THE VERY BEST EXAMPLE OF AN UNHAPPY NEW YEAR
On this day in history, 158 years ago today, The Battle of Stones River, (also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro), was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863. Of all "major" Civil War battles, Stones River had the highest total percentage of casualties based on numbers of total troops engaged. January 1st 1863 was not a happy New Year for the participants on either side. Both army's would spend New Years day tending to the many wounded from a bloody battle on New Years eve, all while suffering from extreme cold and exposure. In addition, supply lines had been cut and even the most basic food items like hard-tack were in very short supply. Although the final result of the battle was tactically inconclusive, the Union Army's repulse of two major Confederate attacks and the subsequent withdrawal of the Confederate army from middle Tennessee were a massive boost to the Union's morale after their resounding defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg just a month prior. The retreat of the Confederate army also relinquished southern hopes of controlling Middle Tennessee. It all began when Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland marched from Nashville, on December 26, 1862, to challenge General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee near Murfreesboro. On December 31, each army commander planned to initiate the attack. But Bragg struck the first blow. A massive assault by the Confederate corps of Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee, followed by that of Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk's, overran the Union wing commanded by Union Maj. Gen. Alexander M. McCook. A valiant and stubborn stand by the men of Brig. Gen. Philip Sheridan's force prevented a devastating Union defeat. Repeated Confederate attacks would be turned back, most notably in an area of the field known infamously as the "Round Forest". Bragg tried to sustain the initial assaults with the division of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, but the troops were slow in arriving due to faulty reconnaissance information, and the attacks failed.
Heavy fighting resumed on January 2, 1863, when Bragg ordered Breckinridge to assault a superior Union position on a hill east of the Stones River. Faced with superior Union artillery, the Confederates were repulsed with devastating losses. Bragg, who falsely believed that Rosecrans was being reinforced, withdrew his army from the field on January 3 to Tullahoma, Tennessee. This move led to Bragg losing the confidence of the Army of Tennessee and subsequently led to a severe and ever growing rift that would poison the fighting force throughout the remainder of the war. SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE BATTLE Fact: Confederate Maj. Gen. John McCown’s division had whiskey for breakfast before their dawn assault on December 31. The opposing lines had spent December 30 unusually close together. In spots, the 2 armies were separated by only a few hundred yards. McCown was part of Bragg’s attack force and did not want to give away his position by lighting campfires on the morning of the 31st. Instead, he distributed a whiskey ration, which was most appreciated by his men in the damp, cold weather, and ordered them forward at dawn. The assault caught some Union defenders off guard as they were cooking their breakfast and shattered their line. McCown's force was drawn away from the Wilkinson Turnpike, a key supply line, as his command pursued the scattering Federals. Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, lead the division supporting McCown’s attack and conducted a right wheel as Bragg had ordered and unexpectedly found himself in the front line. Fact: Brig. Phillip Sheridan’s stubborn defense during the morning of December 31 prevented a full-scale rout of the Union army. When the Union right wing crumbled at 8 A.M., Sheridan was suddenly himself attacked from 3 sides, his 5,000 men fought to hold off over 10,000 Confederate veterans. The new attack was led by Cleburne along with 2 fresh divisions under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham and Maj. Gen. Jones Withers. With the Confederate line overlapping his right, Sheridan conducted a fighting withdrawal through a large cedar forest, now known as "The Slaughter Pen," to prevent being outflanked. The slaughter pen was an area with deeply veined rock formations that served as natural trenches. Confederate snipers fired mercilessly into the Union force. The rock outcroppings created a terrible scene of ricocheting bullets that cut Sheridan's men to pieces. The Union line was eventually bent into a right angle along the Wilkinson Turnpike, but held. Sheridan’s division was pulled out of the fray at 11 A.M. to replenish their ammunition. His stubbornness had robbed the Confederate assault of a total route of the Union Army. Confederate soldier Sam Watkins of the First Tennessee Infantry, was amazed at the bloodshed he observed.
“I cannot remember now of ever seeing more dead men and horses and captured cannon all jumbled together, than that scene of blood and carnage on the Wilkinson Turnpike; the ground was literally covered with blue coats dead.”
