infantry, under Colonel T. D. Williams, on the left, in the first line of battle, and the 81st Indiana Infantry, under Lt. Colonel Timberlake, in the second line in reserve, the extreme left on the right of the Wilkinson turnpike; the 8th Wisconsin Battery of four guns, under Captain Carpenter, being placed in intervals, between General Sill’s right and Woodruff’s left. In front of Woodruff’s lines where the skirmishers, detailed from the 25th and 35th Illinois, under the command of Major McIlwain, of the 35th Illinois. At 10 a.m., Woodruff moved forward and halted on the edge of a large cotton field, immediately in front of a wood running parallel with the turnpike, with his lines facing Murfreesboro. Woodruff ordered his artillery the fire a few shells into the woods, but no Confederates could be seen in front of his lines. At 3 p.m. Woodruff’s sent his skirmishers to occupy a belt of timber. Major McIlwain reported to Woodruff that the Confederate skirmishers were in the farthest woods to his front and left. Woodruff sent another company to assist Major McIlwain, with orders to push the Confederate skirmishers back. Woodruff’s brigade was ordered forward and halted in the first belt of timber. Woodruff rode forward to determine the Rebel position and to assist in directing his skirmishers and urging them forward. After giving his skirmishers directions, he rode back to his command. The woods to Woodruff’s right was so thick an bushy he could not see farther than the left of the Second Brigade, but discovered the 2nd Brigade advancing. Woodruff moved forward to protect the 2nd Brigade’s flank. Sheridan’s division halted one hundred yards in the rear of Woodruff’s brigade.
Woodruff’s skirmishers began to fall back rapidly and Woodruff tried to get the officer in command of Sheridan’s skirmishers to advance to their support, since Woodruff’s brigade had not only driven back the Confederate skirmishers from General Sill’s line, but since he did not have any orders to move forward, he refused. Woodruff ordered Colonel Williams to detach the left company of his regiment and deploy them as skirmishers, to relieve or strengthen those already engaged in battle and falling back. Woodruff’s brigade advanced “in splendid order”5 and became engaged with the Confederate infantry. Woodruff drove the Confederates back through the woods and cornfield to their own lines. Woodruff’s brigade was now far in advance of any support upon the left, so he decided to halt and wait for the rest of the brigades to catch up. Woodruff took position in the rear of a rail fence, with his right at right angles, obtaining an oblique as well as direct, fire, but the space to be occupied by his brigade was so great that the 81st Indiana was ordered up to complete his line, leaving Woodruff with no reserves. articles main • print view • back to top ““such a terrific effect that their yells of pain, terror, and anguish, as
our shells exploded in their dense ranks, could be distinctly heard where we stood.”
Woodruff placed his battery in the angle of the fence to protect his right and front. Brigadier General Sill rode up and joined Woodruff’s left. They remained in position, receiving heavy fire and occasionally replying with his shell, when toward nightfall, the Confederates opened with a heavy artillery fire, on the right of Colonel Carlin’s brigade. After discovering their battery, and with Woodruff’s battery being in good range and position to enfilade the Confederate battery, he ordered Captain Carpenter to silence the Confederate battery. Carpenter silenced the Rebel battery in five minutes. Rebel infantry attacked Colonel Carlin, and Captain Carpenter opened his artillery on the Confederates with “such a terrific effect that their yells of pain, terror, and anguish, as our shells exploded in their dense ranks, could be distinctly heard where we stood.” The Confederates halted their attack and darkness closed the day’s battle.
