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diff --git a/32019.txt b/32019.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80bc1e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/32019.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1875 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stone's River, by Wilson J. Vance + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stone's River + The Turning-Point of the Civil War + +Author: Wilson J. Vance + +Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32019] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONE'S RIVER *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + STONE'S RIVER + + The Turning-Point of the Civil War + + + By + WILSON J. VANCE + + + New York + The Neale Publishing Company + 1914 + + + + (Copyright, 1914) + By The Neale Publishing Company + + + + TO MY WIFE + + + + +ORDER OF CONTENTS + + + Page + + Preface 7 + + Introduction 9 + + Chapter + + I North and South in 1862 12 + + II Foreign Relations in 1862 21 + + III The Armies and Their Leaders 31 + + IV The First Day's Battle 44 + + V The Night and the Next Day 55 + + VI The Second of January, 1863 59 + + VII What Might Have Been,--and What Was 63 + + Appendix 67 + + + + +STONE'S RIVER + + + + +PREFACE + + +While many authorities were consulted in the preparation of this work, +particular acknowledgment is due John Formby's "The American Civil War," +wherein was suggested the proposition that is here laid down and expanded; +to Van Horne's "History of the Army of the Cumberland," which gives the +campaigns of that organization in minute detail; to several of the papers +and books of Charles Francis Adams,--documents that deal principally with +the diplomacy of the Civil War, and to the published and spoken words of +the author's father,--the late Wilson Vance,--orderly to the brigade +commander whose charge against orders turned defeat into victory in the +battle here described. The book grows out of a short article published in +the Newark _Sunday Call_, December 29, 1912,--an article that attracted +considerable attention, rather because of the novelty of the theory +advanced than because of other merit. + +It may be permissible to add that few persons,--comparatively,--conceive +the bearing on the outcome of the Civil War, of the campaigns and battles +that took place beyond the Alleghanies. There is more than one pretentious +history, which would lead a reader to suppose that all of the events of +importance took place upon the Atlantic seaboard. It does not diminish in +the least either the merit or the renown of the armies that measured their +strength in that confined arena to suggest that the movements that +resulted in the transfer of the control over hundreds of thousands of +square miles of territory,--territory that teemed with the fruits of the +earth,--was, taken in connection with the naval blockade, a very +considerable factor in the wearing down and final collapse of the Southern +Confederacy. + +WILSON J. VANCE + +NEWARK, N. J., JULY 14, 1914. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +On the banks of a shallow winding stream, traversing the region known as +Middle Tennessee, on the last day of December, 1862, and on the first and +second days of January, 1863, a great battle was fought,--a battle that +marked the turning point of the Civil War. Stone's River, as the North +designated it, or Murfreesboro,--to give it the Southern name,--has +hitherto not been estimated at its true importance. To the people of the +two sections it seemed at the time but another Shiloh,--horrifying, +saddening, and bitterly disappointing. Its significance, likewise, has +escaped almost all historians and military critics. But now the +perspective of half a century gives it its proper place in the panorama of +the great conflict. + +Gettysburg, indeed, may have been the wound mortal of the Confederacy. But +Gettysburg was, in very truth, a counsel of desperation, undertaken when +the South was bleeding from many a vein. When Lee turned the faces of his +veterans toward the fruitful fields of Pennsylvania, a wall of steel and +fire encompassed his whole country. Warworn Virginia cried out for relief +from the marchings of armies, that her people might raise the crops that +would save them from starvation. Grant had at last established his lines +around the fortress that dominated the Mississippi, and only by such a +diversion, was there hope that his death-grip would be shaken. The day +after Pickett's shattered columns had drifted back to Seminary Ridge +Vicksburg was surrendered, and the control of the mighty river passed to +the forces of the North. + +But it was at Stone's River that the South was at the very pinnacle of +confidence and warlike power; and it was here that she was halted and +beaten back,--never again to exhibit such strength and menace. It was here +that the tide of the Confederacy passed its flood, henceforth to recede; +here that its sun crossed the meridian and began its journey to the +twilight and the dark. Southern valor was manifested in splendid lustre on +many a field thereafter, but the capacity for sustained aggression was +gone. After Stone's River, the Southern soldier fought to repel rather +than to drive his foe. + +Yet Stone's River was almost a tale of triumph for the Confederacy. + +"God has granted us a happy New Year!" was the message flashed to Richmond +at the close of the first day's fighting by General Braxton Bragg, +Commander of the Army of the Tennessee. Two-thirds of the Army of the +Cumberland had been hurled out of line, and now lay clinging with +desperation to the only road from which it could secure supplies, or by +which it could retreat, and to lose which meant destruction. There was +reason, therefore, in the Southern general's exultation, as he waited for +the morrow to give him complete success. He could not know that the army +upon which had been inflicted so terrific a blow was to gather new +strength out of the very magnitude of its disaster and to return such a +counter-stroke as would give it the field and the victory. Neither could +he see that his failure here meant failure for his cause; that because at +Stone's River success had not crowned his efforts, his own magnificent +army was to be pressed further and further from the territory it claimed +as its own; that Fate had here entered the decree,--against which all +appeals would fail,--for the preservation of the Federal Union and the +death of the Confederate States of America. + +WILSON J. VANCE. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +NORTH AND SOUTH IN 1862 + + +Confederate enterprise, energy, and expectation were at the zenith in +1862. No other year saw the South with so promising prospects, with plans +of campaign so bold, with such resources, both latent and developed. Her +armies were at their fullest strength, for the flower of her youth had not +yet been destroyed in battle. Want and hunger had not yet begun to chill +the hearts of her people. Her political machinery, under the direction of +able leaders, had been skillfully adjusted to the needs of the new nation +and was now working smoothly and effectually. There had, indeed, come a +change of sentiment in the Southland. That boastful and flatulent +spirit,--the spirit that contemptuously slurred the strength and courage +of the foe and counted upon an easy victory,--was gone. In its place was a +temper far more formidable. The South realized now that before it was a +task of greatest magnitude, but her people rose to it in a spirit of +splendid sacrifice and with high, stern resolution. + +The early part of the year, indeed, brought a series of reverses, +particularly in the West,--reverses that would have seemed fatal to a +cause, less resolutely supported. In January was fought the battle of Mill +Springs, where Thomas, in routing the Confederate forces, achieved the +first considerable Union success of the war. In February came Grant's +capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, which not only yielded thousands of +prisoners but left Middle Tennessee open to the invaders. The same month +witnessed the opening of operations in North Carolina by Burnside, which +resulted in the capture of Roanoke Island and (in March) of New Berne. Pea +Ridge, fought in March, dashed Confederate hopes of Missouri,--for a +season,--and the capture of New Madrid proved another heavy loss to the +South, in men, guns, and munitions. Early in April Fort Pulaski yielded to +Gillmore, and McClellan's great army began its progress up the Peninsula, +with Richmond as its announced goal. The siege-artillery of the Army of +the Potomac was still thundering at Williamsburg, when, on May 6 and 7, +was fought the bloody battle of Shiloh, in which the Confederates,--after +a striking initial success,--were driven from the field by Grant and +Buell, with the death of their loved commander, Albert Sidney Johnston, to +make more bitter their defeat. The echoes of Shiloh's guns had scarcely +ceased, before Island No. 10, with many prisoners and supplies, fell to +Pope, and the crowning Confederate disaster came on May 28, when Farragut +received the surrender of New Orleans,--the commercial metropolis, the +largest and wealthiest city, and the greatest seaport of the South. + +But Confederate prestige, which had suffered sadly in these events, was +speedily restored in fullest measure. While McClellan was toiling slowly +up the Peninsula, Jackson was electrifying the whole South by his campaign +in the Shenandoah Valley, where, with a small force, he neutralized armies +aggregating 70,000 men, and terrorized the Federal capital. Kernstown, +Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic, are names that +serve to recall some of the most brilliant exploits of the war. + +His work in the valley accomplished, Jackson then slipped away in June to +aid Lee in the battles around Richmond,--battles that were to culminate +early in July in the retreat to Harrison's Landing and the reluctant and +humiliating withdrawal from the Peninsula of the Army of the Potomac. +While the withdrawal was still in progress, Lee fell upon the luckless +Pope, and in the second Battle of Bull Run all but crushed his +newly-constituted Army of Virginia. Then Lee gave the Northward road to +his victorious legions, and early in September began the invasion of +Maryland. + +After the battle of Shiloh, the Confederate forces of the Middle +West,--under Beauregard,--had retired to Corinth, Miss., which Halleck, +at the head of more than 100,000 men,--having