Battle of Stones River The Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro ( in the South , simply the Battle of Murfreesboro ) , was fought from December 31 , 1862 , to January 2 , 1863 , in Middle Tennessee , as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War . Of the major battles of the Civil War , Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides . Although the battle itself was inconclusive , the Union Army ' s repulse of two Confederate attacks and the subsequent Confederate withdrawal were a much - needed boost to Union morale after the defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg , and it dashed Confederate aspirations for control of Middle Tennessee . Union Maj . Gen . William S . Rosecrans ' s Army of the Cumberland marched from Nashville , Tennessee , on December 26 , 1862 , to challenge General Braxton Bragg ' s Army of Tennessee at Murfreesboro . On December 31 , each army commander planned to attack his opponent ' s right flank , but Bragg struck first . A massive assault by the corps of Maj . Gen . William J . Hardee , followed by that of Leonidas Polk , overran the wing commanded by Maj . Gen . Alexander M . McCook . A stout defense by the division of Brig . Gen . Philip Sheridan in the right center of the line prevented a total collapse and the Union assumed a tight defensive position backing up to the Nashville Turnpike . Repeated Confederate attacks were repulsed from this concentrated line , most notably in the cedar " Round Forest " salient against the brigade of Col . William B . Hazen . Bragg attempted to continue the assault with the corps of Maj . Gen . John C . Breckinridge , but the troops were slow in arriving and their multiple piecemeal attacks failed . Fighting resumed on January 2 , 1863 , when Bragg ordered Breckinridge to assault the well - fortified Union position on a hill to the east of the Stones River . Faced with overwhelming artillery , the Confederates were repulsed with heavy losses . Aware that Rosecrans was receiving reinforcements , Bragg chose to withdraw his army on January 3 to Tullahoma , Tennessee . Background and opposing forces . After the Battle of Perryville on October 8 , 1862 , Confederate Gen . Braxton Bragg ' s Army of Mississippi abandoned its invasion of Kentucky and withdrew to Harrodsburg , Kentucky , where it was joined by Maj . Gen . Kirby Smith ' s army of 10 , 000 on October 10 . Although Bragg ' s newly combined force was up to 38 , 000 veteran troops , he made no effort to regain the initiative . Maj . Gen . Don Carlos Buell , the Union commander at Perryville , was equally passive and refused to attack Bragg . Frustrated with his prospects in Kentucky and low on supplies , Bragg withdrew through the Cumberland Gap , passed through Knoxville and Chattanooga , turned northwest , and eventually stopped in Murfreesboro , Tennessee . His army , joined with Smith ' s Army of Kentucky and together renamed the Army of Tennessee as of November 20 , took up a defensive position northwest of the city along the West Fork of the Stones River . During a visit by Confederate President Jefferson Davis on December 16 , Bragg was ordered to send the infantry division of Maj . Gen . Carter L . Stevenson to Mississippi to assist in the defense of Vicksburg . The loss of Stevenson ' s 7 , 500 men would be sorely felt in the coming battle . Bragg reorganized his army , and Kirby Smith left for East Tennessee . Bragg commanded two corps , under Maj . Gen . William J . Hardee ( divisions of Maj . Gens . John C . Breckinridge , Patrick R . Cleburne , and John P . McCown ) and Maj . Gen . Leonidas Polk ( divisions of Maj . Gens . Benjamin F . Cheatham and Jones M . Withers , and a cavalry command under Brig . Gen . Joseph Wheeler . Bragg had to deal with a command problem that became typical for him during the war — a virtual revolt of his senior generals , who petitioned Jefferson Davis to relieve him ( in favor of Gen . Joseph E . Johnston , the commander of all armies in the Western Theater ) . Davis refused to relieve either Bragg or the rebellious generals . On the Union side , President Abraham Lincoln had become frustrated with Buell ' s passivity and replaced him with Maj . Gen . William S . Rosecrans , victor of the recent battles of Iuka and Corinth . Rosecrans moved his XIV Corps ( which was soon after designated the Army of the Cumberland ) to Nashville , Tennessee , and was warned by Washington that he too would be replaced if he did not move aggressively against Bragg and occupy eastern Tennessee . However , Rosecrans took ample time to reorganize and train his forces ( particularly his cavalry ) and resupply his army . He did not begin his march in pursuit of Bragg until December 26 . While Rosecrans was preparing in Nashville , Bragg ordered Col . John Hunt Morgan to move north with his cavalry and operate along Rosecrans ' s lines of communications , to prevent him from foraging for supplies north of Nashville . The Battle of Hartsville , at a crossing point on the Cumberland River about 40 miles ( 64 km ) upstream from Nashville ( north of Murfreesboro ) was