Military Order of the Loyal Legion
of the
United States.
COMMANDERY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
WAR PAPERS.
68
Army of the Cumberland and the Battle of Stone’s River.
prepared by Companion
Lieutenant-Colonel GILBERT C. KNIFFIN,
U. S. Volunteers,
AND READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF APRIL 3, 1907.
Army of the Cumberland and the Battle of Stone River.
The Army of the Ohio, after crowding into the space of six weeks more hard marching and fighting than fell to the lot of any other army in the United States during the summer of 1862, was, on the last of October, encamped in the vicinity of Bowling Green, Kentucky. General Bragg and Kirby Smith, turning Buell’s left flank, had invaded Kentucky, gained the rear of Buell, threatened his base at Louisville, and but for the vis inertia which always seemed to seize upon the Confederates when in sight of complete victory, would have captured Louisville. The battle of Perryville resulting in the hasty exit of the combined armies of Bragg and Smith through Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee, the deliberate sweep of Buell’s columns in their rear, the halt at Crab Orchard, and the return march towards Nashville are part of the events of an earlier chapter in the history of the rebellion. The occupation of East Tennessee by the Union Army had from the commencement of hostilities been an object dear to the great heart of President Lincoln. He had hoped for its accomplishment under General Sherman. It had been included in the instructions to General Buell, but eighteen months had passed and the Confederate flag still waved in triumph from the spire of the court-house at Knoxville. The retreat of the Confederate Army into East Tennessee in what was reported as a routed and disorganized condition had seemed like a favorable opportunity to carry out the long-cherished design of the Government. The movement of large armies across the country upon a map in the War Office, although apparently practicable, bore so little relation to actual campaigning as to have already caused the decapitation of more than one general.
The positive refusal of General Buell to march 60,000 men into a sterile and hostile country across a range of mountains in pursuit of an army of equal strength with his own, when by simply turning southward he could meet it around the western spur of the same range, although it has since been upheld by every military authority, caused his prompt removal from command of the army he had organized and led to victory. The army had been slow to believe in the incapacity of General Buell, and had recognized the wisdom of his change of front from Cumberland Gap towards Nashville, but there were causes for dissatisfaction, which, in the absence of knowledge as to the difficulties under which he labored were attributed to him. A full knowledge of all the circumstances would have transferred them to the War Department. Major-General William S. Rosecrans, the newly-appointed commander of the Army of the Cumberland, graduated at West Point July 1, 1842, as brevet second lieutenant corps of engineers. He resigned from the army April 1, 1854, and entered civil life at Cincinnati as a civil engineer and architect. His energy and capability for large undertakings, coupled with an inherent capacity for command, caused him to be selected as superintendent of a cannel coal company in Virginia and president of the Coal River Navigation Company.
The discovery of coal oil at this period at once attracted his attention, and he had embarked in its manufacture when the tocsin of war called him into the field. His first duty was as volunteer aid to General McClellan, where his military experience rendered him very efficient in the organization of troops. He became commander of Camp Chase, colonel on the staff, chief engineer of the State of Ohio, and colonel Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded later by Rutherford B. Hayes and Stanley Matthews, and was appointed brigadier-general U. S. A., May 16, 1861. After conducting the campaigns in West Virginia to a successful issue he was ordered South and assigned to command of a division in the Army of the Mississippi under General Pope. He participated creditably in the siege of Corinth, and after its evacuation, and the transfer of General Pope to the eastern army assumed command of the Army of the Mississippi and District of Corinth. His heroic defense of that post and pursuit of Van Dorn’s defeated army following closely upon his military record in West Virginia again attracted the attention of the President and pointed him out as eminently fitted to succeed General Buell. General Rosecrans ordered to proceed to Cincinnati did not specify the command to which he was to be assigned. His commission as major-general, dated September 16th, was of much later date than the commissions of Buell, Thomas, McCook, and Crittenden. General Thomas ranked him five months—McCook and Crittenden two months. On opening his orders at Cincinnati he found an autograph letter from General Halleck directing him to proceed to Louisville and relieve General Buell in command of the Army of the Ohio. The usual method has always been to issue simultaneous orders to both officers, thus affording time to the officer to be relieved in which to arrange the details of his office, but Halleck was a law unto himself, and in relieving an army officer usually did it in a way to render it equivalent to dismissal from the service. Rosecrans afterward referred to his visit to Buell’s headquarters as more like that of a constable bearing a writ for the ejectment of a tenant than as a general on his way to relieve a brother officer in command of an army. The difficulty of rank was bridged over by antedating Rosecrans’ commission to March 16th. In a subsequent interview with General Thomas, when that splendid soldier expressed the pleasure it would give him to serve under a general who had given such satisfactory evidence of fitness to command, but felt doubts as to his right to do so on account of the disparity of their rank, General Rosecrans frankly revealed the means by which his commission had been made to date from the period of his operations in Western Virginia, and that as it now stood, General Thomas need have no fears of compromising his dignity as a United States officer. The explanation was entirely satisfactory, and no question of the superior rank of the commanding general was ever raised. After a rest and visit to his family of only sixty hours, General Rosecrans proceeded to Louisville, and assumed command of the army on the 28th of October, and on the 30th joined it at Bowling Green.
