What I love about the South is the rich history. We were on our way to perform in Murfreesboro, TN for the Kiwanis, Kentucky, Tennessee District when we saw a sign pointing to The Stones River Battlefield of 1862. We had some time before our gig
and decided to check it out... Man, it was brutal!
Not far from Nashville, Tennessee, it was the second bloodiest battle fought west of the Appalachians during the Civil War, at times, it was a sea of red snow. I can't even fathom the two armies gathering on the banks of Stones River within 700 yards of one another and KABOOM! 24, 000 men lost their lives. It was so bloody, they called it the slaughter bank, later dubbed “Hell’s Half Acre” by the men who fought there.
I remember reading about a pastor who cared for the wounded instead of carrying a rifle, John M. Whitehead, assigned to the Fifteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, he received the nation’s highest military honor for the bravery and compassion he showed under fire at the Battle of Stones River.
Whitehead dressed wounds, prayed over the dead and dying, and heard last words. He said, and I quote, “Of my own regiment every alternate man was either killed or wounded,”
The pastor was a non-combatant who was with his regiment during the entire battle, comforting the dying, carrying off the wounded and caring for them.
If you're having a bad day, think about this day, the day after Christmas 1862, such devastation!