All three of Sheridan’s brigade commanders were killed or mortally wounded. Many Federal units lost more than one-third of their men, Confederate units fared little better. Union soldiers recalled the carnage as looking like "the slaughter pens in the stockyards of Chicago." HELL'S HALF ACRE
The spot on the battlefield known as the "Round Forest" was a crucial tactical position for the Union. Located between the Nashville Pike and the Stones River, the forest anchored the extreme left of the Union line. Colonel William B. Hazen’s Brigade was assigned to this position. At 10 AM, General James Chalmers’ Mississippians advanced on Hazen’s position. A partially destroyed home in their path forced Chalmers’ men to split just before they came within range of Hazen's guns. Artillery batteries guarded Hazen’s flanks and his infantry poured repeated enfilade fire into the Confederate ranks. Chalmers was wounded as his men wavered then broke from the attack. Chalmers’ attack was followed by that of General Daniel Donelson’s Brigade. Donelson’s men crashed into Hazen’s position but Hazen's men held firm and Union reinforcements were able to seal the breach in his line. During the afternoon of December 31st, Bragg ordered Breckinridge’s division to attack the Union line guarding the Nashville Pike. Two more Confederate brigades engaged Hazen's position suffering the same fate as those that previously attacked. Two more of Breckinridge’s Brigades made a final assault at dusk. But Hazen’s men still held.
The post assault carnage was described by J. Morgan Smith of the Thirty-second Alabama Infantry and prompted soldiers who participated to name the field "Hell’s Half Acre."
“We charged in fifty yards of them and had not the timely order of retreat been given none of us would now be left to tell the tale. Our regiment carried two hundred and eighty into action and came out with fifty eight.”
Hazen’s Brigade would be the only Union unit not to retreat from their assigned position on the 31st. Their stand was crucial against the multiple attacks and secured the critical Nashville Pike supply line. Hazen’s men erected a monument on the spot soon after the battle. The Hazen Brigade Monument is the oldest intact Civil War monument in the nation. Ambrose Bierce, (the famous post war author and literary critic), served as a topographical engineer under Maj. Gen. George Thomas. He remarked of Hazen, "he was the best hated man that I ever saw, and his very memory is a terror for every unworthy soul in the service. His was a stormy life: he was in trouble all around. Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and a countless multitude of the less eminent luckless had the misfortune, at one time or another, to incur his disfavor, and he tried to punish them all. He was aggressive, arrogant, tyrannical, honorable, truthful, courageous - a skillful soldier, a faithful friend and one of the most exasperating of men." Hazen was apparently very aggressive and opinionated. His aggressiveness served him well on the battlefield. However he would unapologetically criticize anyone he disagreed with whom crossed his path. After the war he would politically spar with many of his fellow officers including President Grant, Sherman, and George A. Custer. Fact: Bad blood between Confederate Lt. Gen. Braxton Bragg and Maj. Gen. John Breckinridge likely contributed to the Confederate's failures on Dec. 31st in the "Round Forest". With his initial attack stalled and the Union army stubbornly keeping the field. Bragg ordered Breckinridge’s division to renew the attack, but Breckinridge was slow in responding. The two had been at very bitter odds since the Asa Lewis incident earlier that month, when Corporal Asa Lewis of the famed "Kentucky Orphan Brigade" was executed by orders of Bragg for desertion. Lewis of the 6th Kentucky Infantry, had served in the war with great distinction. His father passed away and he went AWOL to return home to assist his widowed and impoverished mother on the family farm. He was captured and Bragg insisted on putting him before the firing squad despite Breckinridge’s vehement protests. The execution by firing squad contributed to Breckinridge’s belief that Bragg had little concern for the lives of his men. Only reluctantly did Breckinridge send his units into the Round Forest at 4 P.M., where they arrived too late to make an impact. Fact: Breckinridge’s charge on January 2 1863 was one of the 3 most violent charges of the entire war. The three being Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, Breckinridge's charge at Stones and the Army of Tennessee's at Franklin. (Franklin is not considered a major battle of the war due to lower over all casualty numbers and is often omitted from discussions. However, it is my firm opinion, and was the opinion of numerous civil war veterans who served at Shiloh, Stones, and Franklin that Franklin was the worst engagement they had ever been a part of). The armies had spent Jan. 1st 1863 recuperating from the battle two days prior and tending to their wounded. Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, held a tight position with both flanks joined to the Stones River, and decided to extend his flank to the eastern bank. Bragg wished to pulverize this new position. If the charge were successful then Rosecrans’s rear would be exposed to a devastating artillery crossfire that would support a new attack on the west side of the field. Confederate Major General John Cabell Breckinridge of Kentucky, (also the former Vice President of The U. S. under James Buchannan), was ordered by Bragg to lead the famous "Orphan Brigade" from Kentucky into this virtual suicide charge at Mcfadden's Ford on the Stones River. Breckinridge would severely protest the orders given by Bragg, seeing it as a totally untenable situation. Yet he would respectfully and dutifully obey the orders none the less. By January 2nd 1863, Union forces had taken the high ridge that ran along the far east bank of the River. Against Breckinridge's advice and the advice of several other subordinate commanders, Bragg insistently ordered the 2nd Division to launch the suicidal frontal assault on the superior Federal position. Prior to attacking, Breckinridge composed a message to Brigadier General William Preston, stating, "if the attack should result in disaster and I be among the slain, I want you to do justice to my memory and tell the people that I believed this attack to be very unwise and tried to prevent it." Brigadier General Roger Hanson, of Kentucky who would lead the "orphans", became so enraged by Bragg's order to make the deadly assault that he had to be restrained from going to Bragg's headquarters and killing him. Hanson would be mortally wounded during the assault and would die the next day. Breckinridge's division of approximately 5,000 Confederates crossed over a half a mile of open field, facing a strong front and flank supported by massed artillery, yet still almost broke the Union line. Only a hasty shift of Union reinforcements protected the position. In just 45 minutes over 1,800 Confederates had become casualties, roughly 36% of Breckinridge’s total force. Breckinridge was reported to have ridden among the post battle carnage saying "My poor orphans". Bragg's official report of the battle caustically criticized the conduct of Breckinridge's division and assigned to Breckinridge most of the blame for the Confederate defeat. Breckinridge asserted to his superiors that Bragg's report "fails...to do justice to the behavior of my Division". Breckinridge requested a court of inquiry over the entire matter, but it was denied. Several Kentuckians under Breckinridge's command, who already blamed Bragg for the failed invasion of their native state in the fall of 1862, encouraged Breckinridge to resign his commission and challenge Bragg to a duel. There is no conclusive proof, but it was the opinion of many, especially those members of the Orphan Brigade, that Bragg ordered the attack involving Breckinridge and the orphan's as retribution over their protest of the Asa Lewis affair. Fact: The casualty percentages at the Battle of Stones River were second only to Gettysburg in all of the 'major' engagements of the Civil War. Through five days of battle, the most intense being December 31 and January 2, nearly 24,000 men on both sides became casualties out of a total of 81,000 engaged, a 29% casualty rate. Gettysburg had a casualty rate of 31%. Chickamauga, Shiloh, and Antietam had casualty rates of 29%, 26%, and 18%, respectively. The heavy losses at Stones River forced both armies to spend months trying to regain their strength and come to terms with the massive bloodshed. MAYBE THE MOST AMAZING EVENT OF THE BATTLE On the very cold and damp evening of December 30, 1862 both armies, totaling near 80000 were camped within just a few hundred yards of one another near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Everyone knew that a major battle was inevitable. Brig. Gen. Henry M. Cist later wrote, “Every soldier on that field knew when the sun went down on the 30th that on the following day he would be engaged in a struggle unto death, and the air was full of tokens that one of the most desperate of battles was to be fought.” In a rather remarkable event that would precede one of the bloodiest of all Civil War battles, the bands of both armies sparred with competing musical renditions, each trying to drown out the other. The northern musicians played "Yankee Doodle" and "Hail, Columbia" and were answered by "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag. Then, one of the bands suddenly struck up “Home Sweet Home,” and, “as if by common consent, all other airs ceased, and the bands of both armies, far as the ear could reach, joined in the refrain.” Samuel Seay, 1st Tennessee, Maney’s Brigade, as quoted in David R. Logsdon, Eyewitnesses at the Battle of Stones River. To thee, I’ll return, overburdened with care, The heart’s dearest solace will smile on me there. No more from that cottage again will I roam, Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”
Then bands from both sides ended the North-South competition and joined in on the mournful song with thousands of troops stopping to sing the chorus:
“Home! Home! Sweet, sweet home!
