Stones River National Battlefield is located 30 miles south of Nashville. It’s the site of an important Civil War battle which gave an important military and political victory to the Union. Lincoln’s armies were stalled, and the Emancipation Proclamation was about to be enacted. Lincoln believed the nation needed a victory to bolster morale and support the proclamation when it went into effect on January 1, 1863.
The Battle of Stones River was one of the bloodiest of the Civil War. It began at dawn on December 31, 1862. Confederate troops conducted an early morning attack while Union forces were still waking up and getting breakfast. The Confederates took advantage of the ensuing confusion and inflicted great punishment on the Union forces, with much bloodshed and many casualties. The tide of the battle began to shift later that day, with Confederate forces also suffering many casualties.
(Some of the battlefield landscape)
As night approached, the Union army was bloody and battered, but it retained control of the roads and a vital supply route to Nashville. Although Confederate cavalry attacked and damaged Union wagon trains, enough supplies got through to give the Union army the ability continue the fight.
After spending January 1, 1863, reorganizing and caring for their wounded, the two armies resumed fighting again on the afternoon of January 2nd. The Union cannons inflected severe damage on the Confederacy. General Bragg ordered the Confederate Army of Tennessee to retreat on January 3, 1863. Two days later the battered Union army marched into Murfreesboro and declared victory.
President Lincoln got the victory he wanted to boost morale and support the Emancipation Proclamation. But it came at a great price. More than 3,000 men lay dead on the field. Nearly 20,000 more were wounded.
If you visit the Battlefield, you’ll find 351 acres of it nicely preserved. The site includes a national cemetery and the Hazen Brigade Monument, erected in 1863 and the oldest Civil War memorial in the USA.
The visitor center has artifacts and details of the Battlefield.
