McFadden's Ford

After the first day of battle the two armies basically stared at each other on the second day. It was more complicated than that, there was some moving of troops and a little bit of fighting but very few casualties. It seems Bragg was hoping Rosecrans would retreat and Rosecrans thought his situation was too tight to retreat, plus he had fresh supplies and troops on the way (but couldn't be 100% sure that they would arrive as Wheeler was out there somewhere).

In any respect things were set for a third day of battle. During the day Captain John Mendenhall amassed plenty of cannon on the high ground near McFadden's Ford. This area had been where the Union had started their planned attack two days earlier and as events transpired during the day it is where the Confederates would attack as well.

Various sources put the number of cannon in the upper 50s. In fact the artillery monument lists 58 guns and the park plaque lists 57. I think 57 is right but either way it was a lot of cannon. When the Confederates made their attack on the other side of the river things went well at first. They pushed the Union back and had them on the run, but once they crested the ridgeline and were looking at 57 cannon things changed quickly. Some Confederates made it to the creek, probably more out of momentum than anything else. And there they met a horrible artillery barrage. The attack failed and the battle was over.

Mendenhall interests me because at Chickamauga he tries to do this exact same thing but doesn't have enough time to form the line before Longstreet's column is upon him. To me that is a big what if of Chickamauga, what if Mendenhall could have formed that line, what if he gets 57 guns again, maybe that ends Longstreet's attack. But that didn't happen. I don't think Mendenhall has ever received a biography, I'd love to read one if it exists.

Some guns near the artillery monument. I was told that the monument was made a large obelisk so that railroad passengers could see it without leaving the cars. An odd way of getting a tour but for someone on the move I guess its better than nothing.

The view from the line of cannon down to the river.
Looking back up the hill.

McFadden's Ford, or at least roughly near it.

Stones River National Cemetery

The national cemetery sits on historically important ground. This spot was a good artillery position just north of the Nashville Pike. It served as a rallying point for troops as they were pushed out of the cedar glades. They had to defend the Nashville Pike to keep their supply line open and infantry and artillery in this position did that job well.

During my Shiloh research I came across Alfred E. Mathews (who I've had in posts before). He essentially served as an army illustrator. He did his stuff freelance for his own profit, mainly in the lithograph business with some work appearing in newspapers. From what I call tell he also did some sketches and maps for Grant at Vicksburg. One of his Stones River prints was of the Union defense of this position and it is interesting to see that print produced on a park tablet near the area he sketched it.
In the national cemetery is one of the few monuments at Stones River, and one of the nicest monuments at any park. It is for the Regular units at Stones River. They were part of the force that fought in this area so this was a good place to put their monument, besides it being a nice location because of the cemetery.

And I thought I'd include some other views of the cemetery. I know I'm weird but I like walking around old cemeteries.

Hazen's Monument

Following the battle of Stones River Hazen's men, along with the rest of the Army of the Cumberland, stayed in the Murfreesboro area. Hazen's men wanted to commemorate their part of the battle so in the early part of 1863 they built this monument. This marks it as one of the earliest monuments at a Civil War battlefield, and I'm nearly 100% sure that it is the earliest monument in the Western theater. Inside a stone wall they buried their comrades, and inscribed their names on the monument. Time has made the inscriptions hard to read but the park service has placed tablets around the monument so you know what each side has inscribed on it.

Round Forest

The Round Forest was the hinge of the Union position. Some writers have described the Union line as a jack knife and that the Confederate attacks closed the knife with the Round Forest as the hinge. A bit of an odd way to describe it but it also is an accurate way. The Round Forest is the only position the Union was not driven from on that first day.

This location is outside of the park but the Tennessee State Historical Society has placed two nice markers explaining how Donelson's and Chalmer's Brigades attacked the Round Forest from this area. Basically it was a lot of wasted effort. The Confederates never combined their attacks in this area so each brigade attacked alone and was driven back. The nearby river somewhat constrained the area but better coordination could have been achieved.

And this is the view from the Union positions in the Round Forest.

Hazen's Brigade was the primary force holding the Round Forest, also called Hell's Half Acre. One big part of his defense was artillery, and the next several pictures show some of his artillery positions.

The gun on the left of this picture is the gun from the above picture. On the right of the picture you can barely see the outline of another cannon which faces at a 90 degree angle from the other gun. This cannon would have fired on Confederates as they pushed Sheridan's men out of the cedar glades.

And a better view of what that cannon would have been firing at. The Cowan House ruins mentioned in the state historical markers would have been in this field, I think it would have actually been out of the frame on the left but it is this area. This position would have worked well with Parson's Battery mentioned in an earlier post. The two would have been able to fire on two sides of an attacking force, so if this one had been attacked directly Parson would have provided flanking fire, and vice versa.

Army Headquarters

There are very few monuments at Stones River, but each army's headquarters is marked. William Rosecrans' monument is outside the main park boundary along the Nashville Pike. It is a small spot with a few parking places.

Braxton Bragg actually had two headquarters. His first was located in Murfreesboro, his second is just west of Stones River. Once again it is a small spot to see, but from there you can walk down to the river and get a nice view. Here is looks like a very slow moving river, it seems that every time I visit the park the river seems slower here than it does at McFadden's Ford. I'm not sure if that's just perception but that is what I tend to observe. You can tell here that the banks are not too great for fording wagons, but infantry could ford here. The river is muddy in this picture but I've seen it on clear days and it does not appear to be too deep here.

