Civil War Confederate Army Officer. He served during the Civil War as Colonel and commander of the 12th Louisiana Infantry. He was killed during the Battle of Franklin in 1864.∼Enlisted on August 13, 1861 as 1st Lt. Co. L. 12th Louisiana Infantry at Camp Moore, Louisiana. He was promoted to Captain on Jan. 9, 1862, to Major on May 11, 1862 to Lt. Colonel on January 5,1863 and to Colonel on May 10, 1864. He was listed as on sick leave at Union Springs, Alabama in August, 1863.
He was born in Walton County, Georgia and was a farmer in Claiborne County, Louisiana. He married Emma Moragne in 1860 and their only child, Anne Mary Nelson was born in 1861, just three months after his enlistment. He was mortally wounded at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864 and died in great agony early the next morning.
Noel would rise from the obscurity of a Lieutenant to Colonel and commanding officer of the regiment. Elected by the men who put their trust and lives in his hands, he would lead them through many fierce battles until that fateful Indian Summer day at a little town called Franklin. There, amid the rolling hills and green valleys of Middle Tennessee, he and the Army of Tennessee would make the ultimate sacrifice for home and country. The 12th Louisiana would be decimated here losing almost 80 men killed and wounded.
As Lt. Colonel, Noel was cited in the official report of his commander, Colonel Thomas M. Scott after the Battle of Champion's Hill, Mississippi in May 1863, attesting to as "..deserving Honorable Mention for Gallantry and Unflinching Courage " during the battle. On May 10, 1864 he succeeded to command of the regiment upon Scott's promotion to Brigadier General. During that grand charge at Franklin, Noel received several terribly mutilating and mortal wounds from a direct blast of canister from enemy cannons while fighting against the extreme left flank of the Federal's fortified lines. He, along with hundreds of other wounded and dying were taken to a nearby mansion called "Carnton" which was being used as one of the many hospitals hastily set up to care for the agonized, helpless wounded, both Blue and Gray. The owners of Carnton, John & Caroline McGavock, gave their home willingly, with Caroline tearing up every piece of available cloth to use for bandages. The wounded and dying were made as comfortable as possible until they filled every available room. They were even placed in the halls and under the stairs, and yet still they kept arriving, boys and men from the cities and farms from across the South, withering in pain, seeing their life's blood seeping from their wounds to stain the beautiful wooden floors and imported carpets.
A fellow officer, Col. C.E. Merrill, describes Noel's last agonizing hours before death, "...(he) lay dying, torn to pieces by a discharge of grape and canister at close range... Both legs were crushed by a cannon ball and his bowels torn by iron grape. His eyes, through exhaustion caused by pain, sank back into his head..."Give me forty grains of morphine!' he called out all through the night. 'Give me forty grains of morphine and let me die! Oh, can't I die? My poor wife and child! My poor wife and child! ... 0h Merrill! Can you not get the surgeons to administer some drug that will relieve me of this torture?' I did try, though my appeals were in vain ... Cold perspiration gathered in knots, on his brow, and, of course, (he) knew that death was inevitable...I went down the steps far out beneath the silence of the stars to escape his piteous prayers."
Noel died soon afterwards and was buried under the very ground that he and his men had so recently charged across. Dozens more died in this makeshift hospital, many before their wounds could even be attended to. They died alone, and in pain, shivering in the cold and dark beneath the stars of a clear Southern sky. How many of those men and boys shared Noel's last thoughts of family and loved ones before they too passed on will never be known. Noel now peacefully sleeps in Grave Number one of the small Louisiana Section with 17 other Louisianans.
Citations:
"Confederate Veteran Magazine' 1897, Vol. 4, pages 462-463, 600.
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Series I Vol. 24, Pt.2 pp.90
United States Census of Louisiana, 1860.
Letter to his widow:
Camp 12th Louisiana Regiment
near Verona Station Mobile & Ohio R.R.