gathered together Grant's +army, Buell's and all the other forces under his command,--approached with +ridiculous caution. After a somewhat farcical siege, in which Beauregard +played successfully for time, Corinth was suddenly and expeditiously +evacuated, and the Confederate Army reappeared in a strong position at +Tupelo, when, Beauregard having fallen ill, Bragg assumed command. + +Halleck now divided his forces again, Buell,--at the head of what was now +known as the Army of the Cumberland,--being sent into Middle Tennessee to +begin a campaign long urged by President Lincoln for the relief of the +Unionists in the eastern part of that State, and Grant being left in +Mississippi, with somewhat widely-separated detachments, which ultimately +he was to concentrate in the campaign for Vicksburg. The taking of Memphis +(June 6) had already given the Union forces a foothold on the great river +and domination over Western Tennessee. Halleck was summoned to Washington +in July, to take command of all the armies in the field. + +The dispersion of the Union forces in his front did not pass unnoticed by +Bragg, who soon conceived and put into execution one of the boldest plans +of campaign of the war. Early in June he began the shifting of his Army of +the Tennessee to Chattanooga, where, in conjunction with Kirby +Smith,--commanding a Confederate Army in East Tennessee,--he perfected +his scheme of operation. The prelude of his campaign was exhibited in the +form of extensive raids by Forrest's Cavalry and Morgan's, in which the +Federal lines of communication were repeatedly cut, huge stores of +supplies taken or destroyed, and several important posts captured. Early +in August the heavy columns of Confederate infantry and artillery began +pouring through the mountain passes into the coveted territory of +Kentucky. + +Bragg's invasion of Kentucky was thus practically simultaneous with Lee's +invasion of Maryland; and the two movements caused the direst foreboding +and dismay in the North. The war was coming very close to the people of +that section when Confederate detachments appeared in the rear of +Covington, in sight of Cincinnati, and when the chief Confederate Army +crossed the Potomac into the Maryland that the Southern poets had already +immortalized in song. Not the least of the objects of these two campaigns +was the winning to the Confederate cause of the States invaded. + +Nelson, with a small Union force, was badly beaten by Kirby Smith at +Richmond, Ky., August 23, and Louisville experienced the agonies of a +panic, for it was practically defenseless. Buell had been so mystified by +Bragg's movements that he did not start in pursuit until September 7, and +even then might not have reached Louisville in time, had not the +Confederate forces lost precious hours in taking Munfordville. But having +reached that city, Buell held the key to the situation, and Bragg was +forced to retire,--which he did slowly and carefully. At Perryville a +portion of Buell's army and some of Bragg's troops met on October 8 in a +fierce battle,--an engagement that will always be a source of mystery to +students, in that neither side took advantage of obvious opportunities. +Bragg, in this campaign, failed of a major object, which was to rouse +Kentucky for the Confederacy, though he went through the form of +inaugurating a Provisional Governor at the State capital, Frankfort; but +he did return South with long trains of fine horses and beeves, with +wagons richly laden with food and clothing, and with almost enough +recruits to offset the human wastage of his army on march and in battle. +Moreover, at the close of the campaign he was in the possession of some +territory heretofore held by Federal forces,--territory that was not +yielded up until almost a year later. + +The disorganization in and near Washington,--consequent upon Pope's +defeat,--gave Lee an advantage which he improved by celerity of movement; +and he was well into Maryland before a Union army was got together to +oppose him. The command of this army was entrusted to McClellan, who +exercised his customary super-caution, one result of which was that +Harper's Ferry, with thousands of prisoners and great stores of military +supplies, fell,--with scarce a struggle,--into Lee's hands. This very +success might have been fatal to Lee,--for he had scattered his army to +accomplish this and other objects,--but McClellan, though fully aware of +the situation, moved too slowly, and the Southern general had time to +concentrate on the banks of Antietam Creek. Here, on September 17, was +fought one of the bloodiest battles of the war,--a battle in which the +Confederate Army stood off a foe twice as strong in numbers, and at length +retired at leisure, without further molestation. Like Bragg, Lee had +failed to win the State that he had invaded, but though he had suffered +tremendous losses, he had accomplished some important results. + +The people of the North, it may be remarked without disparagement, were +better informed as to the events of the war than were the people of the +South. Their more thickly settled territory was abundantly supplied with +telegraph lines and railways, and their numerous populous cities boasted +many strong newspapers. Of these, not a few were hostile to the +administration, which also had to contend with a well-organized opposing +political party. To many persons in the North the campaigns of Lee and +Bragg seemed conclusive proof that the Confederacy, after almost two years +of fighting, was not only not weaker, but could at will practically carry +the war into Northern territory. + +Lincoln, accepting the check at Antietam as a victory, had (September 22) +issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, but the first effect of +this was probably adverse, for the fall elections went almost uniformly +against the President's party. The Nation's credit fell to a low ebb, and +offerings of Government bonds found few takers, only $25,000,000 worth +being sold during the year. Gold mounted to high and higher premiums, and +general business,--despite the artificial stimulus incident to the +production of war materials,--was dishearteningly poor. + +Buell, because of his failure to do more against Bragg, was relieved of +the command of the Army of the Cumberland, which fell to Rosecrans, who +had achieved success at Corinth, during the fall. McClellan, because of +his failure to follow Lee after Antietam, was ordered to turn over the +Command of the Army of the Potomac to Burnside. As the end of the year +drew nigh, Rosecrans was established with his army at Nashville, and Bragg +was at Murfreesboro, 30 miles south. The events of that season were well +calculated to enthuse the Confederate and to depress the Federal force. On +December 13 was fought the Battle of Fredericksburg, where the Army of the +Potomac was repulsed, with frightful slaughter, by the Army of Northern +Virginia, under Lee. A week later, the immense depot of supplies at Holly +Springs,--supplies that Grant had gathered to aid him in his campaign +against Vicksburg,--was captured. On December 29, Sherman, in a +preliminary movement of this campaign, was hurled back, stunned and +bleeding, from an assault upon Chickasaw Bluffs. + +Two days later was to open the pivotal battle in Middle Tennessee. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FOREIGN RELATIONS IN 1862 + + +The outbreak of hostilities between the North and the South was greeted +with obvious delight by the majority of public journals, and with thinly +veiled satisfaction by many of the public officials of the more important +nations of Europe. Russia, indeed, showed a substantial and potent +friendship for the United States, and Italy,--where the movement for +liberal institutions had already won important victories,--evinced a +sympathy both general and genuine. But these were the exceptions. In +Austria and the German States the hostile feeling for the American +Republic had little effect at the time. The attitude of France and Great +Britain was vastly more hurtful. + +Napoleon III was then at the very height of his power, and his bizarre +performances and dreams of conquest had dazzled the imagination of his +countrymen to an extent that it is difficult to realize at this day. Nay, +more,--he had cast such a spell over the minds of Her Britannic Majesty's +ministers as to have led to a practical allience upon certain important +subjects. The French Emperor saw in the disruption of the United States a +vindication of his own usurpation and an opportunity to plant an Imperial +Government under his own guidance in Mexico. In addition, the shortage of +cotton, due to the blockade of Southern ports, was causing very serious +distress in the textile districts of France; so there was perhaps one real +reason for the Emperor to show some concern in trans-Atlantic affairs, and +repeatedly to proffer his unfriendly "friendly offices." However that may +be, his suggestion of mediation and intervention did not fall upon deaf +ears across the Channel, though, with characteristic caution, the British +Government deferred action until its opportunity had passed. + +French ill-opinion could have been borne,--even if it had taken the form +of countenancing contracts for Confederate ships-of-war and winking at aid +and comfort given to the cruisers of that unrecognized power. But British +unfriendliness took a form that, short of actual war, could scarcely have +done more to harm and exasperate the government and people of the United +States. The recognition of the belligerency of the Confederates,--which +(candor compels the statement) had much in logic and reason to justify it, +however it may have savored of technical irregularity--was but the least +of the offendings. + +In plain defiance of international law, splendid vessels were built in +British yards for the purpose of sweeping the commerce of the United +States from the seas; Confederate rifles and cannon were readily procured +from British dealers; Confederate loans were floated by British bankers, +and over-subscribed by the British public; the sale of shares in British +blockade-runners to Confederate ports was an easy matter, as it appealed +not only to the cupidity but to the prejudice of the purchaser. All grades +of publications,--from the newspapers to the stately reviews,--teemed with +abuse of Americans,--abuse written in almost inconceivable ferocity and +malice. The humorous organ, _Punch_, did not check its "scurrile jester" +in the drawing of most offensive cartoons of the President of