suit of Confederate forces into eastern Ten-
nessee, Buell obstinately refused, opting for
a move toward Nashville in defiance of
orders. Not surprisingly, Buell was uncere-
moniously dumped a few weeks later.
His replacement, Maj. Gen. William
Starke Rosecrans, seemed a more promis-
ing choice. A West Pointer with impeccable
academic credentials, Rosecrans had grad-
uated fifth in the Class of 1842. Elite
assignments to the Corps of Engineers and
the West Point faculty followed. An Ohio
militia colonel at the outset of the war, the
Cincinnati-born Rosecrans went on to
serve with distinction at Rich Mountain,
Virginia, in 1861, and was eventually
assigned command of the Federal Army of
the Mississippi. While Buell floundered in
Kentucky, Rosecrans performed well in the
Deep South, scoring timely victories at Iuka
and Corinth, Mississippi. When Buell was
sacked, Rosecrans was the logical choice to
succeed him.
Rosecrans received his appointment on
October 24 and went right to work. Fear-
ing a Confederate thrust toward the Ten-
nessee capital, Rosecrans directed his
troops, redesignated the Army of the Cum-
berland, into Nashville on November 7. He
quickly whipped his command into shape,
restoring discipline in the ranks and cashier-
ing substandard officers. His personal com-
mand style was unique. A fervently devout
Roman Catholic, Rosecrans was cool under
fire but also subject to fits of frenetic over-
activity. Despite his eccentricities, he was
resoundingly popular with the troops. A
skilled organizer, Rosecrans worked tire-
lessly to see that his men were always prop-
erly supplied and well fed. They responded
accordingly. Rosecrans’s appointment,
claimed Robert Stewart of the 15th Ohio,
occasioned “silent rejoicing everywhere.”
The same could not be said for Rose-
crans’s opposite number. The commander
of the newly christened Army of Tennessee,
General Braxton Bragg, was arguably the
most reviled general officer in the Confed-
eracy—and not without reason. Although
his personal bravery and dedication to the
cause were not in question, Bragg’s notori-
ously contentious personality followed himwherever he went. The acerbic Bragg had
turned personal vendettas into something
of a cottage industry, engaging in a series of
bitter feuds with nearly every senior officer
under his command. The imbroglios had
ramped up during the 1862 Kentucky cam-
paign, when a number of his chief lieu-
tenants called for his ouster. Bragg kept his
job thanks to the good offices of President
Jefferson Davis, a longtime friend, but his
continued leadership ensured that the
Army of Tennessee would remain crippled
by dissension.
On the front lines in middle Tennessee,
such a lack of cohesion courted disaster.
Rosecrans, incessantly hectored by the War
Department to mount an offensive, got his
men in motion on December 26. The
troops, advancing in a wide arc as they
marched southeast from Nashville, were on
a collision course with the Army of Ten-
nessee. Rosecrans’s army, roughly 41,000
strong, was divided into three wings. The
left wing was led by Maj. Gen. Thomas
Crittenden, a Mexican War veteran, Ken-
tucky grandee, and solidly mediocre polit-
ical general. The right wing was under the
command of the affable McCook, who
recently had proved so unlucky, or inept,at Perryville. Rosecrans’s center was led by
stolid Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas.
Although lacking the charismatic élan of
many of his contemporaries, Thomas was
a reliable career officer. Bearing the not
entirely affectionate sobriquets “Old Slow
Trot” and “Pap,” he was by no means a
flamboyant leader, but his laconic compo-
sure had a steadying influence on troops
under fire.
They would soon be in desperate need of
such leadership. As Rosecrans advanced
over the road network southeast of
Nashville, the importance of one thor-
oughfare, the Nashville Pike, became
increasingly apparent. The macadamized
road was the most direct route toward the
enemy and largely paralleled the Nashville
& Chattanooga Railroad, a vital supply
artery for any potential Union thrust
toward Chattanooga. All major roads, as
well as the rail line, converged at the town
of Murfreesboro, a middling-sized com-
mercial center situated near a shallow,
meandering waterway, Stones River.
As the advance units of the two armiesSome of the principal generals at Stones River
included, clockwise from top left: Alexander McCook,
William Rosecrans, Leonidas Polk, and John P.
McCown.Major General John C. Breckinridge’s
Confederates, right, attack the well-ordered
infantry and artillery of Maj. Gen. Lovell
Rousseau’s Union division.CWQ-Sum16 Stones River_Layout 1 4/20/16 4:45 PM Page 84