Ball, Luther T

Luther T Ball

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Company H, 84th Illinois Infantry

Place of Birth:

Saisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut

Date of Birth:

1833

Place of Death:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Date of Death:

December 31, 1862

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

Luther T Ball was born in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut in 1833. In his adulthood he moved to Keithsburg, Mercer County, Illinois and worked as a lawyer. There, he married Mary C Miller on September 19th, 1861. Luther Ball entered service to the Union Army on July 11, 1862. He was 29 years old at enlistment. He later mustered in to Company H of the 84th Illinois Infantry as a 1st Lieutenant. This rank upon enlistment was likely due to his profession as a lawyer. The Illinois Descriptive Muster Rolls describe Lieutenant Ball as having been 5’8” with brown hair, blue eyes, and a light complexion. 

Shortly after its organization in Quincy, Illinois, the 84th Illinois Infantry left for Kentucky. They fought in the battle of Perryville on October 8th, 1862, before being sent for duty in Nashville, Tennessee. They remained in Nashville until December 26th, when they received orders to march south towards Murfreesboro. 

They arrived in Murfreesboro on December 30th and took up a position on McFadden Road near its intersection with the Nashville Pike and were to function as reserves. Confederate forces attacked at 6am on December 31st south of the 84th Illinois infantry’s position. They didn’t make contact with their position until 10am, when they had managed to push Union forces north into a V-shaped position. The 84th Illinois waited as Union forces chaotically retreated to their position. At 1pm, the regiment ended up as the right flank of the fighting that occurred at the Round Forest. Their position remained in the same general area the whole battle. Lieutenant Ball lost his life on this first day of battle at Stones River. He was among the 120 enlisted infantrymen that the 84th Illinois Infantry lost in combat during the Civil War. 

Luther T Ball is laid to rest in the Stones River National Cemetery in plot L-4737.  

Tags: stones river national battlefield, stones river national cemetery, american civil war