After Gen. Braxton Bragg's defeat at
Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862, he and his Confederate Army of
the Mississippi retreated, reorganized, and were redesignated as the
Army of Tennessee. They then advanced to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and
prepared to go into winter quarters. Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's
Union Army of the Cumberland followed Bragg from Kentucky to Nashville.
Rosecrans left Nashville on December 26, with about 44,000 men, to
defeat Bragg's army of more than 37,000. He found Bragg's army on
December 29 and went into camp that night, within hearing distance of
the Rebels. At dawn on the 31st, Bragg's men attacked the Union right
flank. The Confederates had driven the Union line back to the Nashville
Pike by 10:00 am but there it held. Union reinforcements arrived from
Rosecrans's left in the late forenoon to bolster the stand, and before
fighting stopped that day the Federals had established a new, strong
line. On New Years Day, both armies marked time. Bragg surmised that
Rosecrans would now withdraw, but the next morning he was still in
position. In late afternoon, Bragg hurled a division at a Union division
that, on January 1, had crossed Stones River and had taken up a strong
position on the bluff east of the river. The Confederates drove most of
the Federals back across McFadden's Ford, but with the assistance of
artillery, the Federals repulsed the attack, compelling the Rebels to
retire to their original position. Bragg left the field on the January
4-5, retreating to Shelbyville and Tullahoma, Tennessee. Rosecrans did
not pursue, but as the Confederates retired, he claimed the victory.
Stones River boosted Union morale. The Confederates had been thrown
back in the east, west, and in the Trans-Mississippi.