Luther, Aaron L

Aaron Luther

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

19th United States Infantry

Place of Birth:

Seneca County, New York

Date of Birth:

1841

Place of Death:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Date of Death:

January 2, 1863

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

Aaron Luther was born in Seneca County, New York in 1841. At the age 19 or 20, he enlisted in the United States Army on August 5, 1861, at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Aaron mustered into Company A of the 1st Battalion, 19th United States Infantry as a Private. The 19th U.S. Infantry joined the Army of the Ohio in October 1861. They fought in battles at Shiloh, Tennessee and Perryville, Kentucky before arriving one the fields near Murfreesboro at the end of 1862.

By the time of the Battle of Stones River, Aaron and his 19th U.S. Infantry comrades had been organized into the Regular Brigade commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Shepherd that included the 15th, 16th and 18th Infantry regiments supported by Battery H, 5th U.S. Artillery. The Regular Brigade served as the Army of the Cumberland’s reserve in Gen. Lovell Rousseau’s division.

During the early afternoon of December 31, 1862, Aaron and the 19th U.S. Infantry stood on the knoll where Stones River National Cemetery is today watching and listening as the sounds of battle surged toward them from the cedars to their south. A Confederate surge threatened to shatter the newly formed defensive position along Nashville Pike and Gen. William S. Rosecrans called on his Regulars to save the day.

Aaron marched into the dark cedar woods with the rest of the Regulars and collided with thousands of Confederates eagerly pressing northward toward the road and ultimate victory. The Regulars laid down a devastating fire that stalled the gray tide buying time for Gen. Rosecrans to bolster his positions defending his army’s lifeline. The fight lasted a mere 20 minutes and cost the Regular Brigade nearly half of its men. Among the dead was Pvt. Aaron Luther who sustained multiple gunshot wounds saving his army from disaster.

Aaron left behind his father (Isreal), mother (Laura) and six siblings. He rests in Grave C-1031 of Stones River National Cemetery.

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