The First Stone

Bragg Victorious at the Stones River
January 2, 1863

On January 2, 1863, Braxton Bragg decided to break the stalemate at the Battle of Murfreesboro and ordered Leonidas Polk to attempt an attack on Union General Thomas' Division. They were repulsed with heavy losses. Just as defeat seemed certain, General Patrick Cleburne demanded that he attempt to flank the Union lines. Bragg reluctantly acquiesces. Confederate batteries opened up and Cleburne's troops charged the Federal right. Soon Union General Rosecrans indignantly ordered a withdrawal. The norhern troops trudged back to Nashville, bested by the Army of the Tennessee for the first time.

January 5, 1863

Rosecrans completes his consolidation of the Nashville area and prepares for battle. His troops, however, are spread thin. And the Cumberland River is at his back, so he'll have to succeed in the battle, or one of the largest Union armies in the West will be destroyed. Meanwhile, a telegraph reaches President Davis that the Army of the Tennessee has "won handily" at Murfreesboro, and that the enemy is in "shambles", despite that the casualties on both sides were roughly equal.

Bragg Defeats Rosecrans at Nashville


 January 6, 1863

Bragg pounces on the Federal-held Nashville. Three simultaneous assaults are made on the city, and push the Union soldiers to the last line of entrenchments, but they manage to hold the city long enough for night to fall. Casualties on the northern side are incredible. Rosecrans fears the next day will bring defeat. General George H. Thomas comes up with a plan. A three-hundred man team attacks the Confederate right, drawing Bragg's forces away from the left. Cavalry dispatch the small Confederate pickets guarding the left, and the Army of the Ohio evacuates Nashville.