the Kentuckian done so, his men might
have secured the hill using the Duke of
Wellington’s famous “reverse slope” tac-
tic, which had helped him win the battle of
Waterloo. Wellington had posted his
infantry on the rear slope of a ridge, shield-
ing them from enemy artillery fire. But that
was not possible now.
Firing wildly and screaming at the top
of their lungs, the Confederate troops
crested the hill without formation in blind
pursuit of the fleeing enemy. Any orders to
halt the advance were ignored by the over-
confident Rebel soldiers. As Private Ed
Thompson put it, “In the madness of the
pursuit all order and discipline were for-
gotten.” Frightened Federals raced down
the hill and splashed across McFadden’s
Ford, straining to reach the safety of the
opposite bank while the Rebels charged
down feverishly trying to stop them.
The final two-gun section of Lieutentant
Cortland Livingston’s 3rd Wisconsin Bat-
tery entered the stream with the Confed-
erates just 100 yards behind. This section
had helped cover the Union retreat, and
now Livingston wondered if one or bothpieces might be lost to the enemy. Torrents
of bullets pinged the water while dull thuds
hit the caissons. Several horses went down
in the Rebel fusillade, threatening to strand
the guns. Under mounting fire the Union
artillerymen jumped into the river, cut
away the reins from the dead animals, and
got the guns to safety.
Farther downriver some Confederates
caught up with Corporal E.C. Hocken-
smith of the Union’s 21st Kentucky (Price’s
Brigade) color guard. As Hockensmith was
about to enter the ford with the regiment’s
colors, he was accosted by a Rebel who
ordered him to surrender. “Myself I will
surrender, but my colors never!” he
shouted, throwing the flag into the water.
His comrade, Sergeant J.T. Gunn, seized
the colors and splashed across to the other
side. In the confusion Hockensmith also
made good his escape.
West of Stones River, Maj. Gen. Rose-
crans was in a panic. Galloping up to a
reserve brigade, he implored, “I beg you
for the sake of the country and for my own
sake to go at them with all your might. Go
at them with a whoop and a yell!”It was now just past sunset. If Breckin-
ridge could hold his position for another
10 minutes of twilight, Bragg had his hill.
But Bragg had not reckoned with Maj.
Gen. Thomas Crittenden’s chief of
artillery, Captain John Mendenhall.
Earlier that day, Crittenden, Rosecran’s
Left Wing commander, had asked
Mendenhall to establish several batteries
on the river’s west bank in anticipation of
just such an attack. Mendenhall pulled
together one of the most lethal artillery
concentrations of the Civil War, massing
58 guns on a narrow front, many
mounted on the dominating hill northwest
of the river opposite its contested sister
hill. With the battle reaching its climax
and Beatty’s Division in flight, Crittenden
turned to Mendenhall and said, “Now
Mendenhall, you must cover my men with
your cannon.”
Mendenhall waited until the last Union
soldiers had safely retreated across the riverLibrary of CongressFederal troops counterattack by crossing a ford
to the east bank of Stones River. This was the
decisive charge of the day. Confederate artillery
wagons try to make good an escape.CWQ-EW16 Stone's River_Layout 1 10/22/15 1:14 PM Page 53