the United +States; practically the whole of the aristocracy was hostile; in all +Parliament but one voice was raised for the North, and that was the voice +of John Bright. + +While the rancor and venom were expended upon the North, and while that +section suffered solely from the violations of international law, it must +not be supposed that the British press, patricians, and politicians were +actuated by any genuine motives of good will to the South. Their hope and +prayer were for the disruption and destruction of the Republic, in which +the nobility recognized their most powerful,--however passive,--enemy; and +the trading classes thought they saw the ruin of their commercial rival. +There was, however, one great element in England that was stanchly on the +side of the North throughout the whole conflict; and though it did not +possess the franchise, this element was not without its influence. The +working classes of the kingdom were able to penetrate the mists that +blinded their superiors in station, and they saw from the beginning that, +whatever the ostensible purpose, the actual result of Northern triumph +would be the end of slavery. It is at once a pathetic and magnificent +fact, that no amount of specious argument, such as was frequently +addressed to him, that no reflection upon his own sufferings, could win +the Lancashire cottonspinner,--starving, because of the shortage in the +great staple of his industry,--from the cause of human freedom. + +It is, perhaps, too much to say that the British Ministry had always +inclined to a recognition of the Confederacy. But as the war progressed +and its desperate and extensive character began to be revealed, the +project of some action tending to this end was frequently discussed in +Downing Street. The British premier at this time was Lord Palmerston, and +next in rank to him in the Cabinet was Lord John Russell, Secretary of +State for Foreign Affairs. Practised and polished politicians both, they +had been able to adjust their ambitions and predilections in this instance +to mutual satisfaction. But a third member of the Ministry, the Chancellor +of the Exchequer gave them both great concern. William Ewart +Gladstone,--whose genius was then being revealed in full proportion to +the English public,--was too able, too popular, and, above all, too +formidable to be left out of the Coalition Cabinet. But it is well +established that he was regarded with personal dislike and with +professional jealousy by his veteran colleagues. This feeling of animosity +was to lead to a most singular consequence,--one that had a grave bearing +on American affairs. + +The stopping by a United States warship of the Royal Mail Steamer _Trent_ +in November, 1861, and the removal therefrom of the Confederate envoys, +Mason and Slidell, brought the two countries to the brink of war. Only the +prompt, complete, and skillful disavowal of the American Government served +to avert hostilities, preparations for which had already begun on the part +of Great Britain. The temper and disposition of Her Majesty's Ministry +were plainly shown in the truculent tone of the demand framed by +Russell,--a paper that was adopted by the Cabinet, though Gladstone +suggested some modifications. However, it would have been sent as written, +had not the Queen, acting on the advice of the Prince Consort, insisted +upon a modification of some of the more offensive phrases. Had it not been +for this kindly and sagacious interposition of Queen Victoria, the +situation might have gone beyond the power of the Lincoln Government to +control. + +The smothering of the _Trent_ incident in the honey of diplomacy left the +Ministry without an immediate and direct pretext for unfriendly action, +but there remained a feeling of irritation and a tacit determination to do +something when a proper opportunity should occur. + +The Confederate successes in the summer of 1862 were convincing proofs to +the British mind that the independence of the South was only a matter of +time, and discussions of the subject were frequent at the Cabinet +meetings. Those were anxious times for the American Minister, Charles +Francis Adams, whose personal luggage was kept packed in anticipation of a +sudden breach of diplomatic relations which would necessitate his +departure from the Court of St. James. + +Near the close of the summer, Gladstone wrote to his wife: "Lord +Palmerston has come exactly to my mind about some early representations of +a friendly kind to America, if we can get France and Russia to join." At +about the same time he wrote to another correspondent: "My opinion is that +it is vain, and wholly unsustained by precedent, to say that nothing shall +be done until parties are desirous of it," and went on to repeat the +former suggestion. + +About two months later Palmerston wrote to Gladstone saying that he and +Russell were agreed that an offer of mediation should be made by Britain, +France, and Russia, and that the Ambassador at Paris was to be instructed +to communicate with the French Government on the subject. "Of course," he +added, "no actual step would be taken without the sanction of the +Cabinet." + +Lord Russell had but a few days previously written a letter to Palmerston, +which had been shown to Gladstone, in which he said: "I agree with you +that the time is come for offering mediation to the United States +government with a view to the recognition of the independence of the +Confederates. I agree further that, in case of failure, we ought ourselves +to recognize the Confederate States as an independent State." + +With the words of these two letters singing in his mind and mingling with +the mental harmonies he himself had conceived, Mr. Gladstone went to +Newcastle to partake of a banquet prepared for him by party admirers, and +to utter on October 7, 1862, in the course of a general speech, a comment +upon American affairs that was to vex him to the end of his life. Said he: + + "We know quite well that the people of the North have not yet drunk + of the cup,--they are still trying to hold it far from their + lips,--which, all the rest of the world see, they, nevertheless, must + drink of. We may have our own opinions about slavery; we may be for + or against the South; but there is no doubt that Jefferson Davis and + other leaders of the South have made an army; they are making, it + appears, a navy; and they have made,--what is more than either,--they + have made a nation. We may anticipate with certainty the success of + the Southern States, so far as their separation from the North is + concerned." + +It is difficult to exaggerate the profound sensation that this passage in +Gladstone's speech made in the United Kingdom, on the Continent, and in +the United States. There was no escaping its significance. It meant that +the British Government was on the point of recognizing the independence of +the South, and such an act must have led to war between Great Britain and +the United States. Aware of the sentiment that pervaded the Cabinet, +Minister Adams had sought explicit instructions from the United States +State Department, which instructions had come in unequivocal terms in a +letter from Secretary Seward. Mr. Seward wrote: + + "If contrary to our expectations, the British Government, either + alone or in combination with any other Government, should acknowledge + the insurgents, while you are remaining without further instructions + from this Government concerning that event, you will immediately + suspend the exercise of your functions.... I have now, in behalf of + the United States, and by the authority of their Chief Executive + Magistrate, performed an important duty. Its possible consequences + have been weighed and its solemnity is therefore felt and freely + acknowledged. This duty has brought us to meet and confront the + danger of a war with Great Britain and other States allied with the + insurgents who are in arms for the overthrow of the American Union. + You will perceive that we have approached the contemplation of that + crisis with the caution that great reluctance has inspired. But I + trust that you will also have perceived that the crisis has not + appalled us." + +Mr. Adams must have perused this letter many times as he waited for the +meeting of the British Ministry,--which he learned had been called for +October 23,--to act upon the question of the Civil War in America. Indeed, +he had felt a strong impulse to call for his passports immediately after +the Gladstone speech at Newcastle, but had concluded to wait a few days +for formal action by the government to which he was accredited. + +But now conditions and circumstances beyond the ken of diplomacy had +conspired to put the inevitable moment indefinitely forward. Whether, as +has been suggested, Gladstone, in his Newcastle speech, had intended to +force his colleagues into a position the only outlet of which was +recognition, or whether knowing their sentiments he had in mere exuberance +let the cat out of the bag, he had committed a grave breach of official +etiquette in thus speaking without express Cabinet sanction. It was a +false move, upon which Palmerston and Russell seized with eagerness +and,--it may be imagined,--private glee. Within a week Sir George +Cornewall Lewis, a member of the Cabinet, made, at Palmerston's express +direction, a public speech in which he adroitly gave the lie to Gladstone. +The fateful Cabinet meeting of the 23rd was postponed, and a new proposal +of Napoleon III that came at about this time,--a proposal looking to joint +mediation or intervention,--was rejected, on the ground that the time was +not yet ripe. + +The British Ministry kept looking for the auspicious opportunity for +several months thereafter. Many thought it had come in the middle of +December, when the Fredericksburg disaster was described by the London +_Times_ correspondent as "a memorable day to the historian of the Decline +and Fall of the American Republic." But on the last day of the year was +begun the battle that was to show the British public,--what was sometimes +forgotten,--that there were armies outside of Virginia and territories +beyond the Alleghanies. Out of the mists which surrounded Stone's +River,--out of the uncertainty due to counter-claims of victory by the +rival commanders,--arose this definite fact: The Northern Army had +occupied the town that it set out to take, and the Southern Army had +retired almost to the borders of Tennessee and could not dispute the claim +of its enemy to the greater part of the area of that Commonwealth. Another +postponement seemed necessary. By this time also the leaven of Lincoln's +Emancipation Proclamation, which at first had been derided, was working in +England; and, in their turn and time, Gettysburg and Vicksburg aided to +produce a much-changed official atmosphere. The Foreign Minister who, +against the law of the Kingdom, had let the _Alabama_ and the _Florida_ +slip away to prey upon American commerce, was to strain that law a few +months later to hold war-vessels that had been built for the South. + +The danger to the Union from foreign sources had passed. