December 15, 1862 - Monday - 160 years ago today

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Crittenden's Corps - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade 

The 15th finds the Army of the Cumberland in the same state, encamped near Nashville and trying to get good information on the location of the Confederate army.  General Rosecrans sends the two messages below to General Halleck in Washington:

Confederate President Jefferson Davis was in the area to review the army.  Morgan has taken time out from cavalry raids to get married, and his wedding is a gathering of the army's commanders.  Not sure about the other details in the first message.

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NASHVILLE, TN,, December 15, 1962 -- 1:10 PM

Major-General HALLECK:

    Reports of last evening fully confirmed.  Jeff. Davis attended John H. Morgan's wedding last night; was serenaded, and made a speech, in which he said Lincoln's proclamation put black and white on an equality.  Urged them to fight to the death, and to hold Middle Tennessee at all hazards, until Grant could be whipped.  Bragg ordered all Kentucky and Tennessee exiles conscripted.  Buckner, Breckenridge, and Hanson protested, and threatened to resign.  Jeff. took the matter in hand.  Things will be ripe soon.

W. S. ROSECRANS, 

Major-General.

