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 the expedition against New Madrid and Island No. 10, the Fort Pillow Expedition, and in the siege of Corinth. Here his acquaintance with General Rosecrans began, ripening into sincere attachment under the fire of Price’s guns at Iuka, and the yet fiercer blaze of Van Dorn’s hard-fighting battalions at Corinth in October. His conspicuous gallantry on this occasion added a second star to the insignia of his rank and caused him to be selected by his old commander in arms to organize and lead the cavalry of his new command. In person General Stanley was tall and erect. A handsome face and long, flowing beard, slightly silvered, engaging in manner and full of enthusiasm for the success of the cause in which he held his own life as nothing in comparison, he soon impressed his personality upon the cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland and made it a reliable branch of the service.
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 corps commanders the General promulgated his plan of battle. General McCook was to occupy the most advantageous position, refusing his right as much as practicable and necessary to secure it, to receive the attack of the enemy, or, if that did not come, to attack sufficiently to hold all the forces in his front. Generals Negley and Palmer to open with skirmishing, and engage the enemy’s center and left as far as the river. Crittenden to cross Van Cleve’s division at the lower ford, covered and supported by Morgan’s pioneer corps, 1,700 strong, and to advance on Breckinridge. Wood’s division to cross by brigades at the upper ford, and moving on Van Cleve’s right, to carry everything before them to Murfreesboro. This movement would, it was supposed, dislodge Breckinridge, and gaining the high ground east of Stones River, Wood’s batteries could obtain an enfilading fire upon the heavy body of troops massed in front of Negley and Palmer. The center and left, using Negley’s right as a pivote, were to swing around through Murfreesboro and take the force confronting McCook in rear, driving it into the country towards Salem. The successful execution of General Rosecrans’ design depended not more upon the spirit and gallantry of the assaulting column than upon the courage and obstinacy with which the position held by the Right Wing was maintained. Having explained this fact to General McCook, the commanding general asked him if, with a full knowledge of the ground over which he had fought, he could hold his position three hours—again alluding to his dissatisfaction with the direction which his line had assumed, but, as before, leaving that to the corps commander—“I think I can,” said McCook, and the conference ended.
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.