160 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



the others, many of which had no horses near 

 at hand, and the desultory fire of the incom- 

 plete line did not cause the Confederate line to 

 waver, much less repulse it. One brigade of 

 Gen. Johnson's was broken and fled to the 

 rear, leaving the artillery they should have 

 supported, and the men were shot down at 

 the guns. The rest of the division fell back, 

 and with them a few of the guns. The line of 

 Gen. Davis's division, which was attacked at the 

 same time, was also imperfectly formed. In 

 vain it attempted to hold its position. Like 

 that of Gen. Johnson, it was crushed and bro- 

 ken, and three entire batteries lost. The di- 

 vision of Gen. Sheridan, when first assailed, 

 withstood the shock, and forced back the Con- 

 federate line; but when the division of Gen. 

 Davis was driven back it stoutly resisted, and 

 endeavored to hold the position until the 

 others could be rallied in the rear, and ad- 

 vanced to its support. The effort, however, 

 was unsuccessful, and like the others, his divi- 

 sion retreated. The divisions of Gens. Johnson 

 and Davis had in the mean time formed in the 

 rear, and endeavored to stay the Confederate 

 progress. They were unsuccessful, but main- 

 tained their line and fell back in good order, 

 and again formed at the first good position. 

 In like manner Gen. Sheridan proceeded. No 

 guns were captured after the first assault, and 

 the mass of prisoners was taken during, this 

 retreat. The object of Gen. Bragg was to turn 

 the right flank, but this failed. Gen. Rosecrans, 

 on the other hand, prepared to stop the prog- 

 ress of the Confederates on his right, without ex- 

 posing his centre and left to immediate danger. 

 His left wing could not be advanced to Mur- 

 freesborough, because his right was gone. He, 

 therefore, massed his artillery upon his centre, 

 at the probable point of assault. These move- 

 ments were concealed by forests, and were im- 

 perceived by the enemy. Gen. Negley now 

 ordered forward the advance of the centre, con- 

 sisting of two small brigades to protect the re- 

 treating forces of Gen. McCook. These were 

 supported by the division of Gen. Rousseau, and 

 served to check the Confederate force in its 

 pursuit of the right wing. As the enemy ap- 

 proached these brigades, they retired slowly. 

 The former, unsuspecting it to be a decoy, 

 rushed forward, and were received with such 

 a cross-fire of double shotted canister from 

 two batteries and a volley from a brigade, as 

 caused their line to waver for a moment. It 

 dashed forward again. In the mean time Gen. 

 Rousseau had come up on the right of Gen. 

 Negley, and his regular troops on his left ad- 

 vanced at the moment when the right of the 

 Confederate left wing dashed forward. The 

 combined fire of Gen. Negley's force and of the 

 regular troops drove the Confederate main 

 force back with terrible loss, and a large num- 

 ber of Confederate prisoners were taken. The 

 struggle was maintained a few moments, when 

 the Federal force under orders fell back, and 

 the Confederate line, flushed with success, and 



consisting of their centre and right of left wing, 

 rushed in overwhelming mass upon the batter- 

 ies which had been so placed as to rake them 

 in almost every direction. A horrible slaughter 

 ensued. The Confederate line wavered, fell 

 back, and attempted to rally. On another 

 discharge, they fled from the fire which they 

 could not face. Meanwhile Gen. McCook had 

 got into line on the right of Gen. Rousseau, and 

 received reinforcements of artillery, and was 

 ready for another attack. The Confederate 

 force had now fallen back, and a suspension of 

 fire took place along the entire line. It was 

 midday. The Federal line had been driven 

 back between two and three miles, thirty pieces 

 of artillery had been lost, and the dead and 

 wounded with many prisoners were in Confed- 

 erate hands. The spirit of the troops was still 

 resolute. 



These movements had somewhat changed 

 the position of the Federal line. The left and 

 centre recovered their position at right angles to 

 the Murfreesborough road and across it. They 

 extended from the river to the distance of a 

 mile west of it. The right wing had fallen 

 back until it was nearly parallel to this road, 

 and extending from Stewart's Creek to the 

 right of Gen. Rousseau. The Confederate left 

 was opposite the Federal right and a few hun- 

 dred yards from it. In this position both of 

 Gen. Rosecrans's flanks were protected by 

 streams with good bridges and fords in his rear. 



About three o'clock, the battle opened again 

 by a Confederate attack upon the Federal 

 centre and left. Although this was made by 

 large masses, yet such was the favorable posi- 

 tion occupied by the Federal line on a crest or 

 ridge of ground, and such was the strength of 

 its batteries that no advantage was gained by 

 the Confederates. The slaughter on both sides 

 was great and the contest very determined. 

 It continued until five o'clock when the ex- 

 hausted armies suspended operations for the 

 night. This was so clear and beautiful that 

 some batteries continued their fire. The re- 

 sult of the day was that the Federal right had 

 been driven in almost upon the left, and a change 

 of front had been made under fire, leaving in 

 possession of the Confederate troops that part 

 of the field. " They also held the ground occu- 

 pied in the morning by the Federal pickets on 

 the left, which wing had receded to draw the 

 Confederate troops on. During this time the 

 communication to Nashville had often been cut 

 off, and a strong force of Confederate cavalry 

 had made a dash in the Federal rear within a 

 mile of the front, and captured a considerable 

 amount of hospital stores. The ammunition 

 train of the right wing was twice captured and 

 twice retaken. The Federal loss on that day 

 was estimated at three thousand killed and 

 wounded, twenty-five pieces of artillery, and a 

 large number of prisoners. The Confederate 

 loss in killed and wounded was not less. 

 > On Thursday the 1st of January, 1863, the 

 line of Gen. Rosecrans was restored to its 



