ON

CHAPTER XVII.

FROM NASHVILLE TO STONE RIVER.

N October 24, 1862, the Secretary of War issued an order creating the territory in Kentucky and Tennessee east of the Tennessee River as the Department of the Cumberland, relieving General Buell and appointing General Rosecrans in his place, who assumed command at Louisville on the 30th. He reorganized the army, appointing General McCook to command the right wing, General Crittenden the left wing, and General Thomas the centre. There were three divisions in each wing and five in the centre.

A month had passed since the battle of Perryville. During the time the army had been waiting to obtain clothing. The long march across the States of Tennessee and Kentucky from the Tennessee River, in northern Alabama, to Louisville on the Ohio, and the march from the Ohio to central Kentucky, and thence to Nashville, had worn out boots, shoes, and uniforms. The first thing to be done by General Rosecrans was to obtain fresh supplies and repair the railroads, which had been badly broken up by the Confederate cavalry. He saw that his own cavalry in comparison with that of the enemy was weak, but did not receive any reinforcements in that branch of the service, for the reason that the Government during the first year of the war did not see the need of cavalry. On the other hand, the Confederates from the outset saw what valuable services could be rendered by a body of horsemen moving rapidly from place to place, and made preparations accordingly.

General Rosecrans set a large number of men at work repairing the railroad, but it could not be reopened till the 26th of November. During the month the army near Nashville could receive its supplies only by wagons transporting the provisions thirty-five miles.

The Confederate cavalry all the while were on the move, tearing down. and destroying, while the Union troops were repairing previous damages. While the army was refitting, the Confederates, under John Morgan, December 7th, dashed upon the town of Hartsville, on the Cumberland

River, where there were three Union infantry regiments, a battalion of cavalry, and two cannon, all under the command of Colonel Moore. The alarm was given. Moore sent out a company of skirmishers and formed a line on a hill overlooking a ravine. Morgan advanced his infantry to the ravine and opened a destructive fire in front, while his cavalry swept round to the rear. The Union troops were thrown into confusion, and, being nearly surrounded, Colonel Moore raised a white flag and surrendered. It was a notable victory for Morgan, who thus captured nearly two thousand men, with all the camp equipage, wagons, horses, and two cannon. Jefferson Davis was at Murfreesboro' consulting with General Bragg, and was so well pleased that he appointed Morgan a brigadiergeneral.

Morgan's success made him famous, and there was a great desire on the part of the young men of Tennessee and Kentucky to enlist in his command. He soon had seven regiments and between four and five thousand men. He divided his command into two brigades-one of three regiments, commanded by Colonel Basil W. Duke, with four cannon, and one of four regiments and three guns, under Colonel W. C. P. Breckinridge. Each regiment had a supply of axes, crow-bars, and sledge hammers to destroy railroads and bridges.

General Bragg came to the conclusion that General Rosecrans intended to go into winter-quarters at Nashville, and he determined to compel him to fall back to Louisville-not by fighting a battle, but by breaking up the railroad so that he could not furnish his army with supplies. To carry out his plan he sent Morgan from Murfreesboro' to make a raid into Kentucky, Morgan's native State. He would still have a large force of cavalry left with his army.

On December 22d Morgan started with his two brigades. The cavalrymen were in high spirits. Many of them were from Kentucky, and well acquainted with all the roads. They would visit their friends, and would be warmly welcomed by those who sympathized with the Confederates. The harvests were gathered, and they would live upon the fat of the land. There were full cribs of corn for their horses, and good cheer for themselves. It would be glorious to swoop down upon the small bodies of Union troops posted to guard the railroad, take them prisoners, and then destroy the bridges which Rosecrans had reconstructed. Two days after starting, the Confederates came upon a battalion of Michigan troops, who fought so bravely that Morgan lost two officers and seventeen men. The next day, December 25th, he had a second skirmish near Munfordsville, in which he lost nearly fifty men. He came to Bacon Creek, where

there were one hundred Union troops in a stockade ten feet high built of logs of wood set in the ground. He opened with his artillery, sent an officer demanding a surrender, which was refused. After another hot fire, he himself called upon the garrison to surrender, and promised such fair treatment that the offer was accepted.

Morgan pushed on to Elizabethtown, where there were six hundred Union troops, under Lieutenant-colonel Smith, who fought six hours, but were obliged to surrender. He had reached what he was after-the long, high trestle-bridges near Muldraugh's Hill, on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. There were two, each nearly five hundred feet in length, and between eighty and ninety feet high. Fires were kindled, which ran up the great timbers, and in a few minutes the lofty structures were heaps of smouldering ruins. He moved so rapidly that it was useless to send infantry to intercept him. He met with a defeat, however, at Rolling Fork and Salt River from Colonel Harlan's brigade, and at Lebanon lost one hundred and fifty men.