There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” The troops were next left to an eerie silence and their own personal thoughts that were kindled by the emotional tune. As for Union soldiers, they were certainly quite far from their home sweet home. But many Confederates were practically in their own backyard. A number of the men engaged were from nearby Middle Tennessee communities. The temptation to sneak home must have been quite overwhelming for many. The men of Col. Joseph Palmer’s 18th Tennessee Infantry had just recently been paroled from being taken as prisoners at Fort Donelson in February 1862, and had just recently reformed into a fighting unit just in time to defend their home turf from the Yankees. Palmer, a former Whig politician, had previously served as the mayor of Murfreesboro. Thus “Home, Sweet, Home” had a far more intense meaning for Palmer and his men and their responsibility to protect both their homeland and their families. Side note: Pres. Abraham Lincoln was a big fan of military music. “Hail, Columbia” was usually played when he made public appearances. The song was originally written for George Washington’s presidential inauguration. But ironically, Lincoln especially loved lively songs like “Dixie.
Lincoln said in 1865, “I have always thought ‘Dixie’ one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it. I presented the question to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize,” But just like many of his soldiers, Lincoln was also deeply moved by the tune “Home, Sweet, Home.” Italian opera star Adelina Patti was invited to the White House in 1862 to perform for the Lincoln's who were still mourning the death of their 12-year-old son, Willie, from typhoid fever. Patti, who along with Jenny Lind was one of the most popular sopranos in the world at that time. Patti performed her usual musical repertoire, and ended with one of the saddest songs of the day, “The Last Rose of Summer.” When she concluded the number, she saw Mary Lincoln in tears and the President covering his face with his hands. When she offered to perform a cheerful song, Lincoln requested “Home, Sweet, Home,” as the only song that could give them any solace from their bitter grief.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS FROM THE BATTLE AND ITS AFTERMATH Henry M. Cist wrote ("The Army of the Cumberland," 1882),
"Every soldier on that field knew when the sun went down on the 30th that on the following day he would be engaged in a struggle unto death, and the air was full of tokens that one of the most desperate of battles was to be fought. In the face of all this, Johnson, the commander of the First Division on the right, was not on the line nor near enough to his troops to give orders to them, his headquarters being a mile and a half in the rear. General Willich the commander of the Second Brigade, which had been posted for the express purpose of protecting the extreme right of our army, was absent from his command at division headquarters. His brigade was not even in line, as they had been ordered to get their breakfast. The batteries of the division were not properly posted, and in some cases the horses were away from the guns to the rear for water. All this was criminal negligence--a failure in the performance of duty--for which some one should have suffered. To the faulty position of the line and to the unprepared condition of the troops is to be attributed the almost overwhelming disaster that overtook our army on that day."
"Numbering at least two to our one, he [Rosecrans] was enabled to bring fresh troops at every point to resist our progress, and he did so with a skill and judgment which has ever characterized his aide commander." Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas "If a soldier ever saw lightning, and heard the thunder bolts of a tornado at the same time the heavens opened and the stars of destruction were sweeping everything from the face of the earth, if he was in this charge, he saw it". W. J. McMurray, M.D., History of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment Volunteer Infantry C.S.A referring to Breckinridge's charge on the 2nd. “You have heard of the Battle of Murfreesboro no doubt and would like to hear how I came out. I have been in places that I can’t see for my life how I came out safe. I am tempted to say that a Yank can never kill me. I am Yankee-proof! I was in the fight three days with about fifteen of my company that was not captured. We had none killed. We had two horses killed. In the fight on Wednesday, I had taken seven prisoners, five at one time. I saw them across a field and run my horse within about 200 yards of them and said, “Halt!” They did not. I fired my gun, the ball passing so near them they pulled off their hats. I then ran up near to and took them. My gun being empty, they thought I had another. Neither of them had any gun. They had thrown them away in the stampede. “This battle is one of the severest I ever read of, but we whipped them badly. I slept on the field two nights, and there was ten Yanks killed to our one. This is so, for I counted them myself. [The actual casualties for the entire battle were Union–1677 killed, 7543 wounded, and 3686 missing, Confederate – 1294 killed, 7945 wounded, and 2500 mission. …” Source: Mills Lane “Dear Mother: Don’t grieve about me. If I get