Yours ever true, Elbert Miller

Miller's enlistment card

NPS

When Private Elbert Miller enlisted in the 34^th Alabama Infantry in April 1862, his commanding officer made him the Regimental Secretary. Elbert took notes on his regiment’s movements and experiences and assisted in completing reports. The regiment saw little fighting, but had lost more than half their number due to disease prior to the Battle of Stones River.

 

Private Elbert Miller

NPS

Elbert periodically sent letters home to his wife Kate, telling her how much he missed her and their young son, Elbert Calhoun.

 

Elbert's wife Kate Miller

NPS

On December 28, three days before the battle, Elbert sent a farewell letter to his wife Kate.

 

December 28, 1862 letter from Elbert to his wife Kate

NPS

“In line of Battle, two miles north of Murfreesboro Tenn
December 28^th Sunday Night 1862

My Dearest Wife and Little Boy,

This may be the last time I shall ever have the pleasure of writing to you…we expect to meet them tomorrow and I may fall… For your sake more than my own I would desire to survive this war and be returned to you. But if a merciful providence decrees otherwise, try to bear the stroke with becoming Christian fortitude. Remember your loss will be the country’s gain…

My precious wife and darling Calhoun farewell

Yours ever true,
Elbert Miller"

 

The 34th Alabama was part of Manigault's Brigade

NPS

On December 31, 1862, Miller’s regiment got into the fighting at 7:15 AM beginning a series of bloody attacks and repulses south of the Wilkinson Pike. Elbert was wounded, captured and taken to a nearby field hospital.

 

NPS

Miller’s leg wound required amputation. Three weeks after the battle, his condition worsened. James Maxwell, a close friend, was at Elbert’s side and described the moments before his death.

“When told he was going to die, he said ‘tell my family that I have them under the protection of God.’ He said also that he wished his body should be sent to his wife but unhappily that is out of our power… He was one of my best friends in the Regiment and respected by all who knew him. God has seen fit to take him to himself.”

James R. Maxwell
34^th Alabama Regt. of Tuscaloosa Ala.

Maxwell noted a burial location in this passage, but Elbert’s family never found his final resting place. Elbert’s son spent years writing letters to Maxwell and others who witnessed the burial, but none could confirm the location. His remains likely lie among the nearly 2,000 Confederate soldiers buried in the Confederate Circle at Evergreen Cemetery.