Manuscript Database
Creator/Title
Wynn, David M., b. ca. 1842. Letter, 3 March 1863. 4 pp.
Call No.
Mss. C W
Content
In a letter to John Griffeth of Richland County, Ohio from Camp Parole, Maryland dated 3 March 1863, Pvt. David M. Wynn describes the opening of the Battle of Stones River, Tennessee on 31 December 1862. A member of the 49th Ohio Infantry, Wynn witnessed the Confederate assault on the Union right flank. He relates that his division commander, Brig. Gen. Richard W. Johnson refused the request of his brigade commander, Brig. Gen. August Willich, to permit the men to load their guns the night before the attack. Early the next morning, he continues, the enemy attacked while Willich's men were making breakfast. He relates that his regiment held their fire until they heard an advancing rebel shout, "Horra (sic) for Texas!" He declares, "the bullets semed (sic) to fall thicker than drops of rain from the heavens in...a storm." Taken prisoner, he states that he traveled over 1900 miles through the Confederacy before he was released and sent to Camp Parole.