Hand Carved Grave Marker For Lieutenant Christian Nix

German immigrant Christian Nix left behind his young wife when he left Wisconsin to join the struggle to preserve the Union. On December 31, 1862, a Confederate bullet stuck Lieutenant Nix in the stomach while he led his company in the 24th Wisconsin Infantry during the Battle of Stones River. Nix endured six days of excruciating pain before finally passing away on January 5, 1863.

One of his comrades carved this head board to mark Nix's first grave site. Somehow the marker survived where so many others did not and made it into the hands of Nix's family. The family donated the marker and a number of documents, including a photograph and a letter describing Nix's death, to Stones River National Battlefield in 1986. Lieutenant Christian Nix currently lies in grave N-5390 in Stones River National Cemetery.