Capt. John Reuben Nettles SC 10th Co. H was mortally wounded and taken prisoner during the Battle of Murfreesboro. In the charge Six Napoleon Cannons were captured from the Yankee Battery. In previous information obtained and posted by Lee White the sentence below is in the message.

"Capt. Nettles was peculiarly marked for gallantry and coolness and his name is inscribed on one of the Guns presented to Beauregard. But poor fellow, he was shot down in three places while leading his company to the charge."

If these 6 cannons ever made it to Beauregard or Charleston I have not seen any futher information. I am hoping to find the cannon (for a picture) or anymore information about the cannons sent to Beauregard from Murfreesboro.

Capt J R Nettles was from Williamsburg County South Carolina and about 24 years old and the son of Wyatt Nettles. Before the War he was a student at The Citadel in Charleston and would have been a graduate of the class of 1860. J. R was one of 27 students kicked out in 1858 due to a disagreement between a student and the Commander. The 27 students wrote a letter to The Citadel Board backing the student. The Board backed the Commander and he locked the gate and the students out. Circumstantial evidence points to J R Nettles as the student. As you can see above he was a hard charger. Only seven students of the class of 1860 graduated and 5 died in service to the Confederacy. Seventy one percent, the largest percentage of Citadel war deaths for a Citadel graduating class as of today. If the cannon exist today we can put a story to the inscribed name.