The line as thus formed was at right angles with the river, upon which its right flank rested, and nearly parallel to Breckinridge’s original line. Below the right of the line the river suddenly changes direction, flowing about a half a mile in rear and nearly parallel with the line. The gently sloping ground was woodland on the right and open field on the left.
To strengthen the left flank, Colonel Grose’s Brigade of Palmer’s division, reduced by hard fighting on the 31st to 1,000 effectives, was ordered by General Crittenden to cross the river on the morning of the 2d of January. These dispositions were barely completed and temporary breastworks constructed when, at four o’clock, a magnificent sight presented itself. General Bragg confidently expected to find the Union Army gone from his front on the morning of the 2d of January. His cavalry had reported the Nashville pike full of troops and wagons moving toward Nashville. On the return of the cavalry expedition he sent Wharton to assume command of the cavalry on the Lebanon road, consisting of his own and Pegram’s Brigade, while Wheeler, with his brigade, returned to the vicinity of the Nashville pike to observe the movements of the Union Army in that direction. Before Wharton had taken his position, the force east of Stones River had attracted Bragg’s attention, and reconnaissances by staff officers revealed the line of battle formed by Beatty’s division and Grose’s Brigade. From the position occupied by this force, Polk’s line, which, it will be remembered, had advanced as far as the position vacated by Rosecrans’ left on the night of the 31st, was enfiladed. Bragg says: “The dislodgement of this force, or the withdrawal of Polk’s line, was an evident necessity. The latter involved consequences not to be entertained. Orders were accordingly given for the concentration of the whole of General Breckinridge’s division in front of the position to be taken, the addition to his command of ten Napoleon guns (12-pounders), under Captain Robertson, an able and accomplished artillery officer, and for the cavalry forces of Wharton and Pegram to join in the attack on his right.” General Breckinridge was sent for and the object of the movement explained to him. He was ordered to drive the Union line back, crown the hill, entrench the artillery, and hold the position. General Breckinridge was opposed to the attack as ordered by General Bragg, and tried to dissuade him from it, predicting disaster, as the ground occupied by the main portion of the Union troops on the bluff on the opposite bank of the river was considerably higher than that over which the attacking force must march, and it was possible for Rosecrans to mass artillery and sweep the whole field. In urging his opinions he drew, with a stick, on the ground the position of the contending forces. Considerable time was occupied in the discussion, but Bragg remained firm, and finally ended the discussion by an imperative command to move at once to the attack. As General Breckinridge rode forward to his command he met General Preston, commanding his Third Brigade, and said: “This attack is made against my judgment and by the special orders of General Bragg. Of course we must all do our duty and fight the best we can. If it should result in disaster, and I be among the slain, I want you to do justice to my memory, and tell the people that I believed this movement to be very unwise, and that I tried to prevent it.”
To distract the attention from the real point of attack a heavy artillery fire was ordered to be opened from Polk’s front at the exact hour at which the movement was to begin. At other points along both lines all was quiet, and at half-past three General Breckinridge reported that he would advance at four o’clock. The effective strength of Breckinridge’s division on the morning of the 31st was 7,053. Adding two batteries and deducting 730 men disabled in the three brigades of Palmer, Preston, and Adams, in the assault of the 31st in front of the Round Forrest, left 6,576 infantry and artillery, 3,000 cavalry, and seven batteries of artillery with which to make the attack. Hanson’s fine brigade of Kentuckians, who had signalized their valor at Shiloh and Baton Rouge, 1,000 strong, had up to this time been disengaged.