Here the first interview took place between the General and his corps commanders. Major-General George H. Thomas, strong, grave, benignant, majestic in deportment, had now been with the army a year; revered by the entire army, loved by his old division, he was a man to be trusted. Major-General Thomas L. Crittenden, a son of Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, bold, impetuous, and of knightly grace of manner, possessed of that cheerful courage which finds its best expression on the battle field, the idol of
Crittenden was tall, slender, and straight as an arrow. His clean-cut features were handsomely modeled, his eyes dark and full of expression, were full of mirth when there was no cause for anger—then they shone with a dangerous light—a thin black beard worn full and pointed at the end, long flowing locks of raven hair falling nearly to his shoulders, beneath a black felt hat turned up at the sides, booted and spurred, with sword dangling at his side, and mounted upon his blooded horse, he was indeed a knight “without fear and without reproach.” A long experience in the diplomatic service and in refined society had imparted a high degree of grace and polish of manner, which united to fair intellectual attainments and a magnetic smile which greeted all, from the simplest private soldier to the highest officer in his command, won the admiration and boundless affection of all who knew him.
McCook, low in stature, was inclined to be fleshy, a full face innocent of beard, with the exception of a slight mustache, a broad low forehead, regular features easily wrought into a smile, light hair and a well-shaped head gave him a boyish appearance. Closer observation revealed the presence of more character. There was in the steadiness of gaze, the massive jaws, and the respectful demeanor of his subordinate officers, reason to believe that the youthful major-general had fairly won the twin stars that shone upon his shoulder. He had graduated from West Point with the brevet rank of second lieutenant, had served in several campaigns against the Indians, been instructor in infantry tactics at West Point, where the breaking out of the war found him at thirty years of age. Ordered to Columbus, Ohio, as mustering and disbursing officer, he was appointed colonel of the First Ohio Infantry, which he led in the first battle of Bull Run, receiving commendation where so many failed to deserve it. Reward came in the form of a commission as brigadier-general, with orders to report for duty to General Buell. The heroic conduct of his division at Shiloh added another star, and, but for the censure of General Buell for bringing on the battle of Perryville without orders, there was no reason why he should not be entrusted with the command to which his rank entitled him.
Notwithstanding General Rosecrans was a stranger to the army, to the command of which he had been assigned, his name had long been familiar to both officers and men, for war literature had sounded his praises. They had followed him through his campaigns in Western Virginia, had heard the sharp volleys of his musketry on their left at the siege of Corinth, and more recently the country had been electrified by his brilliant victory over Van Dorn. The contrast between Generals Buell and Rosecrans was not more marked in personal appearance than in methods. The former was cold, impassive, and polite; the latter boisterous, warm-hearted, and brusque. The frigid dignity which hedged the person of Buell, enclosing department headquarters as within a wall of ice, behind which silence reigned, and through the guarded portals of which none ventured unbidden, was swept away by General Rosecrans, who transformed its solemn precincts into a busy workhouse, where chiefs of staff departments, surrounded by an army of clerks, wrought at their respective vocations, placing the new commander en rapport with the most minute details of his army. Most of his staff accompanied him from the Army of the Mississippi. They had proved themselves capable and trustworthy, and the general naturally desired the presence of old friends in his military family. But there was at least one officer of the old department staff with whom the entire army parted with sincere regret—Colonel James B. Fry, Buell’s adjutant-general and chief of staff. The kindness of manner, the inexhaustible patience and good humor and never-failing knowledge of military affairs which this officer possessed had gone far to soften the asperities and dispel the chill which hung about department headquarters.
