Stand Fast!

As sounds of battle drew near and struggling blue-coated troops fell back through the trees, loading and firing as they retired, they passed over a line where a battalion was ordered to rise up. Though the brigade was short of ammunition and some companies had no more than 20 rounds, the Confederates came on and seemed to burst through the thicket just in front. The command to commence firing sent volleys into them as men fell and others stepped into the vacant places. Henry Freeman, orderly sergeant of the 3rd Battalion, Pioneer Brigade in the Army of the Cumberland, recalled the fight. In that army, a brigade of pioneers did the pick, shovel, and ax work of building roads and bridges, with officers selecting two men from every company of every regiment for the duty. Many of the men who fought on this knoll had been carpenters or miners in civilian life, and although they had never before trained to fight as a unit and their leaders did not know whether they would stand or run, this line of untried road builders held fast and stopped the massive Confederate assault.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee · United States