The movement of Breckinridge’s command was observed by General Crittenden from the bluff on the opposite bank of Stones River, above the lower ford, from the moment that the advance commenced. To reach Beatty’s line it was necessary to cross an open space six or seven hundred yards in width, with a gentle ascent, in full view from the opposite shore, as well as from the front line of Beatty’s division. In the assault that followed a brief cannonade, Hanson’s left was thrown forward close to the river bank, with guns loaded and bayonets fixed, under orders to fire once, then charge with the bayonet. This charge of General Breckinridge will live in the memories of those who witnessed it, coupled in precision of formation, in rapidity of movement, and in grandeur of execution, if not in results, with the charge of the armies of the Cumberland and Tennessee at Mission Ridge, the storming of Lookout Mountain by Geary’s division of Hooker’s Corps, and the no less thrilling spectacle in front of Kenesaw, when the brave and lamented Harker and McCook, with 2,000 men, were launched against a fortified position, bristling with artillery, between the two contending armies. On the right of Price’s Brigade the Eighth Kentucky, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel May, received the first attack, made by Colonel Lewis’ Sixth Kentucky, Confederate, followed in quick succession by a charge from Hanson’s and Pillow’s Brigades; then in successive strokes from right to left the blows fell all along Beatty’s line. Overborne by the numerical strength of the Confederate brigades, the gallant men of this veteran division, 2,500 strong fighting bravely, were hammered back by overwhelming force. For full ten minutes they stood in line, pouring a galling fire upon the oncoming line, which, leaving its course marked by the writhing forms of its fallen braves, pressed forward, overlapping the right, where they were met by Lieutenant-Colonel Evans with the reserves of the Twenty-first Kentucky, and by Colonel Swayne, with the Ninety-ninth Ohio. These regiments, changing front to the right, held their ground firmly and administered volley after volley upon the skirmishers of the Confederate Sixth Kentucky, who pushed forward toward the ford. The front line falling back, followed rapidly by the entire Confederate line, loading as they retired, and turning to fire upon their assailants, became intermingled with the reserves, when, in a confused mass, assailants and assailed, fighting hand to hand, moved in a resistless volume toward the river. The reserve regiments, the Ninth Kentucky, Lieutenant-Colonel Cram; Nineteenth Ohio, Lieutenant-Colonel Manderson, and the Eleventh Kentucky, Major Mottley, undaunted by the disaster upon the right, advanced through a thick undergrowth of wild briars, and came suddenly upon Adam’s and Preston’s Brigades, which, driving Fyffe’s Brigade and the Seventy-ninth Indiana before them, were moving with rapid strides toward Grose’s position on the extreme left. Meanwhile the brigades of Hanson and Pillow had gained positions to their right and the movement toward the ford threatened to cut these regiments still remaining on the left off from retreat. At Colonel Manderson’s suggestion, Colonel Grider now ordered his brigade to fall back to the river. Colonel Grider, bearing his regimental flag in his hand, rallied his brigade three times in succession while retiring, and checked the advance of the Confederate line by volleys of musketry. The pursuit of Beatty’s three brigades led the Confederate columns to the right of Grose, and as soon as it could be done with safety Livingston opened upon the advance with his artillery, but in obedience to an order from General Rosecrans crossed the river and reopened from the opposite shore.
The space between the river bank and the ridge occupied by Grose’s Brigade was now a scene of the wildest disorder. Instances of the most exalted courage were displayed. It was here that Corporal Hochersmith, color guard of the Twenty-first Kentucky, and Sergeant Gunn, of the same regiment, won the gold medals voted them by the legislature of their native State. When confronted by a squad of Lewis’ skirmishers, who demanded his flag, the brave corporal said: “You can take me but not my colors,” and threw the flag over their heads into the river, where it was seized by Sergeant Gunn and borne in safety through a shower of balls to the opposite shore, where the regiment immediately rallied around it.
It may well be understood that General Crittenden, under whose observation his old division had been driven from its position back across the river, was by no means an uninterested spectator of the scene. It had all passed so rapidly as to afford no time to reinforce the line when first assaulted, and when it had commenced falling back the west side of the river was evidently the best position to reform and reinforce it. His men had no sooner gained the low ground near the river than, turning to his chief of artillery, he said: “Now, Mendenhall, you must cover my men with your cannon.” Never was a more tremendous response to so simple a request. In his report, Captain Mendenhall says: “Captain Swallow had already opened with his battery. I ordered Lieutenant Parsons to move a little forward and open with his guns, then rode back to bring up Lieutenant Estepp with his Eighth Indiana Battery. Meeting Captain Morton, with his brigade of Pioneers, he asked for advice, and I told him to move briskly forward with his brigade and send his battery to the crest of the hill near the batteries already engaged. The Eighth Indiana Battery took position on the right of Lieutenant Parsons. Seeing that Lieutenant Osborne was in position between Parsons and Estepp, I rode to Lieutenant Stevens, Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Battery, and ordered him to change front to the left and open fire; then to Captain Standart, and directed him to move to the left with his guns, and he took position covering the ford. I found that Captain Bradley had anticipated my wishes, and had changed front to fire to the left, and opened upon the enemy. This battery was near the railroad. Lieutenant Livingston crossed the river and opened fire again. During this terrible encounter, of little more than an hour in duration, forty-three pieces belonging to the left wing; the ‘Board of Trade’ Battery, and nine guns from General Negley’s division—fifty-eight pieces of artillery—played upon the enemy.” The effect of the storm of iron that swept the front of these batteries is indescribable. It tore through the mass of men as they swarmed down the slope, mowing down scores at each discharge. Not less than one hundred shots per minute were fired with unerring aim. Branches of trees, lopped off by cannon balls, pinioned men to the earth. For a few minutes they held their ground; then a wild terror seized upon them and bore them away. General Hanson fell among the first. His brigade lost over 400 in killed and wounded; the loss in the division was 1,400. There was no thought now of attacking Grose; there was but one thought paramount in the hearts of all, and that was to get to a place of safety. They no sooner turned than Beatty’s men were upon them, pouring in volley after volley upon the retreating enemy. Hazen’s Brigade crossed further down the stream; Jeff C. Davis on his left, Miller and Morton at the ford, and moving rapidly forward the line swept up the slope. The artillery fire ceased, and the minnie rifles, taking up the refrain continued it until darkness closed the scene. Three guns of Wright’s Battery, abandoned by Breckinridge, to whose division it belonged, stood upon the crest of the hill. The horses, killed by the tempest of iron that had fallen here, lay heaped together; the gunners, mangled by exploded shells, dotted the ground around the battery. As the Union line pressed forward on each side a boy clad in Confederate gray (Private Wright), mounted upon one of the guns, stood guard over the wreck. Swinging a hatchet above his head he shouted: “The first Yankee that touches one of these guns dies.” Saluting him with a rousing cheer the line pressed on, leaving this second Cassabianca master of the situation.