an incident in Morgan ' s raid to the north , before Rosecrans had the bulk of his infantry forces on the move . The relatively small battle that followed Morgan ' s surprise attack was an embarrassing Union defeat , resulting in many captured Union supplies and soldiers . The Union also engaged in a strategic cavalry raid . On December 26 , the day Rosecrans marched from Nashville , a small force under Brig . Gen . Samuel P . Carter raided the upper Tennessee Valley from Manchester , Kentucky . Until January 5 , Carter ' s men destroyed railroad bridges and fought a few skirmishes , including a serious one on December 28 at Perkins ' s Mill ( also known as Elk Fort ) . But none of the cavalry raids , Confederate or Union , had any significant effect on the Stones River Campaign . The Army of the Cumberland marched southeast the day after Christmas in three columns , or " wings " , towards Murfreesboro , and they were effectively harassed by Wheeler ' s Confederate cavalry along the way , which delayed their movements . Although Rosecrans had reported his army to have 81 , 729 effectives in Nashville , his force on the march was barely more than half of that since he needed to protect his base and supply lines from the harassment of the Confederate cavalry . The left wing of 14 , 500 men under Maj . Gen . Thomas L . Crittenden ( divisions of Brig . Gens . Thomas J . Wood , John M . Palmer , and Horatio P . Van Cleve ) took a route that was parallel to the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad , passing through La Vergne and south of Smyrna . The right wing of 16 , 000 men under Maj . Gen . Alexander M . McCook ( divisions of Brig . Gens . Jefferson C . Davis , Richard W . Johnson , and Philip H . Sheridan ) marched south along the Nolensville Turnpike to Nolensville , south to Triune , and then eastward to Murfreesboro . The center wing of 13 , 500 men under Maj . Gen . George Henry Thomas ( divisions of Maj . Gen . Lovell H . Rousseau and Brig . Gens . James S . Negley , Speed S . Fry , and Robert B . Mitchell ) moved south along the Wilson Turnpike and the Franklin Turnpike , parallel to the Nashville and Decatur Railroad , then eastward through Nolensville and along the same route used by Crittenden south of the Nashville and Chattanooga . Union cavalry under Brig . Gen . David S . Stanley ( a single cavalry division under Col . John Kennett ) preceded each of the three columns . The separation of the wings was designed to conduct a turning movement against Hardee at Triune , but when the Federal march began , Bragg moved Hardee back to Murfreesboro to avoid a confrontation . Murfreesboro and plans for battle . Murfreesboro was a small town in the Stones River Valley , a former state capital named for a colonel in the American Revolutionary War , Hardy Murfree . All through the war it was a center for strong Confederate sentiment , and Bragg and his men were warmly welcomed and entertained during the month of December . It was located in a rich agricultural region from which Bragg planned to provision his army and a position that he intended to use to block a potential Federal advance on Chattanooga . Hardee noted afterward that " The field of battle offered no particular advantages for defense . " Despite this , Bragg was reluctant to move farther south , say to the arguably more defensible Duck River Valley , or farther north , to Stewart ' s Creek , where Rosecrans thought Bragg would defend . Sensitive to the political requirements that almost no Tennessee ground be yielded to Federal control , he chose the relatively flat area northwest of the politically influential city , straddling the Stones River . Portions of the area , particularly near the intersection of the Nashville Pike and the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad , were characterized by small but dense cedar forests , in places more impenetrable to infantry than the Wilderness of Spotsylvania in Virginia . Short limestone outcroppings , separated by narrow cracks as if rows of teeth , impeded the movement of wagons and artillery . Hardee ' s Corps was initially placed in Triune , about 20 miles ( 32 km ) to the west , Polk ' s on the west bank of the river , and a detached division from Hardee ' s Corps under Maj . Gen . John C . Breckinridge on the low hills east of the river . None of the troops were ordered to construct field fortifications . By the time Rosecrans had arrived in Murfreesboro on the evening of December 29 , the Army of Tennessee had been encamped in the area for a month . By nightfall , two thirds of Rosecrans ' s army was in position along the Nashville Turnpike , and by the next day Rosecrans ' s army numbered about 41 , 000 and Bragg ' s 35 , 000 . The odds were closer than those figures would indicate . Bragg had the advantage of the detached , but cooperating , cavalry commands under Forrest and Morgan , who raided deeply behind Union lines while Wheeler ' s cavalry slowed the Union forces with hit - and - run skirmishes . ( Part of Rosecrans ' s reluctance to move from Nashville was the inexperience of his cavalry forces