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Event of 1862: Battle of Stones River opens near Murfreesboro, Tennessee

When
1862–1863
Where
Middle Tennessee; Murfreesboro; East of the Stones River
Episodes
4

The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee. It was the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The battle ended in Union victory after the Confederate army's withdrawal on January 3, largely due to tactical miscalculations by Confederate Gen. Bragg.

Episodes

  1. December 26, 1862 · MurfreesboroUnion Approach

    Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland marched from Nashville to challenge Bragg's Army of Tennessee at Murfreesboro.

  2. December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863 · Middle TennesseeBattle of Stones River

    Fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, this battle was the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.

  3. January 1, 1863 · MurfreesboroJanuary 1 Union Reorganization

    On January 1, 1863, Rosecrans revived his original plan and ordered Van Cleve's division to move.

  4. January 2, 1863 · East of the Stones RiverJanuary 2 Assault

    Fighting resumed on January 2, 1863, when Bragg ordered Breckinridge to assault a lightly defended Union position on a hill to the east of the Stones River.

Background and detail

Background. Following the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky on October 8, 1862, Confederate Gen. Bragg withdrew from Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap, passing through Knoxville and Chattanooga before stopping in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. His army, joined with Smith's Army of Kentucky and renamed the Army of Tennessee, took up a defensive position northwest of the city along the West Fork of the Stones River.

Prelude. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland marched from Nashville, Tennessee, on December 26, 1862, to challenge Bragg's Army of Tennessee at Murfreesboro. The armies bivouacked only 700 yards from each other, and their bands started a musical battle that became a non-lethal preview of the next day's events.

Aftermath. Of the major battles of the war, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. Part of the site is now Stones River National Battlefield, which includes Stones River National Cemetery, established in 1865, with more than 6,000 Union graves.

People involved

Sources

  1. Battle of Stones River Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-04

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.