January the 22nd 1865
Mrs. Nelson
Feeling it a duty to inform you of certain facts in reference to the death and burial of your beloved husband I will now attempt to give you in detail what facts I am in possession of believing that it may attend to allay your bereavement to some extent. I can assure you that in the loss of Col. Nelson our Regiment have lost a friend that can never be replaced. And in him that is now no more I have lost my best friend and our whole Band mourn his loss He was a good friend of the Band and all the Band loved and honored him as much as if he had been a near Relative. He was a noble man and one who was honored and respected by all who knew in the army. Well he fell at the head of his Regiment leading them on to the charge at Franklin, he was brought from off the field about midnight and died shortly after. I did not get to see him before he died, as I was over at another field infirmary and did not see him until the next morning until daylight when I went over to see him not knowing he was dead until I got there and found him dead and he was the most natural corpse I ever beheld he looked as though he was merely asleep. So the first thing that I thought of was that he should be nicely put away in his grave. So I asked Dr. Field (1) for a pass to go to Franklin and procure him a good coffin which was two miles from the hospital, and so I got Mr. Hedgepeth (2) a member of our Band and we went to town in search of (a) coffin.
There were two undertakers shops in town (3) but one of (them) the Yankees burnt down as he was a secesh I suppose & I went to the other and made inquiry if I could get a coffin and was told by the proprietor that he had none but 3 which I saw in the shop and they were plain ones just finished and he asked me if I had applied to the other shop and I told him 'that was burnt down but he then remarked that the owner had saved some and to go there and I could got one and so me and Hedgpeth went to the other shop and I made Inquiry and the gentleman told me that he had some but that they were all too small but told me to go upstairs and satisfy myself and so I went and found all too small and he then remarked to me that if I would go to the other shop I could get one he thought but I told him that I had just come from there and he told me he had only 3 and they were spoken for, and he said that the man had told me a lie for said he was upstairs at his shop only a few days previous and he had over a hundred and so when he told me that I was quite enraged and was determined to go and get one so just at that time I saw an old acquaintance from Florida who was In the same business as myself and so he joined us and we went to the shop and asked again if we could get any coffins and the man of the shop having went out when I got back we asked the negroe (sic) boy who was working in the shop and the boy said he had none and we told him we did not want him to lie for we knew there was coffins there and he then said there was some upstairs but that they were fine cedar coffins. We told him that was just the kind wanted and so the old man who was out had the key that unlocked the door which led upstairs, and so we took an axe and forced the door open and went upstairs and there was a large room just full of coffins all painted and nicely varnished so we just took one and myself and Hedgepeth carried It on our shoulders to Mr. McGavock's where the corpse was and we procured a nice white sheet and buried him nicely just as nice as he could of been buried anywhere. Should you wish to move his remains ever the coffin will be good and sound for it is cedar and will outlast any other kind of wood.
Hoping this may tend to give you satisfaction as to his burial I will close from any further remarks, though I still mourn the loss of him yet and shall never forget him as long as I live. our whole Band deeply sympathies with you. Well if there are any other information that you may wish to know and I am in possession of I will take pleasure in giving you information. Well I will now close hoping this may find you well and in good health. I am
respectfully your obt. Servt and friend
Thomas P Ailes (4)
Leader 12th La Brass Band
Scott's Brigade Loring's Division
Army of Tennessee
(Copy of letter received from Mr. Stanley M. Cichowicz of Stafford, Virginia, descendant of Col. Nelson. Letter was transcribed and annotated by Tim Burgess, March, 1998.)
Notes
1. Asst. Surgeon William B. Field, 12th Louisiana Infantry, appt. Asst. Surgeon on July 15, 1862 for station at Canton, Mississippi. Appt. Asst. Surgeon for 12th Louisiana on July 10, 1863. Present on all rolls through August, 1864. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 11, pp.840.
2. Pvt. William H. Hedgepeth, Musician, Co. H. 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted August 13, 1861 at Camp Moore, Louisiana. Present on all rolls to August, 1864. Listed as captured at Selma, Alabama on April 2, 1865. "Ibid", pp. 253.
3. "Undertakers", Franklin City Undertakers listed in 1855 was "Courtney & Karr, Main St. One door from Review Office(Franklin Review Newspaper)" and additionally in 1858 was John Cunningham, No address listed. "Franklin City Directories, 1855 & 1858".
