Bushong, Columbus M.

Unknown Grave Marker representing Bushong's burial site.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Company D, 15th Indiana Infantry

Place of Birth:

Tippecanoe, Indiana

Date of Birth:

1843

Place of Death:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Date of Death:

December 31st, 1862

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Battlefield

Columbus M. Bushong (see also Columbus M. Bushang) was born in Tippecanoe, Indiana, in 1843. Born shortly after his father’s passing, he was the youngest of nine children to Jonathan and Mary Magdalene Bushong. 

On June 14, 1861, he enlisted into the 15th Indiana Infantry, Company D, at Camp Tippecanoe, Indiana, as a private. The 15th Indiana Infantry was organized in Lafayette, Indiana, in May 1861. 

The regiment left Indianapolis in July 1861 for Elk Water Valley, Virginia (now West Virginia), where they joined the fighting at Cheat Mountain. Following their service in West Virgina, Bushong and the 15th Indiana, reported to General Buell in Louisville on November 19, 1861. They marched south with the Army of the Ohio and joined the fight at Shiloh on April 7, 1862. The spring and summer of 1862 saw Bushong and his comrades lay siege on Corinth, Mississippi, march across northern Alabama, then turn north in pursuit of Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate army heading for Kentucky. That campaign ended with the Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862. In November of 1862, the 15th Indiana marched to Nashville, with the Army of the Cumberland now commanded by General William S. Rosecrans. They joined the advance to Murfreesboro on December 26, 1862, as part of a brigade commanded by their colonel, George D. Wagner. 

On December 31 ,1862, Bushong and the 15th Indiana crossed the Stones River at Harker's Crossing under Confederate cannon fire. By two in the afternoon, Col. Wagner had the 15th Indiana form a line with support from the 57th Indiana. Soon after, Confederate soldiers of the 13th and 20th Louisiana attacked the line. During this phase of fighting, Private Bushong was killed in action.  

Columbus M. Bushong is laid to rest in the Stones River National Cemetery in an unknown grave.

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