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| Stones River Civil War Battlefield Memorial |
| Over the 4th of July weekend, we visited a local Civil War historical site: the Stones River Civil War Battlefield and Memorial. Situated between Nashville and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Stones River was the site of the 7th most deadly battle of the Civil War, with more than 22,575 killed from December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863. The battle was actually a series of skirmishes that ran through rolling fields of cotton and corn, and wooded tracts. Initially, the Confederate Army of the Cumberland was successful in pushing back the Union lines, leaving thousands dead in an area nicknamed the "Slaughter Pen". Pushed back to Nashville Pike, with the supply line to all western regiments in danger, the Union Army made a desperate stand, killing scores of Confederate troops in "Hell's Half Acre". Today, The Slaughter Pen is one of four stops through the Stones River Battlefield National Park, and Hell's Half Acre is home to a National Cemetery and the oldest intact Civil War monument in the U.S. |
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| Summarized from the National Park Site: http://www.nps.gov/stri/index.htm Confederate brigades assaulted the Union divisions over rough terrain, which made communication and cooperation between units was nearly impossible. For more than two hours, the Union forces fell back step by bloody step slowing the Confederate assault. By noon, the Union positions were assaulted from three sides. The Union Army lost 14 pieces of artillery, but not without a fight. The cannon crews defended their guns with everything they had, turning from guns to knives and even their bare knuckles. Captain Charles Houghtaling had been ordered to hold his artillery at all costs... a command he took literally. Only at the very last moment were his guns abandoned and even then, Houghtaling had to be carried from the field. With their ammunition nearly spent, the Union lines finally shattered and their men made their way north and west through the cedar woods towards the Nashville Pike. The cost of this delaying action was enormous. Sam Watkins of the First Tennessee Infantry, CS was amazed at the bloodshed. “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 Union brigade commanders were killed or wounded, along with 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. The name stuck. |
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| The National Cemetery |
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| Summarized from: http://www.civilwarhome.com/stones.htm During the afternoon of December 31st, the Confederates attempted to hammer the anchor point of the Union line guarding the Nashville Pike. Three times the Confederate armies rushed the Union position and three times they were thrown back. Two more Confederate brigades made a fourth and final assault as daylight began to fail. The union line began to crumble along it's flanks, but one point, lead by Colonel Hazen, clung to their positions. The carnage as described by J. Morgan Smith of the Thirty-second Alabama Infantry prompted soldiers 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 carries two hundred and eighty into action and came out with fifty eight.” Colonel William B. Hazen’s Brigade was the only Union unit not to retreat on the 31st. Their stand against four Confederate attacks gave the Union commanders a solid anchor to reform their lines that finally stopped the Confederate tide on January 2nd. Hazen’s men were so proud of their efforts in this area that they erected a monument there after the battle. The Hazen Brigade Monument is the oldest intact Civil War monument in the nation. |
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| National Park Site
Spirits of the Civil War; Stones River Murfreesboro Civil War The Battle of Stones River Civil War Battle History Civil War Album |
| For more information about the Stones River Battle: |
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