4. Pvt. Thomas P. Ailes, Musician, 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted at Bastrop, Louisiana on Feb. 28, 1863. Last appears present on rolls of regiment for August, 1864. Paroled at Surrender, Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 1, pp.34.
He was born in Walton County, Georgia and was a farmer in Claiborne County, Louisiana. He married Emma Moragne in 1860 and their only child, Anne Mary Nelson was born in 1861, just three months after his enlistment. He was mortally wounded at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864 and died in great agony early the next morning.
Noel would rise from the obscurity of a Lieutenant to Colonel and commanding officer of the regiment. Elected by the men who put their trust and lives in his hands, he would lead them through many fierce battles until that fateful Indian Summer day at a little town called Franklin. There, amid the rolling hills and green valleys of Middle Tennessee, he and the Army of Tennessee would make the ultimate sacrifice for home and country. The 12th Louisiana would be decimated here losing almost 80 men killed and wounded.
As Lt. Colonel, Noel was cited in the official report of his commander, Colonel Thomas M. Scott after the Battle of Champion's Hill, Mississippi in May 1863, attesting to as "..deserving Honorable Mention for Gallantry and Unflinching Courage " during the battle. On May 10, 1864 he succeeded to command of the regiment upon Scott's promotion to Brigadier General. During that grand charge at Franklin, Noel received several terribly mutilating and mortal wounds from a direct blast of canister from enemy cannons while fighting against the extreme left flank of the Federal's fortified lines. He, along with hundreds of other wounded and dying were taken to a nearby mansion called "Carnton" which was being used as one of the many hospitals hastily set up to care for the agonized, helpless wounded, both Blue and Gray. The owners of Carnton, John & Caroline McGavock, gave their home willingly, with Caroline tearing up every piece of available cloth to use for bandages. The wounded and dying were made as comfortable as possible until they filled every available room. They were even placed in the halls and under the stairs, and yet still they kept arriving, boys and men from the cities and farms from across the South, withering in pain, seeing their life's blood seeping from their wounds to stain the beautiful wooden floors and imported carpets.
A fellow officer, Col. C.E. Merrill, describes Noel's last agonizing hours before death, "...(he) lay dying, torn to pieces by a discharge of grape and canister at close range... Both legs were crushed by a cannon ball and his bowels torn by iron grape. His eyes, through exhaustion caused by pain, sank back into his head..."Give me forty grains of morphine!' he called out all through the night. 'Give me forty grains of morphine and let me die! Oh, can't I die? My poor wife and child! My poor wife and child! ... 0h Merrill! Can you not get the surgeons to administer some drug that will relieve me of this torture?' I did try, though my appeals were in vain ... Cold perspiration gathered in knots, on his brow, and, of course, (he) knew that death was inevitable...I went down the steps far out beneath the silence of the stars to escape his piteous prayers."
Noel died soon afterwards and was buried under the very ground that he and his men had so recently charged across. Dozens more died in this makeshift hospital, many before their wounds could even be attended to. They died alone, and in pain, shivering in the cold and dark beneath the stars of a clear Southern sky. How many of those men and boys shared Noel's last thoughts of family and loved ones before they too passed on will never be known. Noel now peacefully sleeps in Grave Number one of the small Louisiana Section with 17 other Louisianans.
Citations:
"Confederate Veteran Magazine' 1897, Vol. 4, pages 462-463, 600.
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Series I Vol. 24, Pt.2 pp.90
United States Census of Louisiana, 1860.
Letter to his widow:
Camp 12th Louisiana Regiment
near Verona Station Mobile & Ohio R.R.