Brigadier-General D. S. Stanley reported for duty as chief of cavalry early in December, and at once assumed command.
General Stanley graduated at West Point in the class of 1852, and was assigned to the Second Dragoons with the rank of second lieutenant. After three years’ service on the plains he was transferred to the First Cavalry as first lieutenant, then under command of Colonel E. V. Sumner. Joe Johnston was lieutenant-colonel, and John Sedgwick and William H. Emory majors. In 1857 he accompanied Colonel Sumner on an expedition against the Cheyenne Indians, in which he was engaged in a sharp fight on Solomon’s Fork of the Kansas River, in which the Indians were defeated. In 1858 he was engaged in the Utah Expedition, and in the same year he crossed the plains to the northern boundary of Texas. In a sharp and decisive battle with the Comanches Lieutenant Stanley displayed such courage and skill in handling his command as to receive the complimentary orders of General Scott. The opening of the rebellion found him stationed at Fort Scott, Arkansas, where, in March, he received his commission as captain in the Fourth Cavalry. His command was included in the surrender made by General Twiggs, but the heart of the brave officer beat loyal to the flag of his country, and he resolved upon a march northward to Kansas City, Mo. Uniting his force with that at Fort Smith, the column moved through the Indian country. A Confederate force sent against them was, on the eighth of May, captured and paroled. On the fifteenth of June they occupied Kansas City, and marched at once upon Independence, where Captain Stanley was fired upon while carrying a flag of truce. He joined General Lyon in his expedition against Springfield, which was occupied July twelfth. He participated in the various engagements in Missouri in the summer of 1861, displaying in an eminent degree the dash and conspicuous courage which so distinguished him in his subsequent career, and in September he reported with his regiment to General Fremont at St. Louis. He marched against Price from Syracuse, and in November moved against Springfield. Captain Stanley was appointed brigadier-general in November, 1861, and in March, 1862, was assigned to the command of the Second division of Pope’s army in
December, 1862, was a busy month. The year was fast drawing to a close, and both Union and Confederate generals had little to report save plots and counter-plots. On the part of each there was little that was encouraging. The early spring had found Middle and West Tennessee in the possession of the former. Two large armies occupied all prominent points, and the beaten Confederates encamped in Mississippi were confronted by an army too powerful for them to attack.
Early autumn witnessed the enforced retirement of Buell’s army to the line of the Ohio River, while the Confederates reaped the harvests in Kentucky and Middle Tennessee.
The tenth of October found Grant embarked upon his march southward to Vicksburg, driving Pemberton before him. Sherman arranging for co-operation by water, the Army of the Cumberland encamped near Nashville, with Bragg’s twice defeated army in its front, and Hindman’s beaten troops flying before the victorious divisions of Herron and Blunt from the battle field of Prairie Grove.
East Tennessee being left comparatively free from molestation by the abandonment of pursuit through Cumberland Gap, General Kirby Smith was at liberty to reinforce points more strongly threatened. He had no sooner succeeded in collecting his stragglers and reorganizing his army, reinforcing it by several new regiments, than, in compliance with orders from the Confederate War Department, he dispatched Stevenson’s division to the relief of Pemberton at Grenada, and McCown, with his division, to report to Bragg at Murfreesboro.
