Battle of Hartsville The Battle of Hartsville was fought on December 7 , 1862 , in northern Tennessee at the opening of the Stones River Campaign the American Civil War . Background . The Stones River Campaign started in early November 1862 when Union Maj . Gen . William S . Rosecrans moved his Army of the Cumberland southeast from Nashville , Tennessee , toward Murfreesboro . Confederate General Braxton Bragg , commanding the Army of Tennessee , had retreated there after his defeat at the Battle of Perryville . Bragg ordered Colonel 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 action at Hartsville , a crossing point on the Cumberland River about 40 miles 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 . Battle . Guarding the river crossing at Hartsville was the 39th Brigade , XIV Corps , Army of the Cumberland , consisting of the 106th Ohio Infantry , 108th Ohio Infantry , 104th Illinois Infantry , and 2nd Indiana Cavalry . The brigade was commanded by Col . Absalom B . Moore . Under the cover of darkness , Morgan crossed the river in the early morning of December 7 , 1862 , with about 1 , 300 men , mainly Kentuckians , outnumbered by about 1 , 000 troops to the Union brigade . Another Union force , three times that size , was encamped nine miles away at Castalian Springs , close enough to hear the guns , but too far away to interfere . Morgan ' s attack took the Union camp by surprise . One account from a participant indicates that the Confederates were able to get past the picket line by wearing blue uniforms , another that they wore civilian clothes and posed as refugees . The attack began at 6 : 45 a . m . with a simultaneous artillery bombardment and an infantry attack , while cavalry struck the flanks and rear . One of Moore ' s units ran after an hour , which caused confusion and helped to force the Federals to fall back . By 8 : 30 a . m . , the Confederates had surrounded the Federals , convincing Col . Moore to surrender . Aftermath . The Union 74th Indiana regiment was camped at Castalian Springs . They marched to Hartsville from a distance of about eight or nine miles away after hearing cannons firing in the distance . Their advance was hesitant because they may have skirmished with the confederate rear guard of Morgan ’ s cavalry . They came upon Union and confederate casualties abandoned in the snow after the battle ended , in which Union forces were defeated by the combined light infantry , light artillery and cavalry of John Hunt Morgan . Some of Morgan ’ s soldiers were barefooted and lacked clothing . They took Union supplies of shoes and a number of wagons filled with supplies . Four or five wagons were hidden with supplies . Reports give the number of dead and wounded at about 200 . Fifteen confederate soldiers “ frozen so stiff ” were left behind with other wounded according to Basil W . Duke , field commander of the confederate rapid deployment force . Union wounded were also left behind but 2 , 004 prisoners were marched south to Lebanon . The soldiers of the 74th were too late in their arrival because of snow on the ground , the freezing weather and the confederate rear guard . The confederates knew of the Union encampment strength and where they where deployed . The confederates had taken precautionary action by deploying Quirk ’ s scouts and Cluke ’ s regiment to impede the Union relief force . The confederates had to increase the pace of their retreat and some Union prisoners were forced to wade the Cumberland River or one of its tributary creeks . Morgan inflicted 58 Union casualties , at the cost of 139 Confederate , however he also left the battlefield with 1 , 844 Union prisoners and a wagon train heavily loaded with captured equipment and supplies . General Joseph E . Johnston , who was in overall command of Confederate forces in the Western Theater , called this a " brilliant feat " and recommended that Morgan be appointed brigadier general immediately . Jefferson Davis happened to be in the vicinity at Murfreesboro and promoted Morgan in person when he arrived . The action at Hartsville foreshadowed the Confederate cavalry raids by Nathan Bedford Forrest into West Tennessee , December 1862 to January 1863 , and by Morgan into Kentucky , December 1862 to January 1863 . Rosecrans arrived in Murfreesboro on December 29 , setting the stage for the Battle of Stones River .