January the 22nd 1865
Mrs. Nelson
Feeling it a duty to inform you of certain facts in reference to the death and burial of your beloved husband I will now attempt to give you in detail what facts I am in possession of believing that it may attend to allay your bereavement to some extent. I can assure you that in the loss of Col. Nelson our Regiment have lost a friend that can never be replaced. And in him that is now no more I have lost my best friend and our whole Band mourn his loss He was a good friend of the Band and all the Band loved and honored him as much as if he had been a near Relative. He was a noble man and one who was honored and respected by all who knew in the army. Well he fell at the head of his Regiment leading them on to the charge at Franklin, he was brought from off the field about midnight and died shortly after. I did not get to see him before he died, as I was over at another field infirmary and did not see him until the next morning until daylight when I went over to see him not knowing he was dead until I got there and found him dead and he was the most natural corpse I ever beheld he looked as though he was merely asleep. So the first thing that I thought of was that he should be nicely put away in his grave. So I asked Dr. Field (1) for a pass to go to Franklin and procure him a good coffin which was two miles from the hospital, and so I got Mr. Hedgepeth (2) a member of our Band and we went to town in search of (a) coffin.
There were two undertakers shops in town (3) but one of (them) the Yankees burnt down as he was a secesh I suppose & I went to the other and made inquiry if I could get a coffin and was told by the proprietor that he had none but 3 which I saw in the shop and they were plain ones just finished and he asked me if I had applied to the other shop and I told him 'that was burnt down but he then remarked that the owner had saved some and to go there and I could got one and so me and Hedgpeth went to the other shop and I made Inquiry and the gentleman told me that he had some but that they were all too small but told me to go upstairs and satisfy myself and so I went and found all too small and he then remarked to me that if I would go to the other shop I could get one he thought but I told him that I had just come from there and he told me he had only 3 and they were spoken for, and he said that the man had told me a lie for said he was upstairs at his shop only a few days previous and he had over a hundred and so when he told me that I was quite enraged and was determined to go and get one so just at that time I saw an old acquaintance from Florida who was In the same business as myself and so he joined us and we went to the shop and asked again if we could get any coffins and the man of the shop having went out when I got back we asked the negroe (sic) boy who was working in the shop and the boy said he had none and we told him we did not want him to lie for we knew there was coffins there and he then said there was some upstairs but that they were fine cedar coffins. We told him that was just the kind wanted and so the old man who was out had the key that unlocked the door which led upstairs, and so we took an axe and forced the door open and went upstairs and there was a large room just full of coffins all painted and nicely varnished so we just took one and myself and Hedgepeth carried It on our shoulders to Mr. McGavock's where the corpse was and we procured a nice white sheet and buried him nicely just as nice as he could of been buried anywhere. Should you wish to move his remains ever the coffin will be good and sound for it is cedar and will outlast any other kind of wood.
Hoping this may tend to give you satisfaction as to his burial I will close from any further remarks, though I still mourn the loss of him yet and shall never forget him as long as I live. our whole Band deeply sympathies with you. Well if there are any other information that you may wish to know and I am in possession of I will take pleasure in giving you information. Well I will now close hoping this may find you well and in good health. I am
respectfully your obt. Servt and friend
Thomas P Ailes (4)
Leader 12th La Brass Band
Scott's Brigade Loring's Division
Army of Tennessee
(Copy of letter received from Mr. Stanley M. Cichowicz of Stafford, Virginia, descendant of Col. Nelson. Letter was transcribed and annotated by Tim Burgess, March, 1998.)
Notes
1. Asst. Surgeon William B. Field, 12th Louisiana Infantry, appt. Asst. Surgeon on July 15, 1862 for station at Canton, Mississippi. Appt. Asst. Surgeon for 12th Louisiana on July 10, 1863. Present on all rolls through August, 1864. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 11, pp.840.
2. Pvt. William H. Hedgepeth, Musician, Co. H. 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted August 13, 1861 at Camp Moore, Louisiana. Present on all rolls to August, 1864. Listed as captured at Selma, Alabama on April 2, 1865. "Ibid", pp. 253.
3. "Undertakers", Franklin City Undertakers listed in 1855 was "Courtney & Karr, Main St. One door from Review Office(Franklin Review Newspaper)" and additionally in 1858 was John Cunningham, No address listed. "Franklin City Directories, 1855 & 1858".
4. Pvt. Thomas P. Ailes, Musician, 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted at Bastrop, Louisiana on Feb. 28, 1863. Last appears present on rolls of regiment for August, 1864. Paroled at Surrender, Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 1, pp.34.
