STONE RIVER, BATTLE OF, or MURFREES now, BATTLE OF. An indecisive battle fought near Stone River, in the vicinity of Murfrees boro, Tenn., on December 31, 1862, and Janu ary 2. 1863, between the Federal Army of the Cumberland, numbering about 41,000 ef fective men, under General Rosecrans, and the Confederate Army of Tennessee, numbering about 35,000 effective men, under General Bragg. Soon after replacing General Buell on October 30, 1862, in command of the Army of the Cumber land, General Rosecrans occupied Nashville, while General Bragg, after having been ma numvred out of Kentucky by General Buell, took up a position in and near Murfreesboro. Tenn. On December 2fith Rosecrans advanced from Nash ville against Bragg, and on the 30th, after having encountered considerable resistance along the way, arrived in the immediate vicinity of Mur freesboro. Both generals arranged to attack on the following morning, and by a singular coinci dence both adopted the same general plan of battle, each issuing orders for an attack by his left, heavily reenforced, upon his opponent's right. As the two armies faced one another, Crittenden, commanding the Federal left, was opposed. to Breckenridge, commanding the Con federate right; Thomas, eommanding the Federal centre, was opposed to Polk. commanding the Con federate centre; and McCook, commanding the Federal right, was opposed to Hardee, command ing the Confederate left. At 6 A.M. on the 31st, while Crittenden was preparing to cross the river and advance against Breckenridge, Hardee vigorously and with vastly superior numbers attacked McCook, who seems to have made an unwise arrangement of his line, and who, though he had assured Roseerans of his ability to hold his position for three hours, soon gave way, his three divisions under Johnson, Davis, and Sheri dan, after having offered a stubborn resistance, being gradually forced back to the Nashville Pike, in the rear of the Federal left and left centre, The Federal centre, however, under Thomas, successfully beat back the attacks of the Confederate centre and parts of the Confederate left, and, though a realignment of the troops in this part of the field had to be made, the Fed orals held their position. Meanwhile the Federal
left, which, in pursuance of Rosecrans's plan of battle, had begun at 8 A.M. to advance against The Confederhie right. had been recalled when the defeat of the Federal right became known, and was instrumental in beating back the final Confederate attacks. The fighting virtually ceased at dark. At the close of the day the advantage was decidedly with the Confederates, who, besides 28 guns and a large num ber of prisoners, had driven part of the army from its position and had forced Boseerarts to net on the defensive instead of carrying out his own plan of battle. On January 1st the two armies retained their positions, and there was little fighting, except along the skirmish lines. Van Cleve's division of Crittenden's Federal corps was, however, sent across the river to occupy a position on high rrround opposite one of the fords of the river. On the following day, the 2d, at 4 r.m. Breckenridge's Confederate division made a furious assault upon this posi tion, the capture of which was necessary to pre vent the enfilading of the Confederate line: hut. after being at first successful, it was finally driven back with great loss. On the night of the 3d Bragg evacuated Murfreesboro and re treated toward Tullahoma, 36 miles distant. For some months thereafter the Army of the Cumber land remained at Murfreesboro. Throughout the North the battle was claimed as a Federal vic tory, as it was strategically, though tactically it may be considered to have been drawn. The Federal loss in killed, wounded, and missing was about 12,900: that of the Confederates, about 11,700. Consult: Johnson and Buel (eels.), Bat tles and Leaders of the Civil War. vol. iii. (New York, 1887) ; Ropes, Story of the Civil War, vol. ii. (ib., 1894-98) ; Cist, The Army of the Cumber land (ib., 1882), in the "Campaigns of the Civil War Series;" Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lin coln: A History (ib., 1890) Van Horne. History of the Army of the Cunibcrland (Cincinnati, 1875) ; and the Official Records, vol. xx., parts i. and ii.