The Battle of Stones River Facts
The Battle of Stones River Facts
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| Interesting The Battle of Stones River Facts: |
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| The battle was fought from December 31, 1862 until January 2, 1863. |
| The battle took place near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, along Stones River. The total area of the battlefield was about 4,000 acres. |
| The Union won the battle. |
| 81,000 soldiers fought in the battle. |
| This was one of the deadliest battles of the war. There were over 23,000 casualties, giving the Battle of Stones River the highest percentage of casualties of any battle in the war. |
| Major General William Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland led the Union. The Confederates were under the command of General Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee. |
| President Abraham Lincoln had recently given command to Rosecrans. He had grown frustrated with Don Carlos Buell's indecisiveness. |
| The Union had invaded Nashville and the Confederates were working on a plan to force the Union troops out of Tennessee. |
| Union troops had left Nashville on December 27th and were advancing toward the Confederates. |
| The Confederates struck first but the Union put up a strong defense. |
| Reinforcements were slow to come to the aid of the Confederates, making it difficult to keep up a sustained attack. |
| On January 2, Bragg ordered an assault of a heavily armed Union troops near a hill east of Stones River. The Union held off the assault easily, devastating the Confederates. |
| Bragg knew that Rosecrans was going to be receiving reinforcements. Knowing this, he ordered a retreat on January 3. |
| Four brigadier generals were killed in the battle. The Union lost two generals and the Confederates lost two. |
| As a result of the victory, the Union was able to use Nashville as a major supply depot throughout the course of the war. |
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