Although the Confederate forces, yielding to the irresistible logic of Mendenhall’s guns, had considered not so much upon the order of going as upon its rapidity, until beyond the range of the artillery, many of them rallied behind Robinson’s Battery and Anderson’s Brigade in the narrow skirt of timber, from which they emerged to the assault. The Union line advanced and took position upon the ground from which Beatty had been driven an hour before. The picket lines of both armies occupied opposite sides of the open field, over which Breckinridge had advanced, and darkness covered the battle-field. During the night General Cleburne moved his division over to its original position on the right, in support of Breckinridge, and General Hardee resumed command of that portion of the line.
Apprehending the possible success of a flank attack upon his left, Bragg had caused all the tents and baggage to be loaded on wagons and sent to the rear. On Saturday morning, the 3d of January, the soldiers of both armies had been in battle for four days and nights; their provisions, if cooked at all, were scanty and unfit to eat; their clothing soaked with rain and stiff with mud, with no fires to dry them and to warm their chilled bodies, they had responded with a will to every command. With death beckoning them to his clammy embrace they had advanced with unfaltering tread, leaving their trail marked by the dead forms of their comrades. Even now there was no word of complaint. It rested with the generals in command of the contending armies whether another holocaust of lives should be offered before either would acknowledge himself vanquished. No thought of retreat had at any time entered the minds of Rosecrans, Thomas, or Crittenden. With one exception, neither of the division commanders in the center or on the left wings had favored it. McCook, after his bloody repulse on the 31st, had advised falling back upon Nashville upon purely military grounds, but had readily acquiesced in the decision of the commanding general to “fight or die right here.” The fugitives in his command who had not pursued their shameless way to Nashville had rallied to their standards and were anxious to restore their tarnished laurels. The losses during the three days of battle were nearly evenly divided. General Bragg acknowledged a loss of 9,000 in killed and wounded, 25 per cent of his army of 38,250, while General Rosecrans’ report shows a loss of 8,778, over 20 per cent of killed and wounded of his force of 43,400. It is impossible to do full justice to the heroic constancy of the soldiers of the Union, whose valor wrung victory from defeat on the morning of the 31st of December, and who all through that terrible day bared their breasts to the storm of battle. To the living the great wealth of a Nation’s gratitude is due, but to those to whom death came in the cause of National unity, his
“Voice sounds like a prophet’s word
And in its solemn tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be.”
It came like a pæan of victory to the ears of the long suffering President and to the sorely taxed patience of the loyal people of the United States. It fell with the dull thud of a mortal wound upon the hearts of the Southern people. Gone and forever dispelled were the fond delusions that one Confederate was equal to three Yankees. Henceforth it was known by each that victory would perch upon the banner of the strongest force, and that the god of battle was on the side of the heaviest artillery. As the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church, so was that spilled at Stones River the inspiration by which the magnificent Army of the Cumberland bore its banners through two years more of carnage to final victory. They renewed their vows of fidelity to the flag of their country upon the field of Chickamauga and upon the bloody slope of Mission Ridge, and through a hundred days of battle to Atlanta, at Franklin, and Nashville. Marching through Georgia with Sherman to the sea, the devoted soldiery followed their leaders with unfaltering courage, billowing every battle-field with the graves of their fallen comrades.