killed, I’ll only be dead.”: Letter from a Georgia soldier in the Civil War DECEMBER 31st 1862 "The comfort of warming chilled fingers and toes and drinking a grateful cup of hot coffee outweighed for the moment any consideration of danger. As all was so quiet, not a shot having been fired, I walked out until the enemy’s breastworks were in view and there, sure enough, a succession of long lines of Gray were swarming over the Confederate breastworks and sweeping towards us, but not yet within gun shot range. Then came chaos. Men began to run in every direction, for no one knew where to go. That soldier continued: Our only salvation was to lie flat as possible, for the air seethed with the ‘Zip’ of bullets…. It reminded me of the passage of a swarm of bees. Bullets plowed little furrows around us, throwing up grass and soil into our faces or over our bodies, and others struck with a dull ‘thud’ into some poor unfortunate soul." Sgt. Major Widney, 34th Illinois, Kirk’s Brigade "The nearest the [Yankees] came to getting me was shooting a hole in my pants and cutting hair off my right temple. I know a peck of balls passed in less than a yard of me. The man in front of me got slightly wounded and the one on my right mortally and the one on my left killed." Washington Mackey Ives, 4th Florida, Preston’s Brigade "Before this battle took place, the outlook for our country was very dark and threatening. Our armies had gained no signal [important] victories for many months, and there was very great danger that some of the Nations of Europe would recognize the Southern Confederacy, and that it would be impossible for us to maintain our blockade. Had General Rosecrans’ Army been defeated at the battle of Stones River…it would not only have prolonged the War, but would have greatly increased our danger of conflicts with foreign countries." J. T. Gibson, 78th Pennsylvania. "We were ordered back about 50 yards and broke ranks to sleep on arms, but it was very little sleeping that any of us did for I like to have died of the cold. My teeth chattered all night. We did not have our blankets, and the ground was frozen hard." Washington Mackey Ives, 4th Florida, Preston's Brigade "I rode over the field after night hunting some harness.The groans of the poor wounded was heart rending. I could not repress a few falling tears. I got off my horse and built fires for several, foe and friend. Many many chilled to death and that night might have been saved could they but have had attendance." Corporal John Euclid Magee, Stanford's Mississippi Battery of Stewart's Brigade. "I was severely wounded just before sunrise. I was taken to the hospital in Murfreesboro. So many wounded were their that I received no attention. One of the surgeons said: 'Don't fool with him now. In the morning we will take that arm off.' "In the morning I was not their, for soon after dark I crept out, took up an empty bucket, put my blanket over my wounded arm, and passed the guards as if I were going to the pump out on the street. With much difficulty I reached the depot and left on the first train going southward." James W. Ellis, 4th Arkansas, McNairs Brigade. JANUARY 2ND 1863 "After passing the line of guns, I found myself among the artillerymen and horses, where an alarming confusion was found, caused by the fearful enemy's fire. Then near me one of the artillerymen, on his horse, I saw the upper part of his head disappear. A cannon shot did the work, and he fell from his horse a corpse." Henry Harrison Eby, 7th Illinois Cavalry. "Before I dismounted, my little bay horse had his hind leg nearly torn off by a piece of shell that seemed to burst within six feet of my face. At the order to retire I remounted him and his last act of service was to carry me out of danger. A hundred yards or so from the guns I dismounted and led on after the limbers. At our former position, I took my bridle and saddle off my wounded horse and put them on a spare horse. As the faithful animal stood there bleeding and shivering with pain, and I powerless to help him in return for the great service he had rendered me at Shiloh, I could not keep from crying. and when we drove off and left him, I could not have felt it more keenly had I been leaving a wounded friend. I never saw him again and i suppose he died near the place I left him." Sgt' William A. Brown, Stanford's Mississippi Battery of Stewart's Brigade. "General Breckinridge exclaimed, pointing to the left: 'Look at old Hanson! We proceeded along a line of fence about two thirds the distance across the open when a halt was observed. On investigating the cause there, just over the fence was General Breckinridge kneeling by Hanson's side holding firmly to the artery of the leg just above the knee. The wounded man had received his death wound, as it afterwards came out that a large fragment of a shell had struck the leg just above the knee." Col. W.D Pickett, Hardee's assistant inspector general. "The hungry soldiers cut steaks from the slain horses and gathered around the fires to prepare there suppers. Officers from other brigades came, hoping to find a little whisky, but learned with resignation and well feigned composure that the canteens have long been empty, that even the private flasks, which officers carry with the photographs of their sweethearts, in a side pocket next to their heartys, are destitute