Mattocks, Monroe

Monroe Mattocks

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Company H, 42nd Illinois Infantry

Place of Birth:

Genesee County, New York

Date of Birth:

1836

Place of Death:

Murfreesboro, TN

Date of Death:

December 31st, 1862

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, TN

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

Monroe Mattocks was born in 1836 in Genesee County, New York. In his adulthood, he lived in Momence, Kankakee County, Illinois and worked as a farmer. At the age of 25, he enlisted to serve with the Union army during the American Civil War. He Enlisted on August 17th, 1861 in Chicago Illinois as a Corporal. His enlistment records describe him as being 5' 10 1/2" in stature, having a light complexion with brown hair and gray eyes. He mustered in with the 42nd Illinois Infantry regiment in Company H.

The regiment spent time in Missouri before heading to Tennessee in April, 1862. They moved throughout Middle Tennessee during the bulk of 1862, with a brief stop in Alabama, before ending up in Nashville for Christmas. On December 26th, they received orders to move out towards Murfreesboro in pursuit of Confederate General Braxton Bragg.

They arrived on the 30th of December after engaging in some skirmishes throughout their four day journey. On the first day of the battle of Stones River, they were positioned along the Wilkinson Pike where they took head on attacks from Confederate forces also in the area. They were eventually backed into the point of a vulnerable, V-shaped position situated along the Wilkinson Pike. They took continued blows to their numbers and ultimately had to retreat in order to preserve what remained of their regiment. Corporal Mattocks lost his life in the perilous fighting on the first day of the battle of Stones River, December 31st, 1862.

Monroe Mattocks was laid to rest in the Stones River National Cemetery in plot L-4789.