Before Morgan began his advance, General Carter, with three regiments of Union cavalry, started from Lebanon, moved south-east, took a mountain road which wound through deep ravines, crossed the Cumberland Mountains forty miles north-east of Cumberland Gap, descended the Virginia side, and astonished the Confederates by appearing at Carter's Station, on the railroad leading from East Tennessee to Virginia, burning bridges, tearing up several miles of track, and returning to Kentucky by the same route. Morgan's raid was far more damaging than that of Carter's; but if General Bragg supposed that he was going to compel Rosecrans to fall back to Louisville, or that he could paralyze the Union army by cutting off its supplies, he was mistaken. Before Morgan started, Rosecrans had decided to march southward from Nashville, find Bragg, and attack him. It was a bold plan, for Bragg had an army larger than his own, and could choose his own ground. He could fight a battle when and where he pleased close to his base of supplies, with his troops all fresh, while Rosecrans must make a long and weary march, expose his troops to the rain and snow of winter, endure great hardship, and fight at a disadvantage. We must keep this in mind while we study the movement of Rosecrans upon Bragg at Murfreesboro', and the battle of Stone River, and what came of it.

We must not lose sight of political affairs while we follow the movements of armies. The political situation was a very grave one. In September, after the battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued his first proclamation of emancipation, which gave great offence to those people in

the North who opposed the war. On the first week in November eleotions had been held in all the Northern States for members of Congress, and in most of them for Governor. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Indiana had elected Legislatures opposed to the war, and a majority of those elected to Congress were opposed to its continuance. In the Democratic political meetings resolutions had been passed demanding the withdrawal of the troops. It was said that the war was a failure, that the South never could be conquered, and peace was demanded at any price. General Rosecrans saw that a battle must be fought and a victory won. Although he had fewer troops than Bragg, though he must march thirty miles and attack the enemy on ground of Bragg's own choosing, he did not hesitate an instant, nor was he to be turned from his purpose by anything which Morgan might do. When he heard of Morgan's movement he was getting ready to move, and his orders were issued promptly and decisively.

Of the five divisions under General Thomas, that commanded by General Reynolds and two brigades of Fry's were detailed to guard the railroad. General Mitchell was left to hold Nashville. This assignment took away half of General Thomas's command, leaving him the First Division of Rousseau's, Negley's, and Walker's brigade of Fry's division. General McCook had the divisions of Johnson, Davis, and Sheridan; Crittenden the divisions of Wood, Palmer, and Van Cleve. The entire force was about forty-three thousand four hundred men; but it was necessary to detail a large number of men to guard the trains from the attacks of the Confederate cavalry, reducing Rosecrans's force to less than forty thousand.

Bragg had fifty-one thousand and thirty-six men, but the cavalry, under Morgan and Forrest, was away, reducing his force to forty-six thousand six hundred and four. On Christmas-day Rosecrans issued his orders to advance. For many a soldier it was the last Christmas on earth.

In an account of the operations at Island No. 10 I told the story of the exploit of Colonel Roberts, of the Forty-second Illinois, in spiking the guns of a Confederate battery during a terrific thunder-storm. He had been through several battles, and was now commander of the Third Brigade of Sheridan's division. We shall see him on the battle-field. On Christmas-day he invited three friends to dinner. After dinner they drank a glass of wine.

"Success to our arms," was the sentiment to which Colonel Roberts replied. He spoke of the Union, of liberty, of the army.

"I will take all the chances of rebel bullets," he said.

"So will I," said Colonel Harrington, of the Twenty-seventh Illinois.

"So will I," were the words of Lieutenant-colonel Swanwick, of the Twenty-second Illinois.

"And I," added Lieutenant Talliaferro.

Before the week closed all four were numbered among the slain.

At six o'clock on the morning of December 26th the Union troops began to move. Before noon Bragg, thirty miles away, at Murfreesboro', knew it, and issued his orders for the concentration of his troops. He selected a line about two and a half miles north of Murfreesboro', and ordered the construction of intrenchments. He directed the cavalry to make a show of fighting, and retard the advance of the Union troops as much as possible, while he strengthened his position.

It is not a very

Murfreesboro' was once the capital of Tennessee. large town, but roads radiate from it in all directions. The Nashville turnpike and the railroad run north-west; Stone River rises among the hills. twenty miles south of Murfreesboro', and runs due north, winding over a rocky bed. There was but little water in the stream at the time of the battle, but the troops could not readily get down to cross it without smoothing the banks.

Half way from Murfreesboro' to Nolensville is Stewart's Creek, a small stream emptying into Stone River, flowing through a deep ravine. It would have been a strong line of defence. General Rosecrans thought