of even the flavor of this article of prime necessity". Col. John Beatty, 3rd Ohio. "Rations were distributed as far as possible, but in many cases the commissary trains had been either delayed or destroyed by the enemy's cavalry . the cracker supply having been cut off, it was necessary to distribte flour instead of crackers. Each man in the regiment drew a certain quantity of flour, and the facilities for turning this into bread or anything else edible were exceedingly primitive. You might have seen soldiers making dough of flour, water, and salt, and baking it on a stone laid on hot coals." J. T. Gibson, 78th Pennsylvania, Miller's Brigade. "As our brigade lay in reserve, late in the day an officer's horse was killed by a cannon ball, and before the blood had ceased to circulate in the animal,so hungry were the boys that they cut steaks from the dead animal and broiled them for supper." Capt. S. F. Horral, 42nd Indiana, J. Beatty's Brigade. "We heard for certain that the rebels had left and were not sorry, either, for we were pretty tired and worn out too for we had nothing to eat for three days to amount to anything. Some eat horse flesh, even being so near starved, I gathered up corn that the mules had left and eat it and was glad to get it." James G. Watson, 25th Illinois, Woodruff''s Brigade. "There was a great deal of pilfering performed on the dead bodies of the Yankees by our men. Some of them were left as naked as they were born, everything in the world they had being taken from them. I ordered my men to take their fine guns and canteens if they wished, but nothing else. The only thing I took was a fine canteen which I cut off a dead Yankee who was lying on his face in our path as we marched along." James B. Mitchell, 34th Alabama, Manigault's Brigade. "I ride over the battle-field. In one place a caisson and five horses are lying, the latter killed in harness, and all fallen together. Nationals and Confederates, young, middle-aged, and old, are scattered over the woods and fields for miles. Poor Wright, of my old company, lay at the barricade in the woods which we stormed on the night of the last day. Many others lay about him. Further on we find men with their legs shot off; one with brains scooped out with a cannon ball; another with half a face gone; another with entrails protruding; young Winnegard, of the Third, has one foot off and both legs pierced by grape at the thighs; another boy lies with his hands clasped above his head, indicating that his last words were a prayer. Col. John. Beatty, 3rd Ohio. THE HARROWING ACCOUNTS OF THREE MEN Corporal W. L. Mckay 18th Tennessee Palmer's Brigade Friday Jan 2nd 1863 " I was shot through the right thigh with a minie ball soon after starting after the retreating enemy. I was the last of the color guards to fall. George Lowe, the color bearer, was falling when I caught hold of the flagstaff and received my first wound, and we fell together. Capt. Nat Gooch then took the flag and was soon shot down. Logue Nelson, of Murfreesboro, then took the flag and carried it safely through the battle." After the battery was deserted, I received my second wound from a bombshell fired by the Confederates, breaking my left arm and terribly bruising my body, from the concussion, I was told by the surgeon. I received several other slight wounds on my legs." "Yankee Gen. Jeff Davis's Division marched by and over me, and the commanders of the companies would say as they passed me: 'look out men, here is a wounded man.' Some of them would step over me carefully, while others would give me a kick and call me a damn rebel, and I was covered with black spots from the bruises." "About 12 or 1 o'clock, (Friday night), two Yankee boys who were searching the battle field for a friend came along. They seemed very sorry for me and determined to have me taken to the hospital. I was taken to a hospital camp and laid out on the ground, the attendants thinking I was too near dead to waste time on me. It was raining." I lay all day Saturday in the rain without any attention; when I would ask attendants for water, they would say: 'you don't need water; we will take you to the graveyard after a while.' I did not suffer, however, as I could suck the water out of my coat sleeve as it rained on me." "About dark on Saturday, finding that I would not die, I was picked up and laid in a tent out of the rain. During the night two wounded Confederates died in this tent, one of them having fallen across my legs, and lay there for several hours." "On Monday January 5th I was given breakfast, the first food offered me, and the first I had eaten since Friday. A surgeon examined me and decided to amputate my leg; my arm could not be saved. I begged them not to cut it off. This attracted the attention of the chief surgeon, a big Dutch surgeon, who came and examined me and said:: 'Let him alone. If de damn Rebel wants to die, let him go.' The young surgeon in charge of the tentwas very kind to me." "The young surgeon gave nme a pair of blankets, a bottle of whisky, some coffee, and sugar,; but as soon as the wagon was out of his sight the Yankee guards and camp loafers took the whisky, and the blankets from over me: the other things they did not find, as they were under the feather bed." Mr Casper Freas took me to his home near Murfreesboro. I could not understand until afterwards