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own command sustaining slight loss.
At midnight of the 29th, General Wheeler, reinforced by Col. James E. Carter, First Tennessee cavalry, was ordered to the rear of the enemy.
He reported that at daylight he met near Jefferson a brigade train which he took and destroyed, capturing 50 prisoners; at Lavergne attacked and captured 700 prisoners and destroyed immense trains amounting to many hundred thousand dollars in value; at Rock Springs captured and destroyed another large train; at Nolensville captured large trains, stores and arms, and 300 prisoners; after which he proceeded to the left of the Confederate army, thus making a compass of the enemy's rear.
At the dawn of day, December 31st, Major-General Mc-Cown (Tennessee) opened the battle of Murfreesboro with his division, composed of Ector's, McNair's and Rains' brigades.
A volley was delivered after advancing for several hundred yards under fire, and with fixed bayonets the position and batteries of the enemy were taken, and the officer in command, Brigadier-General Willich, was captured.
McCown, continuing his advance, supported by Cleburne's division, reached a point near the Wilkinson road, where, finding the enemy strongly posted, the division was pushed forward and after a fierce struggle again routed the forces opposing.
It was at this point that Brig.-Gen. James E. Rains (Tennessee) fell, shot through the heart.
General McCown reported that the fall of this gallant officer and accomplished gentleman threw his brigade into confusion.
The division, after driving the enemy two miles, was ordered to retire a short distance for reformation; about the same time the gallant Col. G. W. Gordon, Eleventh Tennessee, afterward brigadier-general, fell dangerously wounded.
Cleburne, advancing with his division, composed of L. E. Polk's, Bushrod Johnson's, St. John Liddell's and S. A. M. Wood's brigades, soon found himself in the front line, skirmishing over broken ground filled with limestone
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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