Bragg’s 38,000 men from his Army of Tennessee were deployed along a four-mile front arching inward. About 1.5 miles west and northwest of Murfreesboro, his lines covered the Nashville Pike and the winding Stone’s River, which passed behind his men, under the pike, and then meandered northwest along the east of the pike. Recent heavy rains had raised the level of the river. Bragg put Confederate Patrick Cleburne’s division on the far left resting on the westward bend of the river, with a brigade of cavalry extending south. In the woods to Cleburne’s right was Confederate General Leonidas Polk’s Corps, extending a mile and a half across the open side of a wide eastward bend of the river, resting on the stream. Breckinridge’s division was on the east side. His left meeting with Polk’s right across the river, and extending at right angles east across the northern approach to Murfreesboro. Breckinridge was in a good position to cross the river and reinforce Polk’s center, but several hundred yards to his front was a commanding position called Wayne’s Hill. Rosecrans was only a few hundred yards from Bragg’s army. The Federal commander believed that if he could push Bragg from Murfreesboro, he could secure Nashville’s supply lines and eliminate threats from the Army of Tennessee until spring. Bragg hoped to do the opposite, and used the days of Rosecrans' slow advance to plan the coming battle. By late on December 30, 1862, facing the Confederates from right to left, he had deployed Major General John C. Breckinridge’s division (east of the pike and the river), Lt. General Leonidas Polk’s corps (from the pike river crossing to a point about 1 ¼ mile west) and Lt. General William Hardee’s Corps (from Polk’s left, west about 1 3/4 mile). He planned on assaulting Rosecrans right with Hardee’s Corps and turning the entire Union force, putting its back to the river, and ideally, cutting off its northwest line of retreat on the Nashville Pike. A second road, the Wilkinson Pike, traveling west-northwest, cut the intervening ground between the Confederate left and the Nashville Pike, and intersected and ended at the Nashville Pike about a quarter of a mile behind the Southern lines. Bragg established headquarters at the intersection and ordered an attack for daylight December 31, 1862. articles main • print view • back to topRosecrans plan of battle was for McCook to hold the right, for Thomas' center troops to begin with skirmishing, and Crittenden’s left wing to maneuver to Stones River and cross two divisions, and then assail Bragg’s right. Rosecrans intelligence revealed that Breckinridge’s lone division held the Confederate line east of the river. With two divisions to Breckinridge’s one, he would thrust the Confederates back, attain Bragg’s rear and flank, and with the Union line wheeling to its left, push the Confederates west and southwest, out and away from Murfreesboro. To ensure an overextension of the Confederate lines, he ordered McCook to send detachments farther to the left after dark on December 30, and to build campfires to give the illusion of a longer Union line. He then ordered an attack for 7:00 A.M. on December 31, 1862.
Deceived by the false extension of Rosecrans lines, Bragg pulled his lone reserve division, commanded by Maj. General John McCown, and a second line division of Hardee’s, led by Maj. General Patrick Cleburne, and threw them out on his left against McCook’s phantom troops. Bragg attacked at 6:00 A.M., before Rosecrans had a chance to attack and his assault caught the Federals unprepared. McCown moved forward as Cleburne put his division five hundred yards behind the first line to attack Rosecrans right flank. Willich’s brigade saw the Rebels coming and fired when they got within two-hundred yards of the Federals. Union Brigadier General Edward Kirk was wounded. Willich, who had been away, rode up only to be captured by the Rebels. Rosecrans right totally collapsed. McCown was pulled off course in his wheel movement, and Cleburne had to fill in where McCown’s position was. Cleburne now faced Union Jefferson Davis’s 1st brigade under Colonel Sidney Post. Post could not handle the assault and gave way. At 7:30 A.M., the Federals reformed with fresh regiments and held until Confederate assaults broke their lines. All of Rosecrans five brigades collapsed and Rosecrans line was pushed a mile back on the right flank. The Rebel assault now hammering against McCook’s left wing pushed McCook’s troops back on George Thomas. Polk forged ahead, startling the Federals. Polk sent Cheatham’s division to attack Sheridan’s division, under Brigadier General Joshua Sill, and Brigadier General Jefferson Davis Division, under Colonels William P. Carlin and William Woodruff. “Captain Carpenter's battery opened fire with “terrific effect with grape