in comparison to their Confederate counterparts . ) On December 29 , Wheeler and 2 , 500 of his men rode completely around the Union army , destroying supply wagons and capturing reserve ammunition in Rosecrans ' s trains . They captured four wagon trains and 1 , 000 Union prisoners . On December 30 , the Union force moved into line two miles ( three km ) northwest of Murfreesboro . The two armies were in parallel lines , about four miles ( six km ) long , oriented from southwest to northeast . Bragg ' s left flank was weak at the start , and Rosecrans could have attacked there when he arrived and wheeled left , around the flank and directly into the town of Murfreesboro , but he did not know the full disposition of Bragg ' s forces because of the skillful screening of the Confederate cavalry during the Union march . In a manner similar to the previous year ' s First Battle of Bull Run , both commanders devised similar plans for the following day : envelop the enemy ' s right , get into his rear , and cut him off from his base . Since both plans were the same , the victory would probably go to the side that was able to attack first . Rosecrans ordered his men to be ready to attack after breakfast , but Bragg ordered an attack at dawn . Bragg ' s forces were situated with Leonidas Polk ' s corps on the west side of the river , William J . Hardee ' s men on the east . He had expected Rosecrans to attack on December 30 , but when that attack did not come , his plan was to drive Hardee ' s corps and the cavalry under Brig . Gen . John A . Wharton deep into the Union rear . He began moving the bulk of Hardee ' s corps across the river to his left flank in preparation for the next morning ' s attack . This left Breckinridge ' s division in reserve on the east side of the river on the high ground . Rosecrans planned to have Crittenden cross the river and attack the heights east of the river , which would be an excellent artillery platform from which to bombard the entire Confederate line . Crittenden — facing Breckinridge on the Union left — failed to notify McCook ( on the Union right ) of these troop movements . McCook , anticipating that the next day would start with a major attack by Crittenden , planted numerous campfires in his area , hoping to deceive the Confederates as to his strength on that flank , and to disguise the fact that his flank was not anchored on an obstacle ( the nearby Overall Creek ) . Thomas , in the center , was ordered to make a limited attack and act as the pivot for Crittenden ' s wheel . The armies bivouacked only from each other , and their bands started a musical battle that became a non - lethal preview of the next day ' s events . Northern musicians played " Yankee Doodle " and " Hail , Columbia " and they were answered by " Dixie " and " The Bonnie Blue Flag . " Finally , one band started playing " Home Sweet Home " and the others joined in . Thousands of Northern and Southern soldiers sang the sentimental song together across the lines . December 31 . At dawn on December 31 , about 6 a . m . , Confederate William J . Hardee struck first , attacking the Union ' s right flank with the division of Maj . Gen . John P . McCown , before many in Union Brig . Gen . Richard W . Johnson ' s division had finished their breakfast . This was the third major battle , after Fort Donelson and Shiloh , in which an early morning attack caught a Union army by surprise . The 10 , 000 Confederates who massed on their left attacked in one massive wave . McCook ' s deceptive campfires and the relative inexperience of McCown caused his division to drift away to the left , which left a gap in the front , but the gap was filled seamlessly by the division coming up from his rear , under Maj . Gen . Patrick R . Cleburne . These two divisions swept all resistance aside . Several artillery batteries were captured without having time to fire a shot . Johnson ' s division , on the right , suffered over 50 % casualties . His neighboring Union division to the left , under Brig . Gen . Jefferson C . Davis , was able to hold only briefly . Although meeting stiff resistance , Hardee drove the Union troops back three miles ( 5 km ) to the railroad and the Nashville Pike by 10 a . m . , where Johnson was able to rally them . Rosecrans canceled Crittenden ' s attack on the Confederate right , which had begun with Brig . Gen . Horatio P . Van Cleve ' s division crossing the river at 7 a . m . , and instead rushed reinforcements to his own right flank . He had been slow to recognize the threat , assuming incorrectly that McCook would be capable of turning back Hardee ' s assault . As Rosecrans raced across the battlefield directing units , seeming ubiquitous to his men , his uniform was covered with blood from his friend and chief of staff , Col . Julius Garesché , beheaded by a cannonball while riding alongside . The second Confederate wave was by Polk ' s corps , consisting of the divisions of Maj . Gens . Jones M . Withers and Benjamin F . Cheatham . What saved the Union from total destruction that morning was the foresight of Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan ( McCook ' s wing ) , who anticipated an early attack and had the troops of his division up and ready in the center of the right half of the line by 4 a . m . Withers hit Sheridan ' s right flank first ( and Davis ' s left ) but was repulsed in three separate charges . Then Cheatham , with his reserve division , hit Sheridan ' s front as Cleburne struck his flank . Cheatham ' s assault was sluggish and piecemeal ; observers claimed he had been drinking heavily and was unable to command his units effectively . While Sheridan ' s men slowed the enemy advance , they did it at heavy cost to themselves ; all three of Sheridan ' s brigade commanders were killed that day , and more than one third of his men were casualties in four hours of fighting in a cedar forest surrounded on three sides that became known as " The Slaughter Pen . " By 10 a . m . , many of the Confederate objectives had been achieved . They had captured 28 guns and over 3 , 000 Union soldiers . Two Confederate blunders aided Rosecrans . Breckinridge , on the east side of the river , did not realize that Crittenden ' s early morning attack had been withdrawn . He refused to send two brigades as reinforcements across the river to aid the main attack on the left . When Bragg ordered him to attack to his front — so that " some " use could be made of his corps — Breckinridge moved forward and was embarrassed to find out that there were no Union troops opposing him . At about that time , Bragg received a false report that a strong Union force was moving south along the Lebanon Turnpike in his direction . He canceled his orders that Breckinridge send reinforcements across the river , which diluted the effectiveness of the main attack . By 11 a . m . , Sheridan ' s ammunition ran low , and his division pulled back , which opened a gap that Hardee exploited . The Union troops regrouped and held the Nashville Pike , supported by reinforcements and massed artillery . Repeated attacks on the left flank of the Union line were repulsed by Col . William B . Hazen ' s brigade in a rocky , wooded area named " Round Forest " by the locals ; it became known as " Hell ' s Half - Acre " . Brig . Gen . Milo S . Hascall sent the 3rd Kentucky to the Round Forest as reinforcements . When he was informed that the 3rd ' s regimental commander was dead , he decided to take personal command of the defensive position . He declared that it had to be held , " even if it cost the last man we had . " Hazen ' s brigade was the only part of the original Union line to hold . The Union line was stabilized by the strong leadership of Rosecrans and by the rallying of the divisions under Johnson and Davis . The new line was roughly perpendicular to the original line , in a small half oval with its back to the river . Bragg planned to attack the Union left , a portion of the oval line facing southeast , manned by Hazen ' s brigade . The only troops available for such an assault were Breckinridge ' s , and Bragg ordered him to cross the river , but Breckinridge moved slowly . By 4 p . m . , Breckinridge ' s first two brigades assaulted Hazen in piecemeal attacks and suffered heavy repulses . Two more brigades arrived , and they were sent in , reinforced by other elements of Polk ' s corps . The attack failed a second time . Thomas responded with a limited counterattack that cleared his front . By 4 : 30 p . m . , the battle was finished . Bragg ' s plan had had a fundamental flaw : although his objective was to cut Rosecrans ' s line of communication ( the Nashville Pike ) , his attack drove the Union defenders to concentrate at that point . Bragg ' s biographer , Grady McWhiney , observed : That night Rosecrans held a council of war to decide what to do . Some of his generals felt that the Union army had been defeated and recommended a retreat before they were entirely cut off . Rosecrans opposed this view and was strongly supported by Thomas and Crittenden . Thomas has been quoted by different sources in the council meeting as saying either " This army does not retreat " or " There ' s no better place to die . " The decision was made to stand and fight , and as the Union line was reinforced , the morale of the soldiers rose . On the Confederate side , Bragg was certain that he had won a victory . Although he had suffered 9 , 000 casualties , he was convinced that the large number of captured Union soldiers meant that Rosecrans had lost considerably more . The Confederate army began digging in , facing the Union line . Bragg sent a telegram to Richmond before he went to bed : " The enemy has yielded his strong position and is falling back . We occupy [ the ] whole field and shall follow him . . . . God has granted us a happy New Year . " January 1 – 3 . At 3 a . m . on January 1 , 1863 , Rosecrans revived his original plan and ordered Van Cleve ' s division ( commanded by Col . Samuel Beatty following Van Cleve ' s wounding the previous day ) to cross the river and occupy the heights there , protecting two river crossing sites and providing a good platform for artillery . But the day was relatively quiet as