Rowlett's Station Battlefield

Battle of Rowlett's Station
Battle of the Green River
Date: December 17, 1861
Location: Munfordville, Kentucky
Commanders: Union-Col Karl von Trebra (Brig Gen Don Carlos Buell); Confederate-Brig Gen Thomas Hindman (Gen Albert Johnson)
Strength: Union-500; Confederate-1300
Casualties: Union-40; Confederate-91
Result: Inconclusive, minor tactical Union Victory
Current Status: protected by the Battle of the Bridge Preserve

The first engagement between the organized Army of the Ohio and the Confederate Army of South Kentucky, the future two main opposing forces in the Western Theater, would be an unsuccessful Confederate cavalry raid on a strategic bridge controlled by the Federals.

In 1861 Brig. Gen. Don Carlos Buell took command of the Department of the Ohio, which had seized Western Virginia earlier in the year, with the objective of seizing control of Kentucky. Sending his newly formed Army of the Ohio Southward, Buell advanced before the Confederate withdrawal down the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.  The Second Division, commanded by Brig Gen Alexander McCook was halted on December 10 here on the Green River of Munfordville after the retreating Confederate forces blew up the L&N bridge, the charges set off Confederate Maj Gen Simon Buckner, a local of Munfordville.  

On December 17, 1861, 500 troops of the 32nd Indiana had built a platoon bridge and forded the Green River at Munfordville to protect the L&N bridge while it was being repaired by army engineers to allow wagons and artillery to cross. Formed  in 1861, the 32nd Indiana was also known as the "1st German" regiment after the large number of German immigrants who filled its ranks. Many of these were socialists who had fled the 1848 Revolutions in Europe, and who enthusiastically joined the Union ranks to fight what they saw as a perpetuation of European aristocracy in the United States. The 32nd was led by Col August Willich, a prominent German socialist who had broken ranks with Karl Marx himself and who would prove an innovative and capable leader in the field, though the fording detachment was led by Karl von Trebra.  The 32nd quickly moved up to a strategic hill near a train stop called Rowlett's Station.

The Battlefield of Rowlett's Station as seen today.  The site of the Station is near the barns on the left.

That afternoon, the pickets encountered the enemy, and von Trebra sent two companies in pursuit, only to be suddenly hit by a large Confederate force. The Confederates were a mixed force of the 1st Arkansas Battalion infantry, the 7th and 8th Texas Cavalry, and an artillery detachment under the command of Brig Gen Thomas Hindman. Falling back to the hill, the companies of the 32nd fell into the classic Napoleonic "square" position as they were repeatedly attacked by Confederate cavalry. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the regiment drove back the Confederates, in the process killing the leader of the 8th Texas cavalry, Col Benjamin Terry. With Terry's death, the Confederates broke off and withdrew.

This small battle cost the Federal 32nd some 40 casualties.  Confederate losses were more difficult, as Hindman claimed only 14, though research suggests a loss of twice as much as the Federals. Most grievous however was the loss of Col Terry, a capable leader.  His regiment, the 8th Texas, was later renamed as the Terry's Texas Rangers in honor of their fallen commander and would be famed as one of the most effective cavalry units of the war.

After the battle, Private August Bloedner carved this monument from limestone to honor his fallen comrades, who were buried on the field of battle. Placed on there in January 1862, this is the oldest surviving monument from the American Civil War.

Inscribed in German, the monument is translated as follows:

"Here rest the first martyrs of the thirty-second, the first German regiment of Indiana. They were fighting nobly in defense of the free Constitution of the United States of America. They fell on the 17th day of December, 1861, in the battle at Rowlett's Station, in which one regiment of Texas Rangers, two regiments of infantry, and six pieces of rebel artillery, in all over three thousand men, were defeated by five hundred German soldiers."

In 1867 the monument was moved, with the graves, to Cave Hill National Cemetery in Louisville, where it steadily deteriorated in the elements.  In 2010 it was moved to the Frazier Museum where it currently resides awaiting restoration.

Strategically, nothing of consequence occurred after the Battle of Rowlett's Station.  The L&N bridge was repaired, but Buell's forces were sent to reinforce Grant at Fort Donelson, which they were unable to do before the fall of that position.  Buell then began his march to the important objective of Nashville.  

Today, the Rowlett's Station battlefield is part of the Battle for the Bridge Preserve just South of Munfordville Kentucky.  To visit, take HWY65 to Munfordville, exit at 31W, and continue as it leaves the city and crosses the Green River.  At the sign for "Battle of the Bridge Preserve" take a right into the dirt parking lot.  Follow the trails South.
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