No. 253. Report of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, C. S. Army, commanding division.
HEADQUARTERS CLEBURNE'S DIVISION, HARDEE'S CORPS, ARMY OF TENNESSEE, Tullahoma, Tenn., January 31, 1863.
(Stone’s River)
. . . In the Forty-fifth Mississippi: Lieutenant-Colonel [R.] Charlton, Major [E. F.] Nunn, Adjt. Frank Foster, jr., Sergeants Asberry, Doolittle, Morrison, Vaughan, Stewart, Lieut. G. W. Williams, Sergeant-Major Kern, Corporals Mallett, Hackler, and Read, and Private McChadin. Corporal Read volunteered to carry the colors after the color-bearer had been shot down. He is well qualified as an officer, and ought to be promoted. . . .
In conclusion, I would state that I carried into the fight 6,045 men, out of which I lost 2,081 killed, wounded, and missing.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
P. R. CLEBURNE,
Major-General.
OR V20, Pt. 1, p. 851
………
Joseph D. Read
Residence was not listed;
Enlisted as a Private (date unknown).
He was listed as:
* POW 11/29/1864 Spring Hill, TN
* Wounded 11/29/1864 Spring Hill, TN (Wounded in leg)
Promotions:
* Corpl
* 2nd Lieut [Dec. 19, 1862]
He also had service in:
"K" Co. MS 45th Infantry
Other Information:
died 5/3/1919 in Jackson, MS
(Post war physician. Died at age 75 years)
After the War he lived in Texas & Jackson, MS
Sources used by Historical Data Systems, Inc
- Confederate Veteran Magazine
(c) Historical Data Systems, Inc. @ www.civilwardata.com
……..
Stone's River after battle report:
Report of Lieut. Col. R. Charlton, Forty-fifth Mississippi
Infantry, including skirmisher near Triune, December 27.
. . . I take particular pleasure in recommending Corpl. J. D. Read for promotion. When two color-bearers were shot down, he nobly volunteered to bear the colors. He is every way qualified for an officer.
R. CHARLTON,
Lieut.-Col., Cmdg. Forty-fifth Mississippi.
CHAP. XXXII.] THE STONE'S RIVER CAMPAIGN. PAGE 907-29
[Series I. Vol. 20. Part I, Reports. Serial No. 29.]
………..
Dr. J. D. Read.
Sorrowfully I pay a tribute of affection to my dear friend and comrade. Dr. Joseph D. Read, who passed from mortal sight May 3, 1919, in Jackson, Miss. He had just reached his seventy-fifth year.
Joe enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861 at the age of seventeen and served as a member of Company K. 3d Mississippi Battalion, afterwards the 45th Mississippi Regiment, attached during the greater part of the war to Lowrey's Brigade
of Gen. Pat Cleburne's division, Hardee's Corps. Among all the gallant sons of the South who hurried to her defense in those perilous days there was no truer, braver soldier than Joe Read; tender, kindly, a typical gentleman. In the battle of Murfreesboro, then a corporal, he performed an act of unusual courage at a critical moment. This happened to come under the personal notice of General Cleburne, who inquired of the regimental commander who that gallant corporal was and directed that at the first opportune moment Corporal Read should be made a lieutenant. He was duly promoted, and during all the trying scenes that followed—in the bloody engagements, the arduous marches—Lieut. Joe Read bore himself most gallantly. At Spring Hill, Tenn., the day before the battle of Franklin, he was, unfortunately, wounded in the leg, was captured, and some weeks later, while in a Federal hospital, his leg was amputated above the knee.
After the war he studied medicine and graduated from the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1874. He went to Texas, where he practiced his profession a number of years, and there he married, his wife dying some years later. Suffering sore physical affliction, he returned to Mississippi, where he lived until the end came, useful and honored. His brother was the heroic naval officer, Capt. C. W. Read, who wrought so much damage to the Federal navy. The Doctor left only one near relative. Prof. W. T. Read, who is now, I learn, professor of chemistry in Yale College.
Being closely connected with Joe throughout the war, I sorrowfully, reverently offer this tribute to one of the bravest and best men I ever knew. Peace to his ashes !
[P. W. Shearer, Vicksburg, Miss.]
Confederate Veteran, V 28 p. 188