Portable Lincoln edited by Andrew Delbanco

The Portable Lincoln edited by Andrew Delbanco.


I got this Penguin book the other day and quickly went through it since I just posted another Lincoln book review two days ago. This book is a compilation of Lincoln's speeches and letters. Obviously there is a fair amount of official papers, things like inaugural speeches, the Gettysburg Address, both versions of the Emancipation Proclamation. Plus there are some writings from his Lincoln-Douglas Debate days and his growth in the Republican Party. I also own a two volume collection of Lincoln writings from the Library of America edited by Don Fehrenbacher. I grabbed those volumes and compared theme to this new book to see if it had anything that had not been selected for those volumes.

Surprisingly there were two items that were not in those volumes. The first was a letter to Welles in which Lincoln says that Lieutenant Worden has informed him that the Confederates could easily board and capture the Monitor by wedging the turret and pouring water into the machinery. Lincoln says that Worden thinks they should not go "sky-larking" up to Norfolk. Its somewhat interesting but not that important.

The other letter is a memorandum on furloughs from November 1862. I thought it was interesting enough that I'd provide the entire text here.

"The Army is constantly depleted by company officers who give their men leave of absence in the very face of the enemy, and on the eve of an engagement, which is almost as bad as desertion. At this very moment there are between seventy and one hundred thousand men absent on furlough from the Army of the Potomac. The army, like the nation, has become demoralized by the idea that the war is to be ended, the nation united, and peace restored, by strategy, and not by hard desperate fighting. Why, then, should not the soldiers have furloughs?"

I think he is exaggerating the number of men on furlough but his point is more about the fact that there are too many furloughs. He knows this war is going to be won by desperate fighting and he wants as many men in the ranks as possible. It has to gall him to think that battles are being lost, and generals complaining that they need more men, when there are men on furlough that might swing the tide of battle. An extra 35,000 men in any battle would probably tip the scales for the Army of the Potomac.

I thought the selections were well done. I would have liked some notes giving some background for some of the writings but that was not provided. I found myself going over some of Lincoln's speeches and writings that I had not read in awhile. Recent events prompted me to read his inaugural addresses again. Reading Lincoln always reminds me of what a talented writer he was. He seems to have been able to make the mundane interesting to read.

If I did not already own the two volume set I would definitely add this book to my library. Since I have the larger set I will donate this book to my roundtable's monthly raffle. It is a good book worthy of inclusion in any library, as long as you do not already own one of the larger collections of Lincoln's writings.

Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Thomas Keneally

Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Thomas Keneally


I thought this was a very good read. It is a very basic biography of Lincoln, hits the main points. Not an incredible amount of detail but that is not the goal of the book. I'm sorry that this will not be a lengthy review but in some respects it does not need to be. This is a short biography of Lincoln that will not bog you down with too many details, yet it also does give you a good portrait of the man. This past year I've been sent quite a few books on Lincoln, most of them for a general audience, not the audience who wants to know what Lincoln ate after he gave the Gettysburg address or what songs he whistled while he walked to the telegraph office at the War Department. And this book is one of the better ones. I would have no problem recommending this book to someone who wanted to learn a bit more about Lincoln, and then they could decide if they wanted to dig into one of the many behemoth biographies.


Keneally is probably best known for Schindler's List. He's also ventured into the Civil War before with the novel Confederates. I thought that book was okay, its been awhile since I read it so I cannot give a real review of it.

Chicago Board of Trade Battery

The Chicago Board of Trade Battery took up a good position near the high ground near the Nashville Pike (and a stones throw from the visitor's center). From here they helped hold the line against the final Confederate attacks. If they had penetrated to the pike here they would have trapped large portions of the Union army, they would have had to fight for their survival or surrender. Either case, but especially surrender, would have been a huge boast to Confederate fortunes in the war. Holding that supply line was vitally important to the Union, and batteries like the Chicago Board of Trade Battery posted here helped secure that supply line.

Views from the visitor's center

Here are a few views from the visitor's center. The first looks down the Nashville Pike as well as we can from this point. The Round Forest is approximately a bit to the left of the top of the left wheel in the first picture. The other small trees between the cannon and the far tree line obscure our view.

In this next picture we look back towards the big open field (cotton field) from yesterday's post. When I was there the park ranger said that the dead tree that can be seen on the right side of the picture is about as far as the Confederates got in the field.

And then turning to our left you can see how close the national cemetery is to the visitor's center, it is just across the road.

This is the third visitor's center I've been in at Stones River. I was in one in the mid 90's, nothing special. A bit small but certainly not the worst. So small though that the lobby acted as information desk and book store. I don't think they were ever so busy though that this was a problem. Another time I happened to be there while the newest visitor's center was being built so they used a trailer as a temporary visitor's center. And finally I have been in the new visitor's center. It won't remind you of Gettysburg new visitor's center but it is a nice one. It has more exhibit space and more bookstore space. I think it has more office space too but I never was in the old offices (and probably won't be in the new ones either) so that doesn't matter much to me. Adding exhibit space and bookstore space should be the goal of any new visitor's center. Plus every time I've been to Stones River the staff has been extremely helpful. One time I asked a question about a battery and the ranger didn't know so he got me the whole file and let me look through it. That was pretty fun.