Orders for a forward movement were issued by General Rosecrans on Wednesday, the twenty-fourth of December, and on Christmas morning the camps were alive with preparation. The day was spent in writing to loved ones far away among the snow-covered hills of the great Northwest. Tattoo found men discussing the chances of coming battle. Here and there was a soldier giving the last finishing touch to the gleaming gun-barrel. The surgeon, in his tent, sat before a table on which in glittering display lay the implements of his craft. The long, keen knife, the saw, the probe, were each in turn subjected to close inspection and carefully adjusted in the case. Field officers paid a last visit to their faithful chargers and exhorted grooms to feed early and not to forget to bring along an extra feed lest perchance the following night would find the troops far in advance of the wagons. Quartermasters, that hard-worked and little-appreciated class of officers, toiling through the long night with their loaded wagon trains getting into position for an orderly march; commissaries, upon whose vigilance all depended, carrying out orders for three days’ rations in haversacks and five days’ more in wagons. A busy day was followed by a busy night. The clatter of horses’ hoofs upon the turnpike roads leading out of Nashville to the encampments sounded all through the night. Now a solitary orderly galloped down from division headquarters bearing a message to a brigade commander. Soon a group of officers rode gaily by from a late carousal at the St. Cloud; then came a corps commander with staff and escort from conference with the chief, his last injunction ringing in his ears, “We move tomorrow, gentlemen. We shall begin to skirmish probably as soon as we pass the outposts. Press them hard. Drive them out of their nests. Make them fight or run. Strike hard and fast; give them no rest. Fight them! fight them! fight them! I say,” as the uplifted right hand emphasized each sentence upon the palm of the left hand. Thomas received the orders with a grim smile of approval; McCook’s sharp eyes twinkled with enjoyment; Crittenden straightened his trim figure, and his eyes shone as he stalked out of the room, followed by his aides, as if in haste to begin his part of the programme. There was glorious assurance in the manly stride, the determined look, and in the triple armor with which he is clad who hath his quarrel just; and his must have been a dull ear, indeed, who did not note, in the merry jest and tuneful song that floated along the ranks, the augury of victory.
At the head of their respective columns rode Thomas, accompanied by his staff officers, with the brave and accomplished Major George E. Flynt at their head. There was Von Schroeder, Mack, Mackey, and the rest. McCook, with Langdon, Nodine, Thruston, Campbell, and Williams. Crittenden, followed by Starling, Loder, Mendenhall, Buford, John McCook, Knox, and the writer of this chronicle. Brave hearts beat high that day. On the right, far in advance of the infantry, rode Stanley, with trusty Sinclair by his side, while his cavalry swept on out the Nolensville pike, driving Wheeler’s pickets before them.
Sturdy John Kennett, with a brigade of cavalry at his heels, advanced upon the broad turnpike road straight toward the enemy, nor stopped until nightfall, notwithstanding constant skirmishing, when, on reaching an eminence that overlooked La Vergne, a large force was encountered. The plain below was dotted with groups of cavalry. Suddenly a puff of smoke and a shell well aimed along the line of the road, carried death in its track. Another and another followed in quick succession, clearing the road as fast as men’s legs could carry them. The head of Palmer’s infantry column came up and halted at the side of the road. General Crittenden and his staff rode forward to watch the artillery duel now in progress—for Newell’s battery had unlimbered at the first shot and was firing rapidly. Mr. Robert H. Crittenden (a brother of the general), and the writer, his boon companion, riding side by side, advanced beyond their companions in full view of the artillerists, presenting a conspicuous mark. Quick as lightning a shell came hissing through the air and passed in the narrow space of a yard between their horses. It is needless to add that, their curiosity being gratified, they lost no time in seeking the friendly cover of a log-house by the roadside. Newell planted his shots from two three-inch Rodmans with such dexterity as to silence the enemy’s battery of four guns. Colonel Enyart, with the First Kentucky and the Thirty-first Indiana Infantry, supported on the right by Colonel W. C. Whitaker with the Sixth Kentucky and the Thirty-first Indiana Infantry, supported on the right by Colonel W. C. Whitaker with the Sixth Kentucky and Ninth Indiana, preceded by Colonel Murray with the Third Kentucky Cavalry, now moved to the left and advanced through the cedars towards Stony Creek, where they were met by a force sent to intercept them. The order to charge with the bayonet was followed by a swift rush across the creek, the routed Confederates flying before the gleaming steel, and the army bivouacked for the night before La Vergne.
