Auto Tour Stop 3 - The Struggle for the Nashville Pike

View of the Cotton Field from Confederate positions.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Murfreesboro, TN

Significance:

Site of events on the afternoon of December 31, 1862.

Designation:

National Park, National Register of Historic Places

Amenities

5 listed

Audio Description, Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Scenic View/Photo Spot

On December 31, Union troops established a defensive line along the Nashville Pike. Pursuing Confederates entering the cotton field were greeted by cannon fire. A Texan recalled, “the artillery opened up on us . . . and it seemed that the heavens and the earth were coming together.” At dark both sides dug in for the night. Rosecrans’s army had been pushed back three miles, but the Confederates had failed to capture the pike.

As the fighting raged on in the Slaughter Pen, Gen. Rosecrans was spending the time bought by Sheridan and Negley well. Rosecrans canceled his attack across the Stones River and sent reserve units into the fight. He rallied the shattered and fleeing troops from the earlier Confederate assault. To support them, he positioned large numbers of artillery on the heights between the road and the railroad. Here, over thirty cannons had a clear shot at the Confederates as they emerged from the forest.

Rosecrans reformed his line into a horseshoe to protect the Nashville Pike. This vital road was Rosecrans only means of retreat should the army falter. If the Confederates could take the road, Union defeat would be certain.

Confederates arrived piecemeal at the tree line south of the Nashville Pike. Tired, running low on ammunition, and disorganized, they had been moving nonstop since the attack began that morning. The thick cedar forest had slowed their advance and cut them off from their supply wagons.

Gen. James Rains was one of the first Confederate commanders to arrive at the edge of the tree line. He seized the initiative and ordered his men forward towards the Nashville Pike. A storm of musket and cannon fire tore through the Confederate ranks and killed Rains almost as soon as he left the cover of the trees. Their attack soon fizzled out.

Gen. George Maney thought a larger attack would fare better. He ordered his men to hold at the fence line to wait for more Confederate forces before attacking, but his attack failed as well. That afternoon, ever larger Confederate attacks continued to push across the fields towards the Nashville Pike. Each time, they stalled and broke under the relentless and devastating fire of Union infantry and artillery.

As the day ended, it became clear that the Confederates would not be able to take the Nashville Pike here. They could only hope their comrades further down the line were more successful.

Learn more about the struggle for control of the Nashville Pike by watching this video from our friends at the American Battlefield Trust.

• Tour Stop 3 - Audio

  
  

  Description of the afternoon struggle for control of the Nashville Pike that proved to be one the keys to Union victory.
  Audio Transcript

  Around one o’clock in the afternoon, the Confederate brigade of General James Rains emerged from the woods behind you. Across these fields, they could see their objective, the Nashville Pike. If they could reach that road, they could cut the Federals off from their last remaining route of supply or escape.

  Between the Confederates and the road, stood long lines of soldiers in blue with muskets at the ready. Union cannons covered the slope between the road and railroad waiting to unleash their deadly contents. General Rosecrans had used the time that Negley and Sheridan had bought him in the Slaughter Pen well. This two mile long line shaped like a horseshoe would force the Confederates to make frontal assaults against massed infantry and artillery to sever the Union lifeline.

  Rains’s men were tired, hungry, and out of ammunition, but they were ready for one last charge. Within seconds of leaving the trees, Rains was dead. His men were pummeled from all directions and gave way in a matter of minutes. More and more Confederate units arrived as the day wore on, and ever larger attacks surged towards the pike. Each time, the Union artillery beat back the gray tide.

  A lieutenant from Texas recalled, “The Artillery opened on us and cut the timber over our heads, and it seemed that the heavens and the earth were coming together.” Without support from their cannons, every Confederate attack failed. The Union lifeline remained open, and the chances for complete Confederate victory faded along with the last rays of the setting sun.