JANUARY 2, 1863:
The Battle of Stones River, Tennessee (The Battle of
Murfreesboro; the Second Battle of Murfreesboro) (Day Three):
Braxton Bragg was both surprised and
dismayed when he woke up this day to find William Rosecrans’ army still in
place facing his. Bragg was slow to resume battle, and the two armies did not
come to blows again until the afternoon when General Bragg ordered an infantry
charge against the entrenched Union positions near the river. Dusk was near
falling when the charge commenced. Surprisingly,
the Confederate charge quickly took the ground and pushed on towards the river,
where they came within range of fifty-seven Union cannon massed on the west
side of the Stones River. General Crittenden watched as the guns went to work:
“Van Cleve’s Division
of my command was retiring down the opposite slope, before overwhelming numbers
of the enemy, when the guns … opened upon the swarming enemy. The very forest
seemed to fall … and not a Confederate reached the river.”
The Union batteries took a huge toll. In forty-five minutes more
than 1,800 Confederates were killed or wounded, and a Union counterattack
pushed the broken Confederate forces back to their starting point, taking
command of the field. By 6:00 PM it was
over. Darkness and cold precluded a continued Union counterattack.
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