and canister, and they were mowed down as grass beneath the sickle”
As day broke on December 31, 1862, Woodruff placed three guns from his battery on his left and pointed to General Sill the weakness of the line at this point, and requested him to order up some regiments of his brigade, held in reserve, to strengthen his right and protect Woodruff’s left, feeling certain that the Confederates would lead an attack, and would be made on that point. Sill agreed with Woodruff and ordered up two regiments, which remained for a short while and then returned to their former positions as a reserve. Soon after the withdrawal of the reserves ordered up by General Sill, the Confederates under Colonel Loomis, comprised of the 26th, 39th, and 25th Alabama attacked in five heavy lines of infantry and Woodruff immediately engaged his brigade in battle. Captain Carpenter’s battery opened fire with “terrific effect with grape and canister, and they were mowed down as grass beneath the sickle,”6 while the infantry poured a well-directed and destructive fire into the Confederate ranks. Colonel Loomis’s right three regiments, the 1st Louisiana, 19th Alabama, and 22nd Alabama hit Sill’s line. During the battle Colonel Loomis was injured and Confederate Colonel Vaughan sent in his infantry after Loomis men fell back. articles main • print view • back to topDuring the battle the 24th Wisconsin Infantry, which joined Woodruff’s left, gave way, leaving his battery and left flank exposed to an enfilading fire. Woodruff succeeded in rallying the men as a reserve. At this moment, Brigadier General Sill’s brigade began to swing to the rear, and Colonel Carlin’s began to fall back. On Loomis right, Col. A.M. Manigault attacked Sill. Sill was killed when he was riding over to Bush’s guns to aid in the advance and his men fell back on Woodruff. Woodruff received orders to take position to the rear, some three hundred yards, in the belt of timber. Before he could begin moving to the woods, he was flanked on the right and left. The brigade moved to the rear and halted on their new line, but the right and left continuing the march, and being pushed, Woodruff decided to make a charge and drove Colonel Vaughan’s Confederate infantry back in their front and not only carried this point, but swung the Confederate’s lines upon right and left with it. Woodruff commented in his official report that had he been supported by General Davis, the Confederates would have been routed, since he regained his position occupied when the battle opened, but Colonel Vaughan’s superior numbers forced Woodruff to yield his ground from where the first charge was made on the Confederates. Woodruff charged a second time, compelling the Confederates to yield their ground, but Woodruff’s ammunition began to fail, and no wagons could be found to replenish his stock. Woodruff placed his battery and gave orders where to fire. The ammunition of the regiments began to fail, and a perfect rout appeared to have taken place and the brigade fell back to the ground occupied by them on December 29, 1862. During this time, the whole division was in the “utmost confusion,” and Woodruff tried to use “every endeavor to rally and organize them, but without avail.” Officers and men passed to the rear. In three different positions, Woodruff tried to reform his lines, but the task became impossible. Reaching the Murfreesboro pike, a stampede began in the wagon train, but he succeeded in getting a regiment across the road, and stopped the stampede with a charge from the cavalry which saved the wagon train from capture by the Confederates. During the battle, Union General Phil Sheridan’s men reformed their position on the Wilkinson Pike, west of a farm. Brigadier General James Negley’s division, of George Thomas' center corps, was linked on Sheridans left and extended northeast toward the Nashville Pike. Sheridan’s position was a cedar forest that was so dense no one could see where his men were hidden. Sheridan supplied his men with ammunition, and under the cover of the forest, he massed fifty-seven pieces of artillery. Sheridan’s strong position now provided Rosecrans with an anchor for his right. As the Federals fell back on the Nashville Pike, the first Union division sent across Stone’s River to assault Breckinridge was recalled. Rosecrans moved the line of George Thomas to form another division in front of the massed artillery that Sheridan had