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ARMIES AND THEIR LEADERS + + +The armies that were soon to measure strength in Middle Tennessee were not +strangers. They had raced with each other to the banks of the Ohio in the +previous fall, they had confronted each other,--at times,--in fractional +strength upon a score of fields. It was the advance division of the Army +of the Ohio, which had checked the Confederate onset on the first day at +Shiloh, where Grant was all but overwhelmed, and that command, in full +strength, had done its share in driving the gray-clad battalions from the +field the next day. The guarding of Middle Tennessee and the taking of +East Tennessee had since then been its special charge and designed +function, and in token thereof it had been named anew "the Army of the +Cumberland," after the river that traverses those regions. The army was +composed principally of soldiers from the old Northwest Territory,--a +region dedicated to human freedom in the ordinance of 1787. But while +Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin furnished the bulk of the +troops, there were also regiments from Kentucky and several composed of +East Tennessee Unionists. Pennsylvania had sent a contingent, and Missouri +and Kansas were both represented. From the regular army of the United +States, there were a formidable force of artillery, a few troops of +cavalry, and a particularly fine brigade of infantry. + +The Confederate Army of the Tennessee was composed largely of sons of the +Commonwealth from which it derived its name, but almost every other State +in the Confederacy was represented. A picturesque and romantic element was +the famous "Orphan Brigade" composed of Kentuckians who fought for the +South while their State adhered to the North, and who attested their +heroism on many occasions during the war. The two armies were +substantially equal in strength, for the Army of the Cumberland reported +an available present of 43,400 men, while the Army of the Tennessee, which +had the advantage of position, showed 37,700 ready for battle. The +Southern Army was greatly superior in cavalry, for this arm of the service +had not, as yet, received in the North the attention it warranted. On the +other hand, the Northern Army was greatly superior in artillery. While the +bulk of both armies was made up of veteran troops, each had considerable +percentages of raw levies. + +Gen. Braxton Bragg had the advantage,--somewhat doubtful in his case,--of +long service with his Army of the Tennessee. He was a splendid organizer +and disciplinarian, thoroughly versed in the technique of his profession, +brave, honorable, devoted to his cause, and a strategist of no mean order. +But he united a high, imperious temper and a saturnine disposition with a +martinet's passion for the letter of military regulation and etiquette. As +a consequence, he was frequently embroiled with those near him in stations +of authority,--officers who did not hesitate to accuse him of finding +convenient scapegoats for his own errors. His controversies with those +under him form an interesting chapter of Confederate records. It is but +just to him to add that there were those that fought under him who +testified to warm admiration for his soldierly abilities and who +entertained high personal esteem for his qualities as a man. + +Bragg's army was divided into two corps. One of these corps was commanded +by Lieutenant-General William J. Hardee, who had won a conspicuous +position in the Army of the United States before he had come to offer his +sword and talents to the Confederacy. He was the author of a book of +tactics employed in the United States Army long after the Civil War,--a +system said to have been founded on the drill regulations devised by +Napoleon. The other corps was commanded by Lieut.-Gen, Leonidas Polk, who +was Bragg's pet aversion, and who spent much of the next twelve months in +writing to Richmond about his superior and extricating himself from the +latter's orders of arrest. + +General Polk had been educated at West Point, but had afterward entered +the Episcopal Ministry. When the war broke out he was Bishop of Louisiana; +but he speedily exchanged the surplice for the uniform, and attained high +rank in the Southern Army. He was a man of considerable warlike talent, +though perhaps short of first-grade. + +One of Bragg's division commanders was Major-General John C. Breckinridge, +of Kentucky, who, as Vice-President of the United States, had declared the +count of the electoral vote whereby Lincoln was chosen President, and who +had left his seat in the United States Senate,--months after the outbreak +of hostilities,--to cast his fortunes with the South. Afterward, as +Confederate Secretary of War, he accompanied Jefferson Davis on his flight +from Richmond, and assisted Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in arranging the terms +for the surrender of the latter's army to William T. Sherman,--terms that +were repudiated by the Washington authorities. + +Other notable figures in Bragg's army were the impetuous Gen. "Pat" +Cleburne, who was to lose his life in the wild charge on the +fortifications of Franklin two years later; Gen. John H. Morgan, the +Kentucky partisan raider, and Gen. Joseph Wheeler, the cavalry leader, +who had so managed the rear-guard in the retreat from Kentucky as to +preserve intact the rich booty of the "Blue Grass" region borne by the +retiring Confederates. Wheeler was one of the Southern generals who later +saw service under the "old flag" in the Spanish-American war, commanding a +division in Shafter's Army before Santiago. + +Maj.-Gen. William S. Rosecrans was one of the contradictions of the war. A +graduate of West Point, he had resigned from the army and was practising +his profession of engineering, when the outbreak of hostilities called him +to arms again. He had achieved considerable success in 1861, when, having +taken up a work left unfinished by McClellan, he cleared the Confederates +out of West Virginia, thereby placing in temporary eclipse the military +reputation of Robert E. Lee. His assignment to the command of the Army of +the Cumberland was chiefly due to his defense of Corinth during the fall, +though he was criticised by Grant,--then his immediate superior,--for not +having achieved greater results in this engagement. As a strategist +Rosecrans was of the first order; indeed, one of his campaigns still +stands as a model for the study of professional soldiers. But brave, +warm-hearted, and impulsive, he was prone to lose his poise in battle, as +the melancholy outcome of Chickamauga was later to prove. + +Rosecrans had divided his army into right wing, centre and left wing,--for +convenience designated as corps. The centre was commanded by Maj.-Gen. +George H. Thomas, the idol of the army, and probably the most complete +soldier that the Union produced. It was said of him that he never made a +mistake. At Mill Springs he had given the Union cause its first generous +beam of hope by his crushing defeat of Zollicoffer. In the recent campaign +in Kentucky it was his soldierly instinct that had penetrated the plans of +the enemy; his counsel, which followed, led to success,--which +disregarded, led to failure. It was he who below Chattanooga was to gather +around him the fragments of a broken army, the commander of which had fled +the field, and fighting on, was to win lasting fame as the "Rock of +Chickamauga." It was he who, at Nashville,--waiting amid a storm of +criticism, abuse, and threats from those higher in authority,--sallied +forth, when all was ready, to win the most complete victory of the four +years' struggle. + +The right wing of the Army of the Cumberland was under command of +Maj.-Gen. Alexander McDowell McCook, a native of Ohio, and one of the +"Fighting McCooks," so-called, because so many of his family fought for +the Union. The left wing was commanded by Maj.-Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden, +scion of a noted Kentucky family, which, with great liberality and rare +impartiality, contributed stalwart representatives to both sides of the +war. Among the division commanders was Philip H. Sheridan, who later was +to defeat Early in the Valley of the Shenandoah, and, by throwing his +columns across the line of Lee's retreat from Richmond, was to furnish the +prelude for the final scenes of the war drama at Appamatox. + +Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, had, after the Battle of Shiloh, been +occupied as a secondary base by the Army of the Cumberland, and had been +heavily fortified. Distant 150 miles from Louisville,--the primary +base,--with lines of communication frequently interrupted by the +ubiquitous Morgan and other Confederate raiders, it was difficult to +accumulate sufficient supplies for a campaigning army; but by December +ample stores were in hand. Murfreesboro, where the headquarters of the +Army of the Tennessee had been established, was an important military and +strategic place as it was the converging point of a large number of +unusually good wagon-roads and by reason of its location on the Nashville +and Chattanooga Railroad. Its facilities gave it dominance over a wide +stretch of country, rich in supplies and recruits for the Confederates, +and its possession was the first requisite in that movement for the relief +of East Tennessee and its harassed Unionists,--a movement that had been so +constantly urged by President Lincoln upon the Federal commanders in that +region. + +The hearts of those in authority in the Confederate Government never beat +so high with hope as during those December days of 1862. Mr. Davis and his +Cabinet, as they surveyed the situation, might well have felt that they +had reason for confidence. The principal army of the Northern foe had been +repeatedly and seriously defeated, and was about to suffer the awful +reverse of Fredericksburg. In Tennessee and Mississippi,--while fortune +had not been so uniformly kindly,--there were all the