After five days’ fighting into position the army formed line of battle in front of Murfreesboro. Summoning his
General Braxton Bragg, a graduate of West Point, a master in military science, a commander whose endurance and hard fighting qualities in the field were more conspicuous than his generalship in the management of campaign, was in command of the Confederate army at Murfreesboro. He had taken up the execution of the plan of battle where it had dropped from the dying hand of Albert Sydney Johnston, and was advancing to carry it out at Shiloh, when his brigades were recalled by Beauregard, sick in an ambulance three miles in the rear. He had, by a brilliant flank movement of three hundred miles through a mountainous region, gained Buell’s rear in Kentucky, only to emerge from the farthest corner of the State without a decisive battle. Recriminations had grown out of this campaign which threatened to sap the influence of the commanding general. General Polk had been threatened with court-martial, and Hardee expressed the opinion that if Bragg persisted in bringing charges, Polk could, if he would, “rip up the Kentucky campaign—tear Bragg to tatters.” These compliments, however, passed only between prominent officers; the army was in good state of discipline, although out of an aggregate 85,372 only 47,930 were carried on the rolls as effectives, and 30,000 were absent, with and without leave.
Bragg had in his army about the same proportion of raw troops to veterans as were found in that in his front, and both armies were equally well armed. Men who had tested each other’s metal at Pea Ridge, Shiloh, and Perryville, and in innumerable skirmishes, were again arrayed for a final conflict. Here was Bragg, sullen, hard-featured, unapproachable; Polk, benignant, dignified, majestic; Hardee, the superb rider, the strict disciplinarian, the steady, persistent fighter; Breckinridge, elegant in manner, eloquent in speech, courteous, courageous, the idol of the Kentucky brigade, and, like the men who composed it, dimly conscious possibly of the crime against his favorite dogma of States rights, and the ingratitude of a people whose cause they had espoused against the expressed will of their native State.
Among the division commanders were Cheatham, whose headlong charges at Shiloh and Perryville thousands of maimed soldiers both North and South had cause to remember; Cleburne, stubborn and stout of heart, blunt, impassive and heavy, who was destined two years later to pour out his life’s blood upon the breastworks at Franklin; McCown and Withers of lesser note, and a host of brigade and regimental commanders who had won their rank under the eyes of their grim commander.
General Rosecrans, having arranged his plan of battle, had risen early to superintend its execution. General Crittenden, whose headquarters were a few paces distant, mounted at 6 A. M., and with his staff rode to an eminence, where the chief, surrounded by his staff officers, sat on their horses listening to the opening guns on the right. The plan of General Bragg was instantly divined, but no apprehension of danger was felt. Suddenly the woods on the right in the rear of Negley, appeared to be alive with men wandering aimlessly in the direction of the rear. The roar of artillery grows more distinct, mingled with continuous volleys of musketry. It can not be that the veteran brigades of the Right Wing are being driven back. McCook is surely only falling back to secure a position that he can hold for the promised three hours. The rear of a line of battle always presents the pitiable spectacle of a horde of skulkers—men who, when tried in the fierce flame of battle, find, often to their own disgust, that they are lacking in the element of courage. But the sight of whole regiments of soldiers flying in panic to the rear was a sight never seen but on that solitary occasion, before or since, by the Army of the Cumberland. Captain Otis, from his position on the extreme right, who arrives breathless, his horse reeking with foam, to inform General Rosecrans that the Right Wing is in rapid retreat. The astounding intelligence is confirmed a moment later by a staff officer from General McCook, calling for reinforcements. “Tell General McCook,” roared the chief, “to contest every inch of ground. If he holds them, we will swing into Murfreesboro and cut them off.” Then Rousseau, with his reserves, was sent into the fight, and Van Cleve, at the head of Crittenden’s old Shiloh division, came dashing across the fields, with water dripping from their clothing, to take a hand in the fray. Harker’s brigade was withdrawn from the left and sent in on Rousseau’s right, and the Pioneer brigade, relieved at the ford by Price’s brigade, was posted on Harker’s right. The remaining brigades of Van Cleve’s division, Beatty’s and Fyffe’s, formed on the extreme right, and thus an improvised line half a mile in extent, presented a new and unexpected front to the approaching enemy. It was a trying position to Van Cleve’s men to stand in line, a living wall, while the panic-stricken soldiers of