why he would burden himself with me. He was a Union man and feared the Confederates would take his horses, but he knew that if a wounded man was at his house, they would not disturb him. He took especially good care of me and no doubt saved my life. Once he got his affairs in order, he left for Indiana. The night he left me proved to be the most horrible of all my trials. He sold all his effects to the local negros. The small bed I was on had been sold to a big negro fellow who lived near, and he promised Mr Freas he would stay with me til morning. The family left about midnight. The wagons were not out of hearing before he began bringing in fence rails to make a fire for me. I begged him not to, but he continued to build the fire then left me. I had a fine fire, but did not enjoy it, as I expected the house to burn and me with it. Fortunately the rails were cedar and the fire died out before reaching the floor." "The next morning , Mr John Cason, hearing from the negros that Mr. Freas was gone came to see what had become of me. He brought me a bed and breakfast and Mr. M. W. Huddleston took me to his home near Cainsville, and nursed me until I was able to walk on crutches, some time during the early summer of 1863." Ira S. Owens, 74th Ohio Miller's Brigade. "I was wounded just above the left knee, by a musket ball or a piece of shell and taken to the field hospital, 5 miles toward Nashville." "Soon after I arrived at the hospital a surgeon proposed to dress my wound; but I told him to attend to others around me who needed attention first. It was impossible to supply all the wounded with tents. Rails were hauled and fires built, and they were laid on the ground before the fires. Men were wounded in every conceivable way, some with their arms and legs shot off, some in the head, and some in the body. It was heart rending to hear their cries and groans. I saw the surgeons amputate limbs, then throw the quivering flesh into a pile. Every once in a while a man would stretch himself out to die." "Sergeant A. B. Cosler procured an old blanket for me, and I lay by the fire all night. Although my leg pained me considerably, so that I slept very little during the night, still I did not complain, as there were others who were hurt a great deal worse than I was. One poor fellow who was near me, was wounded in the head. He grew delirious during the night, and would frequently call for his mother. He would say, 'Mother O mother, come and help me!" The poor fellow died before morning, with no mother near to soothe him in his dying moments or wipe the cold sweat from his brow." "Oh how often on that long and dreary night of the 31st of December 1862, as I lay wounded on the ground, at the field hospital, with no covering but part of an old blanket did i think of my loving wife and dear mother at home." "Thursday morning the sun arose without clouds, but along the eastern horizon was a broad zone of mist and fog through which the great luminary looked red and bloody." "Having no shelter tent, it was very disagreeable. Rows of men were laid out side by side, ready for the soldier's burial. They were wrapped in their soldier's blankets, a trench dug, their bodies placed side by side, like they fought, a few shovelfuls of earth thrown upon them and they were left alone." On arriving at the front, which was in the after part of the day, some soldiers of an Indiana regiment were preparing supper when I came up. I spoke to them and asked if they could give a wounded soldier something to eat, as I had eaten nothing since leaving the hospital in the morning. They replied that they did not have much, but would divide with me, and give me something. I ate a hard tack and a small piece of meat, thanked them and set forward again. I found the 74th near the river. That night it rained, and I slept but little. It was a very quiet day compared to what it had been for a few days past. We remained close to the river until near evening. That night someone stole my Enfield." "The soldiers had a hard time to get something to eat. As much as 25 cents was offered for a single hardtack. Money could not buy rations. They could not be had." Lt. Ebenezer Hannaford, 6th Ohio, Grose's Brigade. "The large square hospital tent was already becoming crowded on Wednesday, (Jan 1st). At the further end one of the surgeons was bandaging a ghastly wound in the arm of a poor wretch, the sleeve of whose blouse, cut away at the shoulder and all matted and stiff with gore, was lying on the ground beside him. Close by and down on one knee, was the chaplain, with a memorandum book and pencil, taking the sufferer's names with the commands to which they belonged, and the home address of the friends of each. The surgeon was soon ready for me and proceeded to examine the wound. 'A very narrow escape, young man,' he said at length. 