Stones River Battlefield Investigation

The Battle of Stones River (also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro) was a battle 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 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 division 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. Falsely believing that Rosecrans was receiving reinforcements, Bragg chose to withdraw his army on January 3 to Tullahoma, Tennessee. This caused Bragg to lose the confidence of the Army of Tennessee.

After the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky on October 8, 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi withdrew to After the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky on October 8, 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi withdrew to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where it was joined by Maj. Gen. Edmund 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 fully from Kentucky 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. Generals 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. Generals. 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. Generals. 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 U.S. march began, Bragg moved Hardee back to Murfreesboro to avoid a confrontation.

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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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, where it was joined by Maj. Gen. Edmund 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 fully from Kentucky 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. Generals 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.

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, and William J. Hardee's men on the east. He had expected Rosecrans to attack on December 30, but when that did not happen, 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 to prepare 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 intended to have Crittenden cross the river and attack the heights east of the river, which would be an excellent artillery platform to bombard the entire Confederate lines. However, Crittenden—facing Breckinridge on the Union left—failed to notify McCook (on the Union right) of these troop movements. McCook, anticipating the next day would begin 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 700 yards (640 m) 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 were answered by "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag." Finally, one band started playing "Home! Sweet Home!“ and the others on both sides joined in. Thousands of Northern and Southern soldiers sang the sentimental song together across the lines.

Address: 3501 Old Nashville Hwy, Murfreesboro, TN 37129

Phone: 615-893-9501

Owner: National Park Service

Website: https://www.nps.gov/stri/index.htm

Hauntings: I first discovered the ghost stories concerning Stones River after reading a book entitled, More Haunted Houses by Richard Winer and Nancy Osborn Ishmael in the early 1980s. The book was published by Bantam Books in July of 1981; ISBN: 0-553-14243-7.

The chapter entitled Battlefield Ghosts contains ghost stories about a number of battlefields including Stones River, Chickamauga and Shiloh.

According to a park ranger at the time by the name of Jeffrey Leathers, he had his share of paranormal experiences. I first visited this battlefield back on June 15, 1982 and talked to a few of the rangers who weren’t really interested in sharing ghost stories. When I mentioned the book and Leathers, the ranger said that he was prone to exaggerating stories and just wanted to be in the book.

Leathers tells his encounters in the book as such.

“The park has a number of tourist stops with plaques commemorating the Civil War action that took place at a particular stop. Stop #4 is a rocky, wooded area with a number of sinkholes. You never hear birds there, and it’s always ten to twenty degrees colder that the surrounding terrain. Metals like guns or cannon will sweat cold water in the hollow. Sometimes, especially after ten at night, you can hear something or someone following you when there’s no one behind you, “said Jeffrey Leathers.

“During an anniversary of the battle here at Stones River, my friends and I were camped out in the woods. We were walking down in that hollow one night and heard some footsteps following us. When we turned around we found nothing. We even checked the underbrush. This has happened three times. The last occurrence was near the end of December of 1978, on the anniversary of the battle.

“On another occasion, several of us were camped out by Stop #6. I woke up about three in the morning, craving a drink of water. My canteen was empty, so I started for the administration building. It was foggy. As I was passing some cedars, I noticed what looked like a man standing or hiding in the bushes. I thought it was one of the guys playing around, so I yelled for him to come out. He raised one hand and started toward me. I told him to stop, and he raised the other hand and kept coming. I always carry live rounds in my cartridge box. Well I loaded a live round and said, ‘I’m going to give you one more chance. Stop or I’ll fire.’ About that time, he seemed to fall right into the ground, and I couldn’t see him anymore. When I got to where I had last seen him, I could find nothing – not even a footprint or broken twig.”

Fast forward 38 years later. I was watching The Travel Channel series called Paranormal Emergency. One episode, Scared to Death, (The Unknown Solder) included a Rutherford County Sheriff’s Deputy, Matt King, that had a unique paranormal encounter on the battlefield back on November 17, 2014 around 2:55am. He had stopped in the battlefield to catch up on some of his reports and paperwork when he began to hear the sounds of gunfire and cannons in the distance. He was told by others that on certain occasions you can hear those sounds.

Something caught his eye. He could see the silhouette of a person in the distance. At first, he thought it could be a homeless person or someone who was intoxicated and just decided to take a rest there. He called in this suspicious person and began to approach him. He called out to the stranger that he was a police officer and if he needed any help. He got no answer. 

The stranger began walking toward the officer. He grabbed his flashlight out of his holster and tried to illuminate the figure. When his light hit him, he knew that it was a Civil War soldier. He was dressed in a Confederate soldier uniform. Dep. King decided to stand his ground in the hope that the ghost would stop walking towards him. Their eyes were locked.

Then he suddenly charged the officer and was absorbed into him. As the spirit of the soldier merged with the officer, Dep. King was transported back to the past and experienced the trauma and bloodshed of the war. He felt everything that he was feeling.

Suddenly the Confederate soldier was run through with a bayonet. Dep. King said that he felt the stick of the blade. It was so strong that it almost made him sick. The officer believed that the soldier had died right in that area and that he wanted the deputy to know that.

At that time, he was transported back to the present and was standing there all by himself. He eventually made it back to his squad car.

After a few weeks, he got up enough nerve to see if he could go back and see him again. He thought that there was a little bit of connection there. This experience taught the officer to be more open-minded. He has never again seen the Confederate soldier.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Stones River Battlefield on June 4, 2020 and the team members included: Mike Rosario, Kelly Griffey and Dale Kaczmarek, with help from Jason Snide and Courtney Mendenhall from Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunter's Society