facilities, +resources, and spirit for successful aggressive work. While much ground +had been lost in the Trans-Mississippi Department, word had lately come +that Hindman had succeeded in raising a fresh army in Arkansas,--a force +that was expected to begin the task of redeeming that State and recovering +Missouri. Pemberton confronted Grant with temporarily superior forces near +Vicksburg. Confederate diplomatic efforts were at length promising to bear +fruit, and the _Alabama_ and other vessels were driving Northern commerce +from the high seas. New Orleans had fallen; but Mobile, Charleston, +Wilmington, and Savannah held out, to offer refuge for the blockade +runners, which brought the precious military stores into the South. + +It was under the spell of sentiment, inspired by such conditions, that the +Confederate President paid a visit to his generals and their forces in +Tennessee and Mississippi. Bragg felt so certain of himself and his ground +that he readily fell in with the suggestion of Mr. Davis to detach some +10,000 troops to Pemberton, though Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who was in +command of the whole department, advised against this course. The presence +of their President roused the enthusiasm of the soldiers at Murfreesboro +to a high pitch, and many official and social ceremonies served to vary +the festivities planned for the Christmas season. There were balls, +receptions, theatrical entertainments, and one evening, in the presence of +a brilliant throng, General Morgan took unto himself a wife,--the ceremony +being performed by Bishop-General Polk,--and immediately left for Kentucky +on another of the raids that did so much to harass, impede, and annoy the +Union armies. + +Rosecrans had learned of the detachment to Pemberton, of Morgan's +departure, and also had been informed that Wheeler had been sent on a +raid. He rightly concluded that the time to strike Bragg was when the +Confederate cavalry was absent, and his three corps set out from Nashville +on separate roads the day after Christmas. It soon developed that, if +Wheeler had been ordered away, he had been recalled; for his troopers gave +ample notice of the advance of the Union Army, and Bragg had plenty of +opportunity to perfect a plan of resistance. + +Thomas and Crittenden, however, encountered little difficulty on the +march. McCook found Hardee in his path, and had to do some heavy +skirmishing before he got up. But the evening of December 30 saw the Army +of the Cumberland in position about three miles from Murfreesboro. In some +way Rosecrans got the impression that Bragg had fallen back, and gave +orders for entering the town. In the darkness some of Crittenden's troops +began a movement,--a movement that must have resulted disastrously, if +pushed; and shots had already been exchanged with the Confederate pickets, +when the mistake was discovered and the order recalled. Though it had +rained for several days, and though the night was bitter cold, the men of +the left and centre were forbidden to light fires,--even for +cooking,--lest they might betray their whereabouts. But fires were kindled +all along the front of McCook's corps and far to the right thereof; for +Rosecrans hoped to deceive Bragg as to his exact position. It may be +conjectured that this hope was illusive, for Bragg had exceedingly +accurate sources of information. + +Each commander decided to attack on the morrow. Rosecrans planned to +deliver battle from his left flank, crumpling up the right of his enemy, +and taking up the attack with his centre in such a way as to enfilade and +crush Bragg's entire army. McCook was instructed to resist strongly, but +not to attack, except by way of diversion. + +The position taken by McCook's corps had given Rosecrans much concern, and +the night before the battle, at a conference with his principal officers, +he had made several suggestions about it to the Ohio warrior. In +conformity with the order of battle, McCook's right was strongly +refused,--that is, bent back,--but, in general it was too near where the +enemy were supposed to be to suit the commanding general. McCook, however, +evinced such reluctance about giving up ground for which his men had +already fought,--and which presented elements of natural strength that +were not to be found further back,--that the matter was at length left to +his own judgment. He, therefore, placed the bulk of his corps in +conformity with the rest of the army, which was aligned upon a +north-and-south line, threw back the right brigades of Willich and +Kirk,--of Johnson's division,--so that they, with their artillery +supports, faced almost directly south, and placed, as a reserve, in the +corner thus formed Baldwin's brigade of the same division. The rest of the +battle front, while presenting in general an eastern face on a +north-and-south line, was here advanced, here retired, as inequalities of +ground or patches of forest seemed to offer favorable position. The whole +Union Army was west of Stone's River, though the extreme left of +Crittenden's left wing touched that stream at a ford. + +Bragg's plan of battle called for a heavy concentration of force on his +left flank, which was to take the initiative in an attack upon the Union +right, and by a grand wheel, with the centre as a base, would take the +invaders in flank and rear. Each unit was to take up the movement as the +battle reached it, and it was hoped that by a rapid, spirited, and +sustained attack it would be possible to force Rosecrans back of the +Nashville pike,--his sole line of supply and retreat,--and hurling his +commands one upon the other, accomplish the capture or destruction of the +whole Union Army. In furtherance of his plan, Bragg placed almost +two-fifths of his infantry at his left under Hardee, to whom was entrusted +the initiation of the movement. But one division was left, under +Breckenridge on the right, and separated from the rest of the army by the +river. + +The Confederate battle front,--could it have been viewed in its +entirety,--would have presented a much more symmetrical appearance than +that of its adversary; as the comparatively open and level country that it +momentarily occupied permitted a more orderly alignment. McCown's division +occupied the extreme left,--except for some cavalry,--and Cleburne's heavy +columns were massed almost immediately in the rear. + +Thus, it will be observed, the rival commanders had, with practically +similar conditions to encounter, hit upon practically similar plans of +battle. Could each plan have been carried out, the two armies would have +presented the appearance of revolving upon a common axis, the right in +each case retiring before the attack of the enemy's left. As it was, +however, a great advantage,--as must be apparent,--was to attend that army +which should first strike the enemy with its heavy masses in battle array. +And the contingencies of the conflict ordained that that advantage should +be gained by the Confederates. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FIRST DAY'S BATTLE + + +Crittenden's corps on the left of the Army of the Cumberland,--which had +been selected by Rosecrans to make the initial move in the fight,--was +separated from Breckenridge's entrenched division, on Bragg's right, by +two miles of distance and Stone's River, which in that immediate vicinity +could be crossed at only one ford. Between the heavily-massed regiments on +Bragg's left flank and McCook's corps, to the contrary, there were only a +few hundred yards. Therefore, though McCown,--who had moved in the +night,--found some difficulty in adjusting his line to suit Hardee's +taste, the Confederates had ample time to strike the first blow. A dense +fog shielded the movement from the Union pickets. McCown's troops swung +off in a semi-oblique direction, leaving an ever-widening interval between +him and Withers's division, of Polk's corps, into which at the proper +instant Cleburne slipped. In a few moments the crackling of rifle-fire +heralded the opening of the battle. + +That the brigades on the extreme right of the Union Army were surprised +upon that fateful morning has been repeatedly denied; but it is certain +that they were not properly prepared for the storm that was about to burst +upon them. August Willich was actually away from his command, and his men +were at breakfast, with their arms stacked. The captain of the battery +that was posted at the left of the brigade had sent his horses off to +water, so little did he dream of impending danger. The men of the other +brigade were scarcely,--if any,--better prepared, and upon them fell the +brunt of the first assault. + +Right on the heels of the pickets, whose shots were of little apparent +effect, appeared a long line of gray-clad infantry that extended far +beyond either flank of the hapless Union brigades. The advancing troops +fired as they came, and many Northern soldiers were shot down before they +could grasp their arms. General Kirk sent a vain summons to Willich for +aid, and fell mortally hurt in an heroic effort to form his men. Old +Willich himself, spurring in hot haste to rejoin his command, rode +straight into the enemy's line. This scion of a royal house,--for he was +reputed to be the natural son of William of Prussia,--had several months +in a Southern prison in which to reflect upon whatever error he may have +committed that morning. The two brigades did not flee without an effort at +resistance; indeed, both offered obstinate opposition for as long a time +as possible, but they could not hold out against two divisions, of four +brigades each. + +Kirk lost 500 killed and wounded, and 350 captured; while Willich's loss +was more than 400 killed and wounded, and about 700 captured. They were +soon in headlong flight. + +With the dispersion of these troops, but one brigade, of Johnson's +division,--the reserve under Baldwin,--was left intact; and now the next +division was threatened on the flank. With quick soldierly instinct the +commander, Jefferson C. Davis, drew back his right brigade, under Post, +and made other dispositions to cooeperate with Baldwin. He had scarcely had +time to complete these preparations, ere both Baldwin and Post were +struck. At the same moment the Confederate grand wheel having got into +full swing, two brigades of Withers's division, of Polk's corps, hurled +themselves against Davis's two remaining brigades,--Carlin's and +Woodruff's,--and against Sill's brigade of Sheridan's division, adjoining +Davis on the left. + +Here the Confederates met a check. Baldwin, it is