'A wound right through the base of the neck and behind the right clavicle, which it has evidently struck and fractured, and then glancing upward it seems to have shattered the acromius. How the trachea escaped without most serious injury I can not see.' "The wound was soon dressed, then a few fresh bundles of corn blades were brought in, and on the bed that they made in one corner I sat down with a weary contentedness. About dusk our suppers were brought in , a cup of coffee and a biscuit." "I could not sleep, So the night wore on, in thinking, weariness, and wonderment and pain.The old year was passing away. We were dying together. It seemed hard so to die by suffocation, I thought from internal hemorrhage that was slowly filling my lungs with blood. Respiration was almost impossible, except in a sitting position, and propped nearly upright though I bwas, my breath came only with thick, irregular gasps. Towards morning there was relief of that horrible feeling of suffocation, and I dropped into a brief and broken slumber." "The first death in our hospital occurred on Monday, (Jan 5th).There were several more the next night, one of them was shocking. A boy from an Indiana regiment, belonging to my own division. He told us one day that he was not quite eighteen. His wound was in the neck, the bullet passing quite through and out behind the right shoulder, and so injuring the larynx that he could barely speak even in a whisper. Nearly two weeks had passed since that memorable Wednesday, when one morning he told the nurse is wound was growing very painful, and if secondary hemorrhage occurred, was was almost certain, he knew that he could not live." " I could see every motion of the poor fellow on his cot directly opposite. Presently I heard a peculiar strangling cough, and looking toward him I saw the nurse bending over him and raising him into a sitting position, while the blood gushed in streams from his mouth, his nostrils, and the external wound in his throat. The surgeon was called instantly; but his endeavors were hopeless. in less than five minutes the nurse was supporting only a drooping corpse. It was a sickening sight, a horrible death. Wounded in much the same spot, how soon might not the end of the earth come to me? I buried my head in my blankets and strove to shut the scene away from my vision:; but the picture haunted me, and for days and weeks afterward it would come to me at times, all ghastly and crimson." After the second week there were fewer deaths in the field hospitals. there were fewer inmates too, for most of the wounded could bear removal and were sent to Nashville......... My system wielded much to the violence it had suffered. appetite failed next, and spirits and strength, I could daily feel , were deserting me together. At last Wynne contrived my transfer to Nashville. The evening air was freshening chill and wintry when the ambulance stopped before the iron gate of the enclosure of Number Fourteen. I was lifted out and borne on a stretcher up into a comfortable , airy room in the second story, which now I was not to leave again for more than three long months." "Mrs. Payne a frequent visitor at the hospital related to me that she had cared for several Confederate soldiers, one of whom was Capt. Bramlette, who had died at her house. She said that when he was about to die she concluded to remove the coarse blankets and replace them with neater ones; that he caught her hand and said, "No, do not remove those blankets, for they saved my life at Stones River. They were placed over me that cold night by the hand of an enemy, but a brother. You may come across him sometime; and if you should, tell him I died under the blankets he placed over me that night.' She sent them to his parents in Paris Ky."Dr. F. G. Hickman "Major Frank B. Ward of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry had been carried mortally wounded to the house of my father, Dr. J. E. Manson, on the first day of the battle. Maj. Ward had a brother on the Confederate side, who was also in this battle, and they had been having some amusing correspondence, each saying the other would be his prisoner. The major lay wounded for several weeks, when by a sloughing from the main artery of the leg, he bled to death. His brother the Confederate came to see him on the day he died, and they held each other by the hand and recited the Lord's prayer just before the major expired. A brother and sister came down from Michigan and were at his death bed."J.E. Manson civilian. The gory two day Battle of Stones River was anything but a happy New Year for either side. The bloody two day stalemate left over 24000 men, killed, wounded, or captured. Many men would lie wounded on the cold January field for weeks before being tended to. The battle itself is somewhat morphed in history by The Battle of Shiloh in April 1862 which statistically is categorized as the bloodiest two day battle in American History with casualties of over 24000. Many veterans who fought in both encounters and lived to tell of it, reported that Stones River was far worse than Shiloh. At Shiloh their were roughly 110000 troops engaged over two days of intense battle. The casualty rate thyeir was roughly one in every four men engaged. While at Stones River there were roughly 78000 men engaged over two days of intense battle. Roughly one in three men engaged at Stones River were either wounded, killed, or captured. The Stones River battlefield is one of the more beautiful battlefields I have ever seen. While visiting last December with my wife, we both enjoyed the beautiful scenic nature walk along the rivers edge, all the while enjoying the interpretive history of the battle. It is a must see for anyone interested in the American Civil War and for history buffs in General. I highly recommend a visit if you are ever travelling through Central Tennessee.