Civil War Confederate Army Officer. He served during the Civil War as Colonel and commander of the 12th Louisiana Infantry. He was killed during the Battle of Franklin in 1864.∼Enlisted on August 13, 1861 as 1st Lt. Co. L. 12th Louisiana Infantry at Camp Moore, Louisiana. He was promoted to Captain on Jan. 9, 1862, to Major on May 11, 1862 to Lt. Colonel on January 5,1863 and to Colonel on May 10, 1864. He was listed as on sick leave at Union Springs, Alabama in August, 1863.
He was born in Walton County, Georgia and was a farmer in Claiborne County, Louisiana. He married Emma Moragne in 1860 and their only child, Anne Mary Nelson was born in 1861, just three months after his enlistment. He was mortally wounded at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864 and died in great agony early the next morning.
Noel would rise from the obscurity of a Lieutenant to Colonel and commanding officer of the regiment. Elected by the men who put their trust and lives in his hands, he would lead them through many fierce battles until that fateful Indian Summer day at a little town called Franklin. There, amid the rolling hills and green valleys of Middle Tennessee, he and the Army of Tennessee would make the ultimate sacrifice for home and country. The 12th Louisiana would be decimated here losing almost 80 men killed and wounded.
As Lt. Colonel, Noel was cited in the official report of his commander, Colonel Thomas M. Scott after the Battle of Champion's Hill, Mississippi in May 1863, attesting to as "..deserving Honorable Mention for Gallantry and Unflinching Courage " during the battle. On May 10, 1864 he succeeded to command of the regiment upon Scott's promotion to Brigadier General. During that grand charge at Franklin, Noel received several terribly mutilating and mortal wounds from a direct blast of canister from enemy cannons while fighting against the extreme left flank of the Federal's fortified lines. He, along with hundreds of other wounded and dying were taken to a nearby mansion called "Carnton" which was being used as one of the many hospitals hastily set up to care for the agonized, helpless wounded, both Blue and Gray. The owners of Carnton, John & Caroline McGavock, gave their home willingly, with Caroline tearing up every piece of available cloth to use for bandages. The wounded and dying were made as comfortable as possible until they filled every available room. They were even placed in the halls and under the stairs, and yet still they kept arriving, boys and men from the cities and farms from across the South, withering in pain, seeing their life's blood seeping from their wounds to stain the beautiful wooden floors and imported carpets.
A fellow officer, Col. C.E. Merrill, describes Noel's last agonizing hours before death, "...(he) lay dying, torn to pieces by a discharge of grape and canister at close range... Both legs were crushed by a cannon ball and his bowels torn by iron grape. His eyes, through exhaustion caused by pain, sank back into his head..."Give me forty grains of morphine!' he called out all through the night. 'Give me forty grains of morphine and let me die! Oh, can't I die? My poor wife and child! My poor wife and child! ... 0h Merrill! Can you not get the surgeons to administer some drug that will relieve me of this torture?' I did try, though my appeals were in vain ... Cold perspiration gathered in knots, on his brow, and, of course, (he) knew that death was inevitable...I went down the steps far out beneath the silence of the stars to escape his piteous prayers."
Noel died soon afterwards and was buried under the very ground that he and his men had so recently charged across. Dozens more died in this makeshift hospital, many before their wounds could even be attended to. They died alone, and in pain, shivering in the cold and dark beneath the stars of a clear Southern sky. How many of those men and boys shared Noel's last thoughts of family and loved ones before they too passed on will never be known. Noel now peacefully sleeps in Grave Number one of the small Louisiana Section with 17 other Louisianans.
Citations:
"Confederate Veteran Magazine' 1897, Vol. 4, pages 462-463, 600.
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Series I Vol. 24, Pt.2 pp.90
United States Census of Louisiana, 1860.
Letter to his widow:
Camp 12th Louisiana Regiment
near Verona Station Mobile & Ohio R.R.