true, had to retreat +shortly, to escape being taken in right and rear; but Post repulsed an +attack upon his front, and Carlin, Woodruff, and Sill threw back their +assailants so violently that Polk ordered up his reserves. A second attack +met the same fate, though General Sill was killed between the guns of a +battery that he was directing. For the third time the gray infantry +advanced to the fight, which now involved the whole of Sheridan's +division. In frontal attack they were held, but one Union command after +another had to retire, to avoid capture under flank attacks. Thus +Sheridan's division was dislodged, as had been Johnson's and Davis's. + +Up to this juncture the working out of Bragg's plan had fully equalled, if +not exceeded, the expectations of the Southern commander. The whole right +wing of the Union army had been hurled from position, and some of the +commands composing it had been driven for miles. Thousands of Union +prisoners and great stores of small arms had been captured, together with +many pieces of artillery, which could not be hauled back in the headlong +retreat over the rough ground and through the clumps of cedar in which the +battlefield abounded. In its further development, or swing, the grand +wheel was now threatening the Union centre, and the exultant Confederates +entered with confidence upon another distinct stage of the fighting. If +the right could be driven still further, or the centre pierced, the +Nashville pike would fall into the possession of the Army of the +Tennessee, which would then have at its mercy practically the whole Army +of the Cumberland. But,--though the prize seemed so near,--it now became +evident that new conditions were to be encountered, and that the contest +was about to enter upon a new phase. + +Confident in the belief that his right wing could and would resist any +movement against it, Rosecrans had gone early in the morning to +Crittenden's corps, to witness the initiation of his carefully conceived +plan. It was 8 o'clock before the leading brigade of Van Cleve's division +waded Stone's River at the near-by ford, and began climbing the hill on +the other side, with a view to attacking Breckinridge. For a couple of +hours firing had been heard on the right, but it gave no uneasiness to the +Union commander, who believed that the instructions of the night before +were being obeyed. Even when a message from McCook, asking aid in somewhat +formal terms, came, Rosecrans was not disturbed, but sent back word that +the right must be held. + +It was not until two of Van Cleve's brigades had crossed the stream, and +the third was making ready, that a frantic message gave Rosecrans an idea +of the disaster that had befallen part of his army. And as he gave hurried +orders, the crowds of fugitives,--cowards, skulkers, the slightly wounded, +and brave men who had fought until beaten,--that began to stream through +the woods brought confirmation of the evil tidings. + +Rosecrans instantly recalled Van Cleve's division. One +brigade,--Fyffe's,--that had not yet crossed, he hurried straight out on +the Nashville pike, where his instinct told him the greatest danger lay, +and where at that moment the enemy's cavalry was reaping rich spoil from +the long wagon trains. The men of Beatty's brigade were sent, dripping +with the water of Stone's River, right into the heart of the battle, which +now raged almost in the rear of the centre. The third brigade,--Price's,-- +was held to guard the ford. The demonstration of this division against +Breckenridge, though so quickly abandoned, had important effects on that +general as well as on the fortunes of the day. + +It was the supreme test for Rosecrans, and whatever his previous faults +may have been, he now bore himself well. He hurried up ammunition, which +was much needed at many points; directed the formation of new lines and +the posting of fresh batteries; and whenever the emergency permitted, he +took himself to the battle front, where his presence served to reanimate +his sorely-beset soldiers. In spurring from one part of the field to +another, his aide-de-camp and much-loved companion, Lieut.-Col. Julius P. +Garesche, was beheaded by a cannon ball, and his blood sprinkled the +uniform of his commander. But battles give scant time for mourning, and +Rosecrans, without delay, ordered the further disintegration of +Crittenden's corps, that reenforcements might be sent where needed. +Harker, of Wood's division, was hurried after Beatty,--to the right of +Rosecrans's division of Thomas's corps,--while Hascall's brigade was held +as a mobile body, under the eye of General Wood himself. + +Upon Thomas now fell a burden of tremendous weight. He had early perceived +the displacement of Sheridan, and had sent two brigades of Rosseau's +division to reenforce that commander and support his right. Then he turned +to face one of the most dangerous and furious efforts made by the foe +during the whole day. Hardee, with his whole force, was moving to take +Sheridan in flank and in the rear; Cheatham, of Polk's corps, was +advancing against Sheridan in front, and Withers was preparing to leap +upon Negley. To give way here would be fatal, for back of Thomas and of +what was left of the right wing Rosecrans was hastily arranging a new +battle-line to hold the Nashville Pike. + +The commander of the centre seemed ubiquitous. Though his charger never +broke out of the slow pace that had given its master the nickname of "Old +Trot," Thomas was apparently in all places at once,--now directing the +firing to repulse a charge, now placing a regiment in line, and again +marking a point to which his troops must retire and take up the fight +anew. + +The Confederate infantry now pressed forward in a frenzy of enthusiasm. +The piercing "rebel yell" rose triumphantly above the roar of cannon and +the bark of musketry, and many regiments pressed clear to the borders of +the cedars in which the Union troops were posted, before they had to +retire from a merciless fire. + +Again and again Hardee and Cheatham brought their men to the charge. The +exigencies of the battle twisted the Union line into strange shapes. Here +a brigade was in a half-circle with a concave side to the enemy; another +presented a convex front to attack. Miller's brigade of Negley's division +was like a triangle without the base, and, aided by splendid artillery +service, repulsed simultaneously assaults in front and on both sides. But +many trains having been captured or swept away, Sheridan's men found +themselves out of ammunition, and his division was withdrawn, leaving +Negley's right and Rosseau's left "in the air." Into the interval poured +the Confederate columns. Thomas was compelled to withdraw his two +divisions to an improvised line, and Negley and Rosseau reluctantly faced +the rear. + +The firing had been so heavy in these divisions that the cartridge-boxes +of dead and wounded had been robbed for the precious ammunition. Rosseau +made the movement under fire, but, reaching Thomas's temporary line, +turned and delivered such a blast from rifles and artillery as threw back +the pursuing enemy and left the field covered with bodies. + +Shepherd's brigade of regulars especially distinguished itself here; for, +firing by platoon from flank to flank,--as steadily as though at +drill,--it cut down the enemy in front as a scythe mows grain, and drove +away a greatly superior force, losing in a few minutes one-third of its +whole number. Negley's division was almost surrounded, and had to cut its +way,--sometimes at the point of the bayonet,--through the Confederates, +who had reached its rear. In the movement this division had to abandon six +guns. + +Palmer's division, which was already fiercely engaged, was now in the +greatest peril, as Negley's retirement left an unprotected flank. On the +right Cruft's brigade was almost surrounded while repulsing a frontal +attack; but Grose's brigade, held in reserve, changed front to the rear +and cleared a way. Hazen, at the apex of what was known as the "Round +Forest," met repeated heavy attacks, but, owing to superior position and +artillery support, was able to hold his own, though losing heavily. As +Palmer retired, his division established connection with the right and +faced the enemy with renewed confidence. + +The grand wheel had now traversed the full quarter of a circle. It had +been carried out with remarkable consistency and with remarkable speed and +power. Every command in Bragg's army, with the exception of his reserve, +had felt the impulse of the great maneuver, had taken a place therein, in +regular order, and, at first glance, it would have seemed with complete +success. For the entire Union army, with the exception of a small part of +the left wing, had been forced from position. Its battle-front, instead of +facing squarely east, now faced south, and its curving line was in place +behind the Nashville Pike,--its only avenue of safety,--which in some +instances was in plain sight of the enemy and within reach of his +artillery and musketry. But though Rosecrans had lost heavily in men, +guns, horses, and ammunition, Bragg had not escaped without cost. Some of +his splendid brigades mustered but half of the strength with which they +had begun the battle, and almost all the men were so exhausted as to be +unable to go further. Moreover, they faced an army of men,--men who +disliked being beaten, who occupied an elevated position of great +strength, who had secured fresh stores of ammunition, who, acutely +conscious of their danger, were resolved not to yield further, and who +actually, here and there, showed a disposition to make reprisals upon +their valiant foe. + +But Bragg had not entirely exhausted his resources. The Union left lay +temptingly near him, and, if he could crush or turn it, the rest of +Rosecrans's army might still be his. Fresh troops were needed for such an +attempt, but the five brigades of Breckinridge's division were at hand and +they were summoned for the final effort. Breckenridge had been asked for +reenforcements early in the day, but he had seen Van Cleve's big division +start in his direction, and, apparently, had not seen it return when it +was sent flying to arrest the rout of McCook's corps. He had also been +ordered to meet some reenforcements, which Bragg had thought were coming +to Rosecrans, but which did not appear; and consequently, had kept his +division intact. Now he detached the brigades of Adams and Jackson, which, +dashing through the river, threw themselves impetuously upon the Union +forces in the "Round Forest." Upon Hazen's sorely-tried troops the brunt +of the assault fell, but, using the railroad embankment as a protection, +they managed to hold on. Soon Adams and Jackson turned back, shattered +beyond further use. + +Now Breckinridge in person led to the assault the brigades of Preston and +Palmer; but Hazen was now aided by whatever regiments, battalions, and +odds and ends of troops could be spared to him. Preston and Palmer were +not only driven back, but they left some prisoners as a result of a +countercharge by a Union regiment. + +Here ended the first day's battle. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE NIGHT AND THE NEXT DAY + + +The dusk of the short winter's day had already come on when the last +desperate charges of the Confederate hosts were repelled. As though by +common consent, the firing ceased almost simultaneously on both sides, and +a period of comparative calm succeeded the storm of battle. + +Never was a cessation of strife more welcome than to the two armies. The +Army of the Cumberland had been so riven and torn during the struggle as +to bear scarcely any resemblance to the compact organization of the +morning. Divisions had been swept away from the rest of their corps, +brigades had been torn away from divisions, regiments from brigades, and +even battalions and companies from regiments. It was in very truth an +improvised battle-line,--the line that had clung to the Nashville Pike +during the closing hours of the engagement. A vast number of individual +soldiers,--not by any means all skulkers, but, in many cases, men who had +become separated from their own commands and had done valiant service +wherever opportunity offered, with or without orders,--were wandering +about back of the Union lines, seeking the camp-fires of their comrades. +To restore a semblance of order and alignment was the first task of +officers,--great and small,--and it was hours before this could be +accomplished in part. It was the intention of Rosecrans to forbid fires, +for fear of drawing attacks from the enemy; but before any order could be +issued, they were lighted all along the line, and the exhausted troops got +an opportunity to boil coffee and toast bacon before sinking down to +sleep. + +On the Confederate side there was less confusion. The Army of the +Tennessee,--though clearly fought out for the time being,--had preserved +far more of the autonomy of its several commands, and as the camp-fires +were kindled along its battle front, the impression was universal that the +fight would be renewed on the morrow. Bragg himself was in a state of +exultation, for though his cherished plan had not yet been carried out, he +felt that success had merely been deferred. + +There was a council of the principal Federal officers during the night at +the commanding general's headquarters. Rosecrans, it is said, had in mind +a retirement of a few miles to Overall's Creek, but this was given up when +it was pointed out that the new position was scarcely as strong as the one +now held, and offered few advantages. Then somebody suggested the question +of retreat. There is a tradition to the effect that Thomas had fallen +into a doze during the talking, but that he woke up when this unpleasant +word was uttered. + +"Retreat!" he exclaimed,--so the story goes,--"This army can't retreat!" + +This assurance seemed to satisfy the timid ones, and the question was +dropped forthwith. + +New Year's Day, 1863, dawned clear and cold. During the night every effort +had been made to strengthen the Union position, and to good effect; for +Bragg had a cloud of skirmishers out with the dawn, and all day they +searched the line in every part, at times being aided by the artillery. +But not a crevice could be found, and the Confederate maneuvers at no time +developed into movements of importance. But Wheeler's Cavalry found plenty +to do, and its capture of a wagon-train caused the liveliest rumors of +disaster among the garrison that had been left at Nashville. + +Despite, however, the activity of the horsemen of the enemy, Rosecrans +managed to get through the lines a considerable store of rations, +ammunition, and other supplies. So the day ended with the situation much +as it had been when the day began, except that the soldiers on both sides +had had an opportunity to restore themselves after the intense fatigue of +the first day's fight, and that order had been evolved out of the chaos +into which the Army of the Cumberland had been thrown. + +One change in the situation,--at the time regarded as of little account, +but which was to have momentous results,--had been made. During the day +Rosecrans gave some scrutiny to Breckinridge's division of the Army of the +Tennessee, which had retired to its original position on Bragg's right. As +this force was posted, it was too far away to be watched closely, and +Rosecrans, as a precautionary measure, directed Crittenden to throw Van +Cleve's division, now under Gen. Samuel Beatty (for its own white-haired +commander had been wounded), together with Grosse's brigade, across the +ford to a position in Breckenridge's front. The movement, which had for +its purpose little more than observation, was accomplished without +interference on the afternoon of January 1, 1863. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SECOND OF JANUARY, 1863 + + +For the greater part of the next day the two armies, merely rested on +their arms. With food and rest, the feeling of confidence, which had been +somewhat shaken in the Union Army, began to revive, and the soldiers +exhibited a cheerful tone. The Confederate forces, however, showed a +contrary spirit. There was deep chagrin in all ranks, because the work +that had been so bravely begun was not resumed and carried to a triumphant +end; while criticisms of the general commanding began to be exchanged with +freedom among the officers highest in rank. There is no doubt that this +gossip reached Bragg's ears and that he was stung to the quick by it. It +is possible, too, that it led him to order the movement that resulted in +the final scene of the battle. + +During his repeated examinations of the field, Bragg had noticed the Union +detachment that had been thrown across the river in Breckinridge's front, +and he now determined to dislodge it. In his official reports he lets it +be understood that he merely wanted to drive away a force that was posted +in an advantageous position for observation and that might, if +re-enforced, be able to make a dangerous attack upon his army,--for it +could enfilade his whole line. But, if dislodgement were all that was +intended, it is hard to understand why Bragg should have organized such a +heavy column for a slight task. It may well be suspected that the +Confederate Commander saw an opportunity to crush the Union left and, in +the confusion necessarily ensuing, to drive the whole Federal Army from +the field in rout. + +Bragg gave to Breckinridge 10,000 of his best fighting men, including +2,000 cavalry and ample supports of artillery. At the head of this +formidable column, Breckenridge descended upon the Union troops in his +immediate front, at 4 p. m., January 2. The blow fell with the swiftness +and force of a hurricane. Both Van Cleve's division and Grosse's brigade +had lost heavily in the previous fighting, and their ranks were too thin +to offer effectual resistance. A few volleys of musketry and a few rounds +of artillery were fired, and then they broke and fled to the ford, closely +pursued by the yelling Confederate host. + +By a singular chance, not a single Union general officer was near this +part of the field at the time. They were, in fact, around the centre and +right, against which Bragg, as a ruse, had opened a heavy artillery fire. +The brigade nearest the ford was under the command of John F. Miller, a +young Indiana colonel, who had not yet received his stars. It was apparent +to him that Breckenridge's charge, unless checked, would result +disastrously to the army; and he broached the subject of a countercharge +to an officer of like grade of another brigade. He was assured of support. +Miller sent an orderly to find some general officer to authorize the +movement, and drew up his men in readiness. He had barely 1,500 with which +he might hope to check 10,000, flushed with victory. In a few moments the +crisis was at hand, and Miller was still awaiting orders. His brigade +opened ranks to let through the fugitives, and then Miller, placing +himself at the head of his men, spurred his horse into the water. He was +in mid-stream, when the orderly returned with the news that General +Palmer, the only general officer to be found, had forbidden the movement. + +"It is too late now," replied Miller, and drawing his sword, he gave the +order to charge. + +The very audacity of this step was its success. It is probable that the +Confederates believed Miller to be leading an overwhelming force, for they +stopped, fired a few shots, and then began to retreat. With fixed +bayonets, Miller's men pursued, and now, with quick perception of the +opportunity, other Union commands joined in the charge. Perhaps a half +mile had been traversed when the Confederates showed signs of rallying. +But as their lines were halted and rearranged, the missiles of death from +half a hundred cannon,--drawn hastily together by Major Mendenhall, +Crittenden's chief of artillery, and posted on a hill which commanded the +whole field,--suddenly fell among them. They fled again, leaving on the +ground 2,000 dead and wounded,--the fruit of an action of less than an +hour. + +This ended the battle of Stone's River. For another twenty-four hours the +two armies confronted each other with no fight of importance. During the +night of January 3, Bragg retreated unmolested. He reported having +received information that Rosecrans was being reenforced, but in this +again he may be suspected of a euphemism. As a matter of fact, the retreat +had been advised at a council of his principal generals, two of +whom,--Withers and Cheatham,--united in the blunt statement over their own +signatures that he had only three reliable divisions left and that these +were, to a certain extent, demoralized. Most of his officers also assured +him, with equal frankness, that he ought to give up the command of the +army,--advice that he did not heed; and Polk, for writing to this effect +to the Confederate President, was placed under arrest; but he was +afterward released. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN,--AND WHAT WAS + + +The Battle of Stone's River produced profound disappointment both in the +North and in the South. Claimed as a victory by both sides, the first +fruits fell to the Army of the Cumberland, which had not only held the +field but had compelled the retirement of its adversary and the +relinquishment by the latter of strategic positions and domination over +considerable areas. But as the weeks passed without developments of other +striking results, the Northern people felt that the victory had been +little more than technical, and that the battle was another of the +practically indecisive contests so frequent at that period. + +On the other hand, the Southern people were mortified and chagrined at a +defeat suffered when their cause was prospering in almost all other +quarters. They were not more given to analyzing strategic and tactical +features than their Northern enemies, but they were able to realize that +their second army in size and importance had lost thousands of soldiers, +and that it has been driven out of Middle Tennessee, and away from the +vicinity of the State capital, the recovery of which had always been a +cherished object of their hearts. The opposition to Bragg, both in and out +of the Army of the Tennessee, became intensified from the time the +retirement from Murfreesboro was ordered. + +It was perhaps natural that the outcome was thus viewed in the two +sections, for it is in the light of what it might have been,--rather than +what it was,--that Stone's River must be judged. Union victory upon that +field did not, it is true, reveal results of transcendent importance, but +Confederate victory,--at one time so near,--would have been followed by +the weightiest and most far-reaching consequences. Had Bragg been able to +drive his infantry across the Nashville pike on the last day of 1862, or +had he been able to crush the Union left on the second of January, 1863, +the capture or destruction,--whole or partial,--of his enemy would have +been one of the least of these consequences. For the way to the Ohio would +then have been open, and Cincinnati and other opulent Northern cities +would have been at the mercy of Confederate arms. Vicksburg would not have +been an historic name, for overwhelming forces could have been turned +against Grant to crush him, or drive him from Mississippi. +Tennessee,--second State in population below Mason and Dixon's line, and +first in such food as armies consume,--would have been held to furnish the +vital recruits and supplies to the Confederacy. East Tennessee would have +waited in vain for the relieving Northern forces. Kentucky and Missouri +might have been wrested from Union control, and Arkansas freed from the +presence of the invader. Finally, Europe's recognition, with the manifold +complexities for the North that must have ensued therefrom, could have +been no longer logically denied to the Richmond government. + +After Stone's River, Bragg's battered battalions retired 30 to 40 miles +away,--to the line of Duck Diver,--and there maintained an attitude of +defiance for 6 months. It took that period for Rosecrans to restore the +ravages of battle in his army. Wheeler, Morgan, and Forrest,--the cavalry +chieftans,--meanwhile, kept up a series of raids upon Rosecrans's long +line of communications,--raids that sorely tried that commander, pestered +as he was by constant injunctions from Washington to move forward. But in +June, 1863, having at length accumulated sufficient supplies, the Army of +the Cumberland started the campaign that was to drive the Army of the +Tennessee out of the State from which it took its name. Then came another +halt; but in September the Union forces again advanced and the +Confederates again retired. + +At Chickamauga the Army of the Tennessee, reinforced by Longstreet and +Buckner, turned, and, inflicting a bloody defeat upon the Army of the +Cumberland, locked it up in the fastness of Chattanooga. But Bragg was +unable to gather substantial fruits from his victory. At Missionary Ridge, +in December, the Army of the Cumberland led in the movement that broke the +battle-front of its historic adversary. Thenceforth the Army of the +Tennessee,--fighting bravely at every turn,--was obliged by the weight of +opposing numbers to retire further and further into the South. At Resaca, +at Dalton, at Kenesaw Mountain, at Atlanta, and at a score of other places +it showed the qualities of valor and endurance that had already won it +deserved renown. But it never looked to the North again until the latter +days of 1864, when Hood summoned it for its last great adventure,--that +desperate leap past Sherman, which was to end in utter rout before the +ramparts of Nashville. + +The Army of the Cumberland lost in the Stone's River campaign 1,730 +killed, 7,802 wounded, 3,717 captured and missing; a total of 13,249. + +The Army of the Tennessee lost 1,294 killed, 7,945 wounded, 1,027 captured +or missing; a total of 10,266. + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +APPENDIX + + +NOTES TO INTRODUCTION + +"In the second half of this year (1862) the Confederates failed to gain +control of Maryland and Kentucky, but made head strongly and at the end of +it were at the height of their power, with the North badly defeated at all +points save one. The writer considers that the battle of Stone's River, or +Murfreesboro, on December 31st, was the military turning-point of the war, +though the Confederates made various strokes at different times for +political purposes, which, had they succeeded, might have attained their +end, the chief of which was the campaign of Gettysburg. From a purely +military point of view, however, nothing could save the Confederacy unless +the results of Stone's River were undone. The year 1863 opened with the +Confederates fought out; they had made their effort but could not maintain +it, and had failed to secure the centre of the strategical line which was +vital for both sides."--"The American Civil War," Formby; London, John +Murray, 1910. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER II. + +"... That my opinion was founded upon a false estimate of the facts was +the very least part of my fault. I did not perceive the gross impropriety +of such an utterance from a cabinet minister, of a power united in blood +and language, and bound to loyal neutrality; the case being further +exaggerated by the fact that we were already, so to speak, under +indictment before the world, for not--as was alleged--having strictly +enforced the laws of neutrality in the matter of the cruisers. My offence +was indeed only a mistake, but one of incredible grossness, and with such +consequences of offence and alarm attached to it, that my failing to +perceive them justly exposed me to very severe blame...."--Gladstonian +fragment, "Life of Gladstone," Morley; New York. The Macmillan Company, +1911. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER III. + +"Further to mislead the enemy as to the point from which the attack was to +be made, long lines of camp-fires were started on McCook's right and +commands given by staff-officers to imaginary regiments in tones loud +enough to be heard by the enemy's skirmishers, to induce the Confederates +to think that our line extended much further to the right than it actually +did. I have always doubted whether Bragg was misled or deceived by this +subterfuge; and not unlikely he considered it a confession of weakness on +our right and formed his own plans accordingly."--"The Murfreesboro +Campaign," Otis; Boston. Papers of the Military Historical Society of +Massachusetts, Vol. VII, 1908. + + +NOTES TO CHAPTER VI. + +"At this juncture, Colonel John F. Miller, followed by a portion of +Stanley's brigade, charged with his brigade across the river. +Disregarding an order from a general officer, not his immediate commander, +to desist from so hazardous an adventure, he dashed over and fell +furiously upon the foe, already in rapid retreat. The right of Miller's +line was supported by the Eighteenth Ohio, and portions of the +Thirty-seventh Indiana and Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania, of Stanley's +Brigade. Moving on the opposite bank, his left, was Grose's brigade, which +had changed front and resisted the enemy, when Price and Grider gave +ground, and in his rear were Hazen's brigade and portions of Beatly's +division. Miller reached a battery in position and, charging with the +Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania, Sixty-ninth and Seventy-fourth Ohio, and +Nineteenth Illinois, the Twenty-first Ohio, striking opportunely on the +left, captured four guns and the colors of the Twenty-sixth Tennessee +Regiment...."--"History of the Army of the Cumberland," Van Home; +Cincinnati, Robert Clarke & Co., 1875. + +"Miller sent his staff officers and orderlies, Lieutenant (afterward +Brigadier-General) Henry Chiney, Lieutenant Ayers, and Major A. B. +Bonnaffin (I repeat that I am writing now what I saw with my own eyes and +heard with my own ears) to scour the field and ask permission to cross the +stream to Van Cleve's relief. Only one such officer could be found, +General John M. Palmer (of Illinois) and from him came instead of the +desired permission a positive prohibition--an order not to cross. The +other two brigade commanders, belonging to the division, General Spear of +Tennessee and Colonel T. R. Stanley, of the Eighteenth Ohio, were not +present. General Negley, the division commander, was not to be found.... + +"Miller found himself the ranking officer present with the division and +realized that the decision fraught with so much importance lay with him. +He was surrounded by a group of regimental commanders who alternately +studied the field and his face.... He turned to the officers around him +saying quietly: + +"'I will charge them.' + +"'And I'll follow you,' exclaimed the gallant Scott, wheeling and plunging +his spurs into his steed to hasten back to his regiment (the Nineteenth +Illinois). Colonel Stoughton of the Eleventh Michigan and other regimental +commanders belonging to the Twenty-ninth brigade echoed Scott's +enthusiastic adherence and they, too, started for their troops."--"God's +War," Vance. London, New York. F. Tennyson Neely, 1899. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "Crittendon's" corrected to "Crittenden's" (page 44) + "Rosecran's" corrected to "Rosecrans's" (page 53) + +Other than the corrections listed above, printer's spelling +inconsistencies have been retained. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stone's River, by Wilson J. 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