veered off to the west, hot on the heels of
fleeing Yankees. The three brigades main-
tained good order but were badly out of
position. Cleburne, bringing up his sup-
porting division, ran into fresh Federal
troops and was perplexed that McCown
had seemingly disappeared from his front.
Unfazed by the mix-up, Cleburne filled the
gap with his own troops and pressed on.
Cleburne had run into the Federal divi-
sion of Jefferson C. Davis, a scrappy
Hoosier brigadier who, much to the amuse-
ment of his own men, shared his name with
the Rebel president. Davis had time to
adjust his troops, realigning Colonel P. Sid-
ney Post’s brigade to face the Confederate
onslaught. In Post’s right rear was a reserve
brigade under the command of Colonel
Philemon Baldwin, who had his troops take
what cover they could behind a cornfield
and rail fence. Both brigades counted on
support from the ever-efficient Federal bat-
teries.
Confederate officers could clearly discern
that the Union position would not be a
pushover. The Arkansas brigades of Brig.Gens. Evander McNair and St. John Lid-
dell became snarled during the advance,
and the two brigadiers halted the attack
while they bickered about how best to hit
Baldwin. McCown had to personally sort
the matter out, eventually ordering both
brigades forward in unison. Liddell, a West
Point dropout, was a good choice for a
tough job. A sensible combat commander,
Liddell was respected by his men and brave
to a fault.
Hat in hand, he personally led them for-
ward. Liddell’s Arkansans advanced in the
open and paid a grim price. Enemy artillery
and small arms swept his ranks, and Lid-
dell, apprehensive that his troops would be
slaughtered if they pressed forward unsup-
ported, halted the brigade. The deadlock
was broken when a tardy McNair finally
brought his brigade into the fight. Sweep-
ing forward at a run, the Arkansans
wrecked an impromptu force that Federal
officers had patched together on Baldwin’s
right. McNair then swung his brigade
toward Baldwin’s main force, which
cracked under the pressure. The Federals
fell back reluctantly, the commander of the
1st Ohio resorting to blistering profanity
to get his Buckeyes to retreat. Liddell’s
troops, who had been roughly handled dur-
ing the exchange of gunfire, plunged for-
ward and succeeded in dislodging the
Union troops.
Post’s brigade, which sat astride the Gre-
sham Lane, fared little better. Soon after
Post had his men in position, Confederate
troops surged toward his front. It was Brig.
Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s Tennessee brigade
that advanced across open ground and suf-
fered badly for it. Post’s infantry unleashed
a hail of musketry, and they were further
supported by Captain Oscar Pinney’s four
guns of the 5th Wisconsin Artillery. Pinney,
who had been anxiously awaiting the
opportunity to get into action, did grim
work. Tearing great gaps in their ranks,
Pinney’s accurate fire left the Tennesseans
stalled in the open. Rebel artillery soon
struck back. Unlimbering behind the belea-
guered infantry, Captain Putnam Darden’s
Jefferson Flying Artillery subjected Pinney’s
guns to intense counterbattery fire. Pinneywas forced to draw off his guns. With the
Union artillery in full retreat, Johnson’s
brigade charged forward and broke Post’s
right, unhinging the entire brigade line.
The next Federal brigade in line, com-
manded by Colonel William P. Carlin, was
strongly positioned to receive an attack.
Carlin, a stern professional soldier with a
reputation as a tough fighter, had his men
situated among boulders in a thick stand
of cedars east of the Gresham Lane. The
cedar thicket offered poor visibility, and the
onrushing Confederates had no idea that
he was waiting for them. They were, at
least, coming on in strength—two brigades
under the command of Brig. Gens. S.A.M.
Wood and Lucius Polk, nephew of the
fighting bishop. Like Cleburne, neither
brigade commander was aware that
McCown had careened off course. Polk’s
troops unexpectedly came under fire, while
Wood’s oblivious Butternuts stumbled into
a deadly trap. From near point-blank
range, the Confederates took a devastating
volley from the concealed ranks of the
101st Ohio. Staggered by the ambush,
Wood pulled back.
Carlin drew in his right flank in antici-
pation of a renewed Confederate thrust,
but the numbers were against him. Wood
and Polk threw their combined weight at
his line and Carlin ordered a withdrawal
in the face of the deadly pincers. The Fed-
erals were subjected to withering crossfire;
Carlin himself was wounded as his men
scrambled for the rear. “Everything was
perfect confusion,” recalled Jay Butler of
the 101st Ohio, “men and horses running
in every direction and Rebels after us, fir-
ing upon us and yelling like Indians.”
Despite their initial success in shattering
the Federal right, Confederate troops soon
ran into mounting difficulty as the fighting
expanded. As the attack shifted north, the
battle came increasingly under Polk’s direc-
tion. Although the bishop was a West Point
graduate, he was better equipped for the
pulpit than the battlefield. He had thrown
his wing into disarray the previous day after
instituting a muddled reorganization and
now committed his formidable command
in piecemeal fashion. Polk’s lead divisionCWQ-Sum16 Stones River_Layout 1 4/20/16 4:45 PM Page 87