McCook’s beaten regiments, flying in terror through the woods, rushed past them, the sharp rattle of McCown’s musketry behind them lending wings to their flight. The Union lines could not fire, for their comrades were between them and the enemy. Rosecrans seemed ubiquitous. All these dispositions had been made under his personal direction. Finding Sheridan coming out of the cedars into which Rousseau had just retired, he directed him to the ammunition train, with orders to fill his cartridge boxes and return to the support of Hazen’s brigade on the edge of the Round Forrest. Captain Morton, with the Pioneers and the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, pushed into the cedars, and disappeared from view simultaneously with Harker. The general course of the tide of stragglers toward the rear struck the turnpike at the point where Van Cleve stood impatiently awaiting the order to advance. All along the line men were falling, struck by the bullets of the enemy, who soon appeared at the edge of the woods on Morton’s flank. The
While Colonel Hazen was gallantly defending the left of the line from nine o’clock in the morning until two in the afternoon, the fight raged no less furiously on his immediate right. Here a line composed of two brigades of Palmer’s division and one of Wood’s, filled out by the remains of Sheridan’s divisions, who, after they had replenished their ammunition, formed behind the railroad embankment at right angles with Hazen’s brigade, which alone retained its position upon the original line. Farther to the right was Rousseau, with Van Cleve and Harker on his right. I leave to more graphic pens to describe the grand pyrotechnics of the battle field at this supreme moment when victory hung evenly balanced. Past the crowd of fugitives from the Right Wing the undaunted soldiers of the Left and Center had swept “with the light of battle in their faces,” and now in strong array they stood like a rock-bound coast beating back the tide which threatened to engulf the rear. Along this line rode Rosecrans with face illuminated by the light of exalted courage; Thomas, calm, inflexible as a mighty judge, from whose gaze skulkers shrank abashed; Crittenden, cheerful and full of hope, complimenting his men as he rode along the lines; Rousseau, whose fiery impetuosity no disaster could quell; Palmer, with a stock of cool courage and presence of mind equal to any emergency; Wood, suffering from a wound in his heel, stayed in the saddle, but had lost the jocularity which usually characterized him. “Good-bye, General, ‘we will all meet at the hatter’s’ as one coon said to another when the dogs were after them,” he said to Crittenden early in the action, but at ten o’clock a minie ball struck his boot and lacerated his heel—his good humor was gone for the day. “Are we going about it right now, General?” asked Morton, as he glanced along the blazing line of muskets to where the Chicago battery quivered with the rapidity of its discharges. “All right, fire low,” said the chief as he dashed by. Colonel Grose, always in his place, had command of the Ammen brigade, the “glorious Tenth” of Shiloh memory, with which, and, with Hazen’s and Cruft’s brigades, the gallant and lamented Nelson had swept, like an avenging Nemesis, upon the right of Beauregard’s victorious army, driving it back to its base at Corinth.
After the formation of this line at noon it never receded; as has been stated, the right swung around until, at two o’clock, about one-half of the lost ground had been retaken. The artillery, more than fifty guns, was massed in the open ground behind the angle in the line; twenty-eight guns had been captured, when they poured a continuous torrent of iron missiles upon the Confederate line. They could not fire amiss. The fire from Cox’s Battery was directed upon Hanson’s brigade across the river, where Cobb, with Napoleons, returned the compliment with zeal and precision. Schaefer’s brigade having received a new stock of cartridges, formed on Palmer’s right, where later the brave commander received his death wound, the last of Sheridan’s brigade commanders who had fallen during the day.
At four o’clock it became evident to the Confederate commander that his only hope of success lay in a charge upon the Union left, which, by its overpowering weight, should carry everything before it. The movement of Cleburne to the left in support of McCown had deprived him of reserves; but Breckinridge had four brigades unemployed on the right, and these were peremptorily ordered across the river to the support of General Polk. The error made by General Polk in making an attack with the two brigades that first arrived upon the field, instead of awaiting the arrival of General Breckinridge with the remaining brigades, was so palpable as to render an excuse for failure necessary. This was easily found in the tardy execution of Bragg’s order by Breckinridge, and resulted in sharp criticism of the latter. The Third Kentucky, now nearly annihilated, and its Colonel, Sam McKee, killed, was relieved by
The first day’s fight was over.