both armies observed New Year ' s Day by resting and tending to their wounded . Polk launched two probes of the Union line , one against Thomas , the other against Sheridan , to little effect . In the rear , Wheeler ' s cavalry continued to harass the Union line of communication on the turnpike back to Nashville . Convoys of wounded had to travel under heavy escort to be protected from the cavalry , and Wheeler interpreted these movements as preparations for a retreat , and he reported such to Bragg . Buoyed by his sense that he had won the battle , Bragg was content to wait for Rosecrans to retreat . At 4 p . m . on January 2 , Bragg directed Breckinridge ' s troops to attack Beatty ' s division , which was occupying the hill on the east side of the river . Breckinridge initially protested that the assault would be suicidal but eventually agreed and attacked with determination . The Union troops were pushed back across McFadden Ford , but the Confederate charge ran into heavy fire from massed Union artillery across the river , commanded by Crittenden ' s artillery chief , Capt . John Mendenhall . Mendenhall deployed his guns perfectly — 45 arrayed hub - to - hub on the ridge overlooking McFadden ' s Ford and 12 more guns about a mile to the southwest , which could provide enfilading fire , completely commanding the opposite bank and heights beyond — and saved the day for Rosecrans . The Confederate attack stalled , having suffered over 1 , 800 casualties in less than an hour . A Union division under the command of James S . Negley ( Thomas ' s wing ) led a counterattack at 4 : 45 p . m . , and the Confederate troops retreated . Breckinridge was devastated by the disaster . He lost nearly one third of his Kentucky troops ( Hanson ' s Brigade , also known as the Orphan Brigade because it could not return to Union - occupied Kentucky ) . As he rode among the survivors , he cried out repeatedly , " My poor Orphans ! My poor Orphans . " On the morning of January 3 , a large supply train and reinforced infantry brigade led by Brig . Gen . James G . Spears reached Rosecrans . Wheeler ' s cavalry attempted to capture the ammunition train that followed it but was repulsed . Late that evening , Thomas attacked the center of the Confederate line with two regiments in reaction to constant enemy sharpshooting against troops in his division under Lovell H . Rousseau . Thomas drove the Confederates from their entrenchments , taking about 30 prisoners . Despite this action , the main battle is generally accepted to have ended on January 2 . Bragg knew that Rosecrans was not likely to retreat and would continue to receive reinforcements — the Confederates had only about 20 , 000 men ready to resume a battle and intelligence reports convinced Bragg that Rosecrans would soon have 70 , 000 — and he knew that the miserable weather of freezing rain could raise the river enough to split his army . Beginning at 10 p . m . on January 3 , he withdrew through Murfreesboro and began a retreat to Tullahoma , Tennessee , 36 miles ( 58 km ) to the south . Rosecrans occupied Murfreesboro on January 5 , but made no attempt to pursue Bragg . Rosecrans was quoted after the battle as saying , " Bragg ' s a good dog , but Hold Fast ' s a better . " Aftermath . Total casualties in the battle were 24 , 645 : 12 , 906 on the Union side and 11 , 739 for the Confederates . Considering that only about 76 , 400 men were engaged , this was the highest percentage of killed and wounded of any major battle in the Civil War , higher in absolute numbers than the infamous bloodbaths at Shiloh and Antietam earlier that year . Four brigadier generals were killed or mortally wounded : Confederate James E . Rains and Roger W . Hanson ; Union Edward N . Kirk and Joshua W . Sill . The battle was tactically inconclusive . Bragg received almost universal scorn from his Confederate military colleagues ; only the support of Joseph E . Johnston and President Jefferson Davis ' s inability to find a suitable replacement saved his command . The battle was very important to Union morale , as evidenced by Abraham Lincoln ' s letter to General Rosecrans : " You gave us a hard - earned victory , which had there been a defeat instead , the nation could scarcely have lived over . " The Confederate threat to Kentucky and Middle Tennessee had been nullified , and Nashville was secure as a major Union supply base for the rest of the war . Rosecrans spent five and a half months reinforcing Murfreesboro . The massive earthenworks " Fort Rosecrans " was built there and served as a supply depot for the remainder of the war . The next major operation , the Tullahoma Campaign , did not come until June , when Rosecrans finally moved his army against Bragg . Part of the site of the Battle of Stones River and Fort Rosecrans is now Stones River National Battlefield . It contains the nation ' s oldest intact Civil War monument , erected by William Hazen ' s brigade at Hell ' s Half Acre . The 600 acre ( 2 . 4 km² ) National Battlefield includes Stones River National Cemetery , established in 1865 , with more than 6 , 000 Union graves .