January the 22nd 1865
Mrs. Nelson
Feeling it a duty to inform you of certain facts in reference to the death and burial of your beloved husband I will now attempt to give you in detail what facts I am in possession of believing that it may attend to allay your bereavement to some extent. I can assure you that in the loss of Col. Nelson our Regiment have lost a friend that can never be replaced. And in him that is now no more I have lost my best friend and our whole Band mourn his loss He was a good friend of the Band and all the Band loved and honored him as much as if he had been a near Relative. He was a noble man and one who was honored and respected by all who knew in the army. Well he fell at the head of his Regiment leading them on to the charge at Franklin, he was brought from off the field about midnight and died shortly after. I did not get to see him before he died, as I was over at another field infirmary and did not see him until the next morning until daylight when I went over to see him not knowing he was dead until I got there and found him dead and he was the most natural corpse I ever beheld he looked as though he was merely asleep. So the first thing that I thought of was that he should be nicely put away in his grave. So I asked Dr. Field (1) for a pass to go to Franklin and procure him a good coffin which was two miles from the hospital, and so I got Mr. Hedgepeth (2) a member of our Band and we went to town in search of (a) coffin.
There were two undertakers shops in town (3) but one of (them) the Yankees burnt down as he was a secesh I suppose & I went to the other and made inquiry if I could get a coffin and was told by the proprietor that he had none but 3 which I saw in the shop and they were plain ones just finished and he asked me if I had applied to the other shop and I told him 'that was burnt down but he then remarked that the owner had saved some and to go there and I could got one and so me and Hedgpeth went to the other shop and I made Inquiry and the gentleman told me that he had some but that they were all too small but told me to go upstairs and satisfy myself and so I went and found all too small and he then remarked to me that if I would go to the other shop I could get one he thought but I told him that I had just come from there and he told me he had only 3 and they were spoken for, and he said that the man had told me a lie for said he was upstairs at his shop only a few days previous and he had over a hundred and so when he told me that I was quite enraged and was determined to go and get one so just at that time I saw an old acquaintance from Florida who was In the same business as myself and so he joined us and we went to the shop and asked again if we could get any coffins and the man of the shop having went out when I got back we asked the negroe (sic) boy who was working in the shop and the boy said he had none and we told him we did not want him to lie for we knew there was coffins there and he then said there was some upstairs but that they were fine cedar coffins. We told him that was just the kind wanted and so the old man who was out had the key that unlocked the door which led upstairs, and so we took an axe and forced the door open and went upstairs and there was a large room just full of coffins all painted and nicely varnished so we just took one and myself and Hedgepeth carried It on our shoulders to Mr. McGavock's where the corpse was and we procured a nice white sheet and buried him nicely just as nice as he could of been buried anywhere. Should you wish to move his remains ever the coffin will be good and sound for it is cedar and will outlast any other kind of wood.
Hoping this may tend to give you satisfaction as to his burial I will close from any further remarks, though I still mourn the loss of him yet and shall never forget him as long as I live. our whole Band deeply sympathies with you. Well if there are any other information that you may wish to know and I am in possession of I will take pleasure in giving you information. Well I will now close hoping this may find you well and in good health. I am
respectfully your obt. Servt and friend
Thomas P Ailes (4)
Leader 12th La Brass Band
Scott's Brigade Loring's Division
Army of Tennessee
(Copy of letter received from Mr. Stanley M. Cichowicz of Stafford, Virginia, descendant of Col. Nelson. Letter was transcribed and annotated by Tim Burgess, March, 1998.)
Notes
1. Asst. Surgeon William B. Field, 12th Louisiana Infantry, appt. Asst. Surgeon on July 15, 1862 for station at Canton, Mississippi. Appt. Asst. Surgeon for 12th Louisiana on July 10, 1863. Present on all rolls through August, 1864. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 11, pp.840.
2. Pvt. William H. Hedgepeth, Musician, Co. H. 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted August 13, 1861 at Camp Moore, Louisiana. Present on all rolls to August, 1864. Listed as captured at Selma, Alabama on April 2, 1865. "Ibid", pp. 253.
3. "Undertakers", Franklin City Undertakers listed in 1855 was "Courtney & Karr, Main St. One door from Review Office(Franklin Review Newspaper)" and additionally in 1858 was John Cunningham, No address listed. "Franklin City Directories, 1855 & 1858".
