150th Anniversary of the Battle of Tebbs Bend Ceremony

On June 8, 2013, some two hundred persons attended the memorial service of the battle of Tebbs Bend to observe the 150th anniversary of the fighting. A new marker dedicated to Confederate Army Private Frank Voss of Maryland was unveiled, with some of his descendants present for the occasion. The ceremony was planned by historian Betty Jane Gorin and other members of the Tebbs Bend Battlefield Association, including its president, Cheryl Tillery. "We are here to remember those men who gave the full measure of devotion for causes in which they sincerely believed," said Gorin.

Confederate Re-enactors at the 150th Memorial Service

General Morgan asked for a truce so that the Confederates could bring in the injured and dead, who were later interred in a mass grave. "It is said that the blood ran down through the yard into the turnpike road," Gorin recalled. Only the Confederate cemetery remains at Tebbs Bend; the bodies of Union soldiers were buried near the Green River stockade and later removed to the Lebanon National Cemetery in Lebanon, Kentucky. Gorin read a roll call of the dead buried in the cemetery and acknowledged the unknown soldiers who perished there as well.

Dave Broene, president of the Grand Rapids Civil War Round Table, was the spokesman for the 25th Michigan, giving a history of the regiment’s courageous stand at Tebbs Bend. Kent Masterson Brown of Lexingotn, noted Civil War author, introduced the Voss family members and memorialized the sacrifice of Morgan’s Men.  Three members of the Gettysburg Foundation, Dr. Ron Hatcher--president of Bowling Green Civil War Round Table, and Philip Seyfrit-- Richmond Battlefield Director-- were present. Seyfrit laid a wreath from the Madison County Civil War Round Table on the grave of Col. David W. Chenault.

According to century-old newspaper clipping, on June 3, 1911, some four thousand attended a 48th anniversary remembrance of the battle. This particular gathering was reportedly the largest in the history of the Green River Valley.