Spoils of War: Trophies from First Murfreesboro

On Saturday morning July 26, 1862, the editors of the AtlantaSouthern Confederacy heard a ruckus in the streets and looking outdoors sawthat a large and visibly angry crowd had gathered in front of Hunnicutt &Taylor’s store. Hanging above the window was a “very large and handsome Lincolnflag,” the editors later remembered. “In full view from our window, spread tothe breeze waving to and fro was the beautiful flag of the once powerful andhonored, but now broken and disgraced, United States.”

          The stars andstripes had not flown in Atlanta since January 1861 when Georgia became thefifth state to secede from the Union. And now this hated emblem floating in thecenter of Atlanta? Lieutenant Robert Graham, serving in Co. H of the 2ndGeorgia Cavalry, soon provided an explanation- the flag was the regimental flagof the 9th Michigan Infantry, captured during the recent engagementat Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The “rising wrath” of the crowd subsided once theysaw that the Union of the flag was down, and accepted Lieutenant Graham’sexplanation.

          The editors ofthe Southern Confederacy ventured across the street to Hunnicutt &Taylor’s to examine the flag up close. “We found it to be a magnificenttrophy,” they noted. “It is the largest and handsomest flag we ever saw. It isof the finest silk, the brightest colors, and is most tastefully wrought- thestars and name of the regiment being in the most elegant needlework and the wholesurrounded by the finest silk fringe.”

A portion of a later flag carried by the 9th Michigan Infantry and now in the hands of the Michigan State Capitol. The location of the original flag described in this article is unknown. 

          LieutenantGraham brought several trophies home from the battle besides the flag, including the brigadiergeneral epaulettes that belonged to General William W. Duffield and two captains’swords, one of which belonged to Captain Oliver C. Rounds who commanded CompanyB of the 9th Michigan. “It is of the most elegant workmanship andfinish; we never saw a service sword that was more beautiful,” the editorsgushed. “It had on it this inscription: ‘Presented to O.C. Rounds, Captain,Chandler Guards, 9th Regiment, Mich., by his friends of Niles,Michigan.”

          While the editorsmay have gushed about his beautiful sword, they had a much less favorable viewof Captain Rounds. As it turns out, Captain Rounds was the provost marshal inMurfreesboro at the time of Forrest’s attack on July 13, 1862. While hisCompany B fought the 2nd Georgia Cavalry at the Rutherford CountyCourthouse (see “Charging the Rutherford County Courthouse”), Lieutenant Grahamclaimed that Captain Rounds was found hiding under the bed of his bride to be at ahome in Murfreesboro.

The young woman he was courtingwas Corine Reeves who lived in the mansion of her grandmother Katherine Reeves.The Reeves family were known for their Union sympathies and offered room andboard to Federal officers, including Rounds’ commanding officer LieutenantColonel John G. Parkhurst. Parkhurst himself was courting Corine’s older sister Josephine in July 1862. The editors ofthe Confederacy would perhaps be scandalized (but not surprised) tolearn that while Captain Rounds was wooing Corine, he already had a wife in Michigan! [The 1860 censusstates that Rounds was living in Niles, Michigan with his wife Sarah; theyremained married and are buried together at Inglewood Park near Los Angeles, California.]

All that aside, as the Confederacyreported it, Captain Rounds was due to marry Corine on the evening of July 13th.The wedding day certainly didn’t go according to plan. After taking the courthouse in the center of town, Confederate detachments spread throughout the city to capture other members of the garrison. Lieutenant Grahamlearned from local residents that Rounds was staying in the Reeves’ mansion and“went to the house where he was met by the captain’s intended wife, who, inanswer to his inquiries, assured him that Captain Rounds was not in the house.”Reeves’ neighbors, watching this, assured Graham that Rounds was indeed in thehouse, so the Georgian entered the house to investigate for himself. “He soondiscovered him under the bed and, seizing him by the foot, dragged him out andreceived from him his sword." 

 The current locations of both the 9thMichigan flag and Captain Rounds’ sword are unknown.

Sources:

“A Union Flag Displayed in Atlanta,” Atlanta SouthernConfederacy (Georgia), July 27, 1862, pg. 3

John Gibson Parkhurst Collection, Michigan State University, https://d.lib.msu.edu/cwc-jgparkhurst