4. Pvt. Thomas P. Ailes, Musician, 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted at Bastrop, Louisiana on Feb. 28, 1863. Last appears present on rolls of regiment for August, 1864. Paroled at Surrender, Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 1, pp.34.
He was born in Walton County, Georgia and was a farmer in Claiborne County, Louisiana. He married Emma Moragne in 1860 and their only child, Anne Mary Nelson was born in 1861, just three months after his enlistment. He was mortally wounded at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864 and died in great agony early the next morning.
Noel would rise from the obscurity of a Lieutenant to Colonel and commanding officer of the regiment. Elected by the men who put their trust and lives in his hands, he would lead them through many fierce battles until that fateful Indian Summer day at a little town called Franklin. There, amid the rolling hills and green valleys of Middle Tennessee, he and the Army of Tennessee would make the ultimate sacrifice for home and country. The 12th Louisiana would be decimated here losing almost 80 men killed and wounded.
As Lt. Colonel, Noel was cited in the official report of his commander, Colonel Thomas M. Scott after the Battle of Champion's Hill, Mississippi in May 1863, attesting to as "..deserving Honorable Mention for Gallantry and Unflinching Courage " during the battle. On May 10, 1864 he succeeded to command of the regiment upon Scott's promotion to Brigadier General. During that grand charge at Franklin, Noel received several terribly mutilating and mortal wounds from a direct blast of canister from enemy cannons while fighting against the extreme left flank of the Federal's fortified lines. He, along with hundreds of other wounded and dying were taken to a nearby mansion called "Carnton" which was being used as one of the many hospitals hastily set up to care for the agonized, helpless wounded, both Blue and Gray. The owners of Carnton, John & Caroline McGavock, gave their home willingly, with Caroline tearing up every piece of available cloth to use for bandages. The wounded and dying were made as comfortable as possible until they filled every available room. They were even placed in the halls and under the stairs, and yet still they kept arriving, boys and men from the cities and farms from across the South, withering in pain, seeing their life's blood seeping from their wounds to stain the beautiful wooden floors and imported carpets.
A fellow officer, Col. C.E. Merrill, describes Noel's last agonizing hours before death, "...(he) lay dying, torn to pieces by a discharge of grape and canister at close range... Both legs were crushed by a cannon ball and his bowels torn by iron grape. His eyes, through exhaustion caused by pain, sank back into his head..."Give me forty grains of morphine!' he called out all through the night. 'Give me forty grains of morphine and let me die! Oh, can't I die? My poor wife and child! My poor wife and child! ... 0h Merrill! Can you not get the surgeons to administer some drug that will relieve me of this torture?' I did try, though my appeals were in vain ... Cold perspiration gathered in knots, on his brow, and, of course, (he) knew that death was inevitable...I went down the steps far out beneath the silence of the stars to escape his piteous prayers."
Noel died soon afterwards and was buried under the very ground that he and his men had so recently charged across. Dozens more died in this makeshift hospital, many before their wounds could even be attended to. They died alone, and in pain, shivering in the cold and dark beneath the stars of a clear Southern sky. How many of those men and boys shared Noel's last thoughts of family and loved ones before they too passed on will never be known. Noel now peacefully sleeps in Grave Number one of the small Louisiana Section with 17 other Louisianans.
Citations:
"Confederate Veteran Magazine' 1897, Vol. 4, pages 462-463, 600.
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion: Series I Vol. 24, Pt.2 pp.90
United States Census of Louisiana, 1860.
Letter to his widow:
Camp 12th Louisiana Regiment
near Verona Station Mobile & Ohio R.R.
January the 22nd 1865
Mrs. Nelson
Feeling it a duty to inform you of certain facts in reference to the death and burial of your beloved husband I will now attempt to give you in detail what facts I am in possession of believing that it may attend to allay your bereavement to some extent. I can assure you that in the loss of Col. Nelson our Regiment have lost a friend that can never be replaced. And in him that is now no more I have lost my best friend and our whole Band mourn his loss He was a good friend of the Band and all the Band loved and honored him as much as if he had been a near Relative. He was a noble man and one who was honored and respected by all who knew in the army. Well he fell at the head of his Regiment leading them on to the charge at Franklin, he was brought from off the field about midnight and died shortly after. I did not get to see him before he died, as I was over at another field infirmary and did not see him until the next morning until daylight when I went over to see him not knowing he was dead until I got there and found him dead and he was the most natural corpse I ever beheld he looked as though he was merely asleep. So the first thing that I thought of was that he should be nicely put away in his grave. So I asked Dr. Field (1) for a pass to go to Franklin and procure him a good coffin which was two miles from the hospital, and so I got Mr. Hedgepeth (2) a member of our Band and we went to town in search of (a) coffin.
