Stones River Campaign Map American Civil War Tennessee

December 31 Afternoon

During the afternoon of December 31st, Bragg called on General Breckinridge's troops to hammer the anchor point of the Union line guarding the Nashville Pike. Two brigades went in first suffering the same fate as those that went before. Two more of Breckinridge's Brigades made a final assault as daylight began to fail. Hazen's men, reinforced now by Harker's Brigade, 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.

УWe charged in fifty yards of them and had not the timely order of retreat been given Ч none of us would now be left to tell the tale. Е Our regiment carries two hundred and eighty into action and came out with fifty eight.Ф

Colonel Hazen's Brigade was the only Union unit not to retreat on the 31st. Their stand against four Confederate attacks gave Rosecrans a solid anchor for his Nashville Pike line that finally stopped the Confederate tide.

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.

December 31 12:00 PM

After McCown's dawn assault, Confederate units to the north began attacking the enemy in their front. These attacks were not meant to break through, but to hold Union units in place as the flanking attack swept up behind them.

General Philip Sheridan had his men rise early and form a line of battle. His men were able to repulse the first enemy attack, but the loss of the divisions to his right forced Sheridan's commanders to reposition their lines to keep Cleburne's Division from cutting off their escape route. Sheridan's lines pivoted to the north, anchored by General James Negley's Division in the trees and rocks along McFadden Lane.

Confederate brigades assaulted Sheridan's and Negley's Divisions without coordination. The terrain made communication and cooperation between units nearly impossible. For more than two hours, the Union forces fell back step by bloody step slowing the Confederate assault.

By noon, the Confederate Brigades of A.P. Stewart, J. Patton Anderson, George Maney, A.M. Manigault, and A.J. Vaughn assaulted the Union salient from three sides. With their ammunition nearly spent, Negley's and Sheridan's lines shattered and their men made their way north and west through the cedars 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.

УI cannot remember now of ever seeing more dead men and horses and captured cannon all jumbled together, than that scene of blood and carnage Е on the (Wilkinson) Е Turnpike; the ground was literally covered with blue coats dead.Ф

All three of Sheridan's brigade commanders were killed or mortally wounded and many Federal units lost more than one-third of their men. Many Confederate units fared little better. Union soldiers recalled the carnage as looking like the slaughter pens in the stockyards of Chicago. The name stuck.

Troop Positions December 31 1:00 PM

While the fighting raged in the Slaughter Pen, General Rosecrans was busy trying to save his army. He cancelled the attack across the river and funneled his reserve troops into the fight hoping to stem the bleeding on his right. Rosecrans and General George Thomas rallied fleeing troops as they approached the Nashville Pike and a new line began to form along that vital lifeline backed up by massed artillery.

The new horseshoe shaped line gave the Army of the Cumberland solid interior lines and better communication than their attackers. The Union cannon covered the long open fields between the cedars and the road. Most of the troops in this line had full cartridge boxes and knew that they must hold here or the battle would be lost.

Again the woods and rocky ground helped the Union. Confederate organization fell apart as they struggled through the cedars. Most of Confederate artillery was unable to penetrate the dense forests strewn with limestone outcroppings. Each wave of enemy attack along the pike was repulsed in bloody fashion by the Federal artillery that commanded the field.

Lietenant Alfred Pirtle (Ordnance Officer, Rousseau's Division) watched the cannon do their deadly work that afternnon.

УЕ then our batteries opened on them with a deafening unceasing fire, throwing twenty-four pounds of iron from each piece, across that small space. Е But men were not born who could longer face that storm of canister. Е They broke, they fled, and some took refuge in the clump of trees and weeds.Ф

As night approached, the Union army was bloody and battered, but it retained control of the pike and its vital lifeline to Nashville. Although Confederate cavalry would wreak havoc on Union wagon trains, enough supplies got through to give General Rosecrans the option to continue the fight.

December 31 2:00 PM

Stones River Campaign Map December 31 1862 3:00 PM
Stones River Campaign Map December 31 1862 8:00 PM

Stones River Campaign Map January 1,1863

Sources:
United States Military Academy
Library of Congress
National Park Service

Stones River Campaign Map American Civil War December 1862 - January 1863

December 31 Afternoon

Stones River Campaign Map
American Civil War
December 1862 - January 1863