assembled on the Nashville Pike. The Chattanooga and Nashville Railroad ran parallel to the pike on the east, and around it grew a four-acre wood called the Round Forest, dubbed by soldiers “Hell’s Half Acre”. Rosecrans pulled his artillery to an elevation behind these woods. Now protected from attacks from the south by Union Major General James Negley’s division, Sheridan’s division held the Federal center. The Union line resembled a narrow V, with the Federal right and left being pressed back on one another. By 11:00 A.M., Sheridan’s troops had fallen back, with Negley’s men following quickly behind him, and the new line was created with the Round Forest forming a sharp salient. Five Union brigades, under Colonel William Hazen, Brigadier General Charles Cruft, Colonel William Grose, Brigadier General Milo Hascall, and Colonel George Wagner held the Round Forest. Supported by the massed artillery in their rear, they withstood repeated Confederate attacks by Polk’s men. Chalmer’s was wounded during the attack on the Round Forest and was replaced by Donelson, who was immediately attacked, but Colonel William Hazen stood firm. Two brigades under Breckinridge were sent in, but the attacks were piecemeal, and were not successful in dislodging the Federals from the Round Forest. Darkness ended the assaults by the Confederates. At nightfall, a thin line of Union divisions held the road to Nashville, and additional troops stretched around to the east of the Round Forest, facing Stone’s River and Breckinridge’s Confederates. articles main • print view • back to topDuring the battle, orders reached Woodruff to place his brigade in reserve along the Murfreesboro pike, and waited for orders. Davis ordered Woodruff to support the division which was being driven in by the Confederates and although his men were tired and worn out by the exposure to rain, without tents or blankets, for seven days, and the want of sleep and the lack of food for two days, the command rushed forward, forded the river three times, pushed the Rebels back with the “greatest rapidity, the ground being covered with rebel dead and wounded.” Woodruff’s brigade went into position about two miles from the ford and on the extreme left. During the night, Woodruff’s men built abatis of rails and lay on their arms, without fires, in a drenching rain. On January 3, Woodruff expected an attack, but none came, Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s army had left the battlefield. After the battle, Woodruff tallied his losses. He lost four commissioned officers killed, seven wounded and one missing; 25 privates killed, 162 wounded, and 125 missing, in all Woodruff lost 324 men from his brigade. At the battle of Stone’s River, Woodruff injured his ankle and joints of his right foot and requested a leave of absence from the army while in the hospital on the Nashville Turnpike. On January 26, 1863, the surgeon agreed that Brigadier General Woodruff (Woodruff was still wearing his Brigadier General epaulettes) was unable to perform his duties because of his injuries and his sickness from the weather. The surgeons report, along with Woodruff’s request for leave, were sent to headquarters. Woodruff seems to have been very upset that his promotion to Brigadier General was overturned, and for good reason. While in the hospital, Woodruff sent his resignation letter to Rosecrans. The letter as written, follows: Nashville, Tenn.. Jan. 19th, 1863 On January 28, 1863, his resignation was approved, and Woodruff went home to Louisville, Kentucky. On June 4, 1888, when Woodruff was sixty-one years of age, he was finally given justice when a special act of Congress and the House of Representatives gave him the commission of General for his meritorious service. He was entitled to a $50.00 a month pension. Woodruff died on July 5, 1915, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was survived by his wife, Francis, and his three children: E. Belle Woodruff, Charles Woodruff, and Edith M. Woodruff.■ 1Thomas Van Horne, The Army of the Cumberland, (New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1996, original printing, 1875), 2-3. 2From Kentucky. Reception of Col. W. E. Woodruff-His experiences-Treason Stalking abroad unpunished and unstrained. Louisville, Kentucky, April 24, 1862, The New York Times, May 4, 1862. 3Ibid. 4Ibid. 5Report of Col. William E. Woodruff, Commanding Third Brigade. Dec. 26, 1862-Jan. 5, 1863-The Stone's River or Murfreesboro, Tennessee Campaign. O. R. Series 1, vol. XX/1 [s#29] 6Ibid. This specific article is under full copyright. 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