There were two undertakers shops in town (3) but one of (them) the Yankees burnt down as he was a secesh I suppose & I went to the other and made inquiry if I could get a coffin and was told by the proprietor that he had none but 3 which I saw in the shop and they were plain ones just finished and he asked me if I had applied to the other shop and I told him 'that was burnt down but he then remarked that the owner had saved some and to go there and I could got one and so me and Hedgpeth went to the other shop and I made Inquiry and the gentleman told me that he had some but that they were all too small but told me to go upstairs and satisfy myself and so I went and found all too small and he then remarked to me that if I would go to the other shop I could get one he thought but I told him that I had just come from there and he told me he had only 3 and they were spoken for, and he said that the man had told me a lie for said he was upstairs at his shop only a few days previous and he had over a hundred and so when he told me that I was quite enraged and was determined to go and get one so just at that time I saw an old acquaintance from Florida who was In the same business as myself and so he joined us and we went to the shop and asked again if we could get any coffins and the man of the shop having went out when I got back we asked the negroe (sic) boy who was working in the shop and the boy said he had none and we told him we did not want him to lie for we knew there was coffins there and he then said there was some upstairs but that they were fine cedar coffins. We told him that was just the kind wanted and so the old man who was out had the key that unlocked the door which led upstairs, and so we took an axe and forced the door open and went upstairs and there was a large room just full of coffins all painted and nicely varnished so we just took one and myself and Hedgepeth carried It on our shoulders to Mr. McGavock's where the corpse was and we procured a nice white sheet and buried him nicely just as nice as he could of been buried anywhere. Should you wish to move his remains ever the coffin will be good and sound for it is cedar and will outlast any other kind of wood.
Hoping this may tend to give you satisfaction as to his burial I will close from any further remarks, though I still mourn the loss of him yet and shall never forget him as long as I live. our whole Band deeply sympathies with you. Well if there are any other information that you may wish to know and I am in possession of I will take pleasure in giving you information. Well I will now close hoping this may find you well and in good health. I am
respectfully your obt. Servt and friend
Thomas P Ailes (4)
Leader 12th La Brass Band
Scott's Brigade Loring's Division
Army of Tennessee
(Copy of letter received from Mr. Stanley M. Cichowicz of Stafford, Virginia, descendant of Col. Nelson. Letter was transcribed and annotated by Tim Burgess, March, 1998.)
Notes
1. Asst. Surgeon William B. Field, 12th Louisiana Infantry, appt. Asst. Surgeon on July 15, 1862 for station at Canton, Mississippi. Appt. Asst. Surgeon for 12th Louisiana on July 10, 1863. Present on all rolls through August, 1864. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 11, pp.840.
2. Pvt. William H. Hedgepeth, Musician, Co. H. 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted August 13, 1861 at Camp Moore, Louisiana. Present on all rolls to August, 1864. Listed as captured at Selma, Alabama on April 2, 1865. "Ibid", pp. 253.
3. "Undertakers", Franklin City Undertakers listed in 1855 was "Courtney & Karr, Main St. One door from Review Office(Franklin Review Newspaper)" and additionally in 1858 was John Cunningham, No address listed. "Franklin City Directories, 1855 & 1858".
4. Pvt. Thomas P. Ailes, Musician, 12th Louisiana Infantry. Enlisted at Bastrop, Louisiana on Feb. 28, 1863. Last appears present on rolls of regiment for August, 1864. Paroled at Surrender, Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. "Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands" by Andrew B. Booth, Vol. 1, pp.34.
Family Members
Advertisement
Advertisement
