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Just what is the significance of Stones River Battlefield?



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By: MIKE WEST, Managing Editor
Posted: Sunday, January 4, 2009 8:07 am
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Have you ever visited Stones River National Battlefield?

Stones River Battlefield is the county’s biggest tourism draw, pulling in more than 200,000 visitors annually.

But many area residents don’t know the historic significance of Stones River.

About 10,500 major and minor battles were fought during the Civil War. Stones River is listed among the 45 with major national significance. Some experts rank the battle among the top 10 in importance.

It is one of only 32 military parks or national monuments in the nation preserving aspects of Civil War history and is an important tourist resource because of that.

It was the first step in a series of military campaigns that resulted in the Federal army capturing Chattanooga and Atlanta and set the stage for Sherman’s March to the Sea.

The battle was a brutal one.

More than 83,000 troops took part in the campaign in and around Murfreesboro. There were 23,000 casualties, putting the battle right there with the bloodbaths at Shiloh and Antietam. About 6,000 Union troops are buried at the National Cemetery on Old Nashville Highway.

“Of all the horrors that ever greeted a boy’s eyes, here was the worst of them. Thousands of soldiers, killed where they stood – no breasts works – and here they lay in heaps, ready for burial,” said John McCline, an escaped slave who worked for the 13th Michigan at Stones River.

People who lived here at the time fought and died in the battle. Families’ homes were destroyed. Their livestock killed. Murfreesboro’s economy was ruined for decades to come.

“Everywhere through the heavy timbered country we saw the awful destruction caused by cannon fire – great trees uprooted and exploded shells scattered everywhere,” Cline said.

But the Battle of Stones River had special significance for the nation and President Abraham Lincoln.

The late historian Shelby Foote wrote, “New Year’s 1863 was for Abraham Lincoln perhaps the single busiest day of his whole presidential life, and it came moreover at dead center of what was perhaps his period of deepest gloom and perplexity of spirit.”

Why was Lincoln so depressed?

There were sharp divisions in his political party and even in his own family. His brother-in-law fought at Stones River – as a Confederate in a unit that was decimated. His own handpicked generals were miserable losers who failed to give the Union a much-needed victory especially after the disastrous loss at Fredericksburg, Va. There was the ongoing debate on whether to admit West Virginia to the union. All would be topics of discussion at a New Year’s reception Lincoln would play host to that day. But the biggest worry of all was a document awaiting Lincoln’s signature: The Emancipation Proclamation.

The finished document was brought over from the State Department. Lincoln looked at the document, dipped his pen and proclaimed:

“I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right than in signing this paper.”

And thus history was made in the aftermath of the Battle of Stones River, a conflict that recharged some political/military careers while ending others.

Most notable were the actions of Brig. Gen. Phillip Sheridan, who’s leadership and tenacity prevented a Union rout on the first day of the battle.

Sheridan’s 3rd Division fought for four hours, established three key defensive positions under direct fire, faced nine Confederate brigades and inflicted 2,000 to 3,000 Rebel casualties while suffering 990 casualties. It was Sheridan’s first step in his quick rise to fame as one of the most brilliant of Union generals.

Col. William B. Hazen also won acclaim for his stand at what locals called the “Round Forest,” a wooded area between the Nashville Turnpike and the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad.

Hazen’s brigade fought a “last stand” defense against several Confederate attacks. Called “Hell’s Half Acre” by Union troops, the Round Forest is the site of Hazen’s Monument, which is believed to be the oldest intact memorial on a Civil War battlefield. Hazen was wounded in the shoulder during the fight and was promoted to brigadier general.

www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=3825

As for the Confederates, Col. Joseph B. Palmer of Murfreesboro, won acclaim after Breckinridge’s charge across Stones River. Palmer, who was a former mayor, was wounded three times in the attack. His brigade registered 29.5 percent casualties.

Nearly a third of the Army of Tennessee were Tennesseans; many of them fought and fell within a day of their homes, with a loss of 3,500 killed and wounded, nearly half the army’s entire loss. The greatest loss of the army was in Frank Cheatham’s division of Tennesseeans with 36 percent killed and wounded. Bushrod Johnson’s Tennessee brigade, of Cleburne’s division, lost 29.5 percent.

For one, Lincoln was pleased by the result.

“I can never forget, if I remember anything, that at the end of last year and the beginning of this, you gave us a hard earned victory, which had there been a defeat instead, the country scarcely could have lived over,” Lincoln later telegraphed Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commander of the Federal Army of the Cumberland.
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Member Opinions:
By: mdmcknight41 on 1/4/09
I am very happy that Editor Mike West takes the time to write and publish these articles on the Civil War here in my home town of Murfreesboro. Our history is significant and should be known to all of us. Let me encourage Mr. West to continue with the articles of interest. The one question I have is where were the Confederate soldiers who died here during the battle buried?

By: SocEtTuem on 1/4/09
Good report, Mike. You are right, most people in Middle Tennessee do not understand the far reaching significance of this engagement or how crucial it is to preserve all that is left of this great battlefield.

These articles help bring our historical treasure the public attention it deserves

Dave DuBrucq
Camp 62, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

By: mikewest on 1/5/09
mdmcknight, A number of the Confederate soldiers were buried in family plots throughout Middle Tennessee, but the unknowns from the Battle of Stones River are buried at Confederate Circle at Evergreen Cemetery in Murfreesboro. More than 2,000 soldiers are buried there.


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