“AT THIS PLACE” The Burial of Lt. Colonel J.D. Elliott By Thomas Zei
The highest ranked officer known buried in Stones River National Cemetery is Lt. Colonel J.D. Elliott in Section H, Grave 3081. His grave is marked with a large elaborate headstone inscribed with the following: 102 Regiment O.V.I. Lt. Col. J. D. Elliott - Wounded September 24, 1864 in a battle fought at this place, between General Forrest and himself. Died October 13, 1864. Aged 24 years. At first reading of the inscription, one would conclude that he died during the Battle of the Cedars since that is the only battle fought “at this place” in 1864 against General Forrest. But something isn’t right because the Battle of the Cedars didn’t occur until December 1864 outside of Murfreesboro. And there is no other record of Forrest having activity in Rutherford County in September, 1864. So where was the here for “a battle fought at this place?” One immediate clue was on the headstone itself. Not on the front, but the grave number etched on the back. The grave number was 3081. Most of the graves at Stones River National Cemetery are numbered in rows. But an anomaly occurs in Sections A, B, H and J. About half way across in the sections moving away from the central plaza, the graves are numbered in columns, not rows. Looking at the adjoining headstones to Lt. Col. Elliott’s graves shows that his grave number is one of those numbered in a column, not a row of grave numbers. This was a great indicator that here was not here but actually a there. For the graves numbered in columns were all the graves moved from Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, TN. Rose Hill Cemetery was designated as one of the sites for centralizing Union soldier burials. Just like Stones River National Cemetery, Rose Hill was designated to receive all the deceased along a railroad line. In this case, it was the railroad line from south of Nashville down to Athens, AL on the north side of the Tennessee River. After the reburials occurred, several problems were identified with the selection of Rose Hill Cemetery. For one, it was privately owned and not managed by the War Department. Graves were not properly maintained and fell into disrepair. The cemetery was not fenced causing problems from wildlife. Finally, Rose Hill also was a site of Confederate burials. Both the Union and Confederate veterans did not like the thought of burying the enemy together. Once Stones River National Cemetery completed the reburials from its assigned territory and still had available space, the decision was made to move all of the Union dead from Rose Hill to Murfreesboro. Based on this, we know “in this place” was not here in Murfreesboro but was somewhere there, along the Nashville and Decatur Railroad line. Research was needed to find out about Lt. Col. Elliott and where “at this place” he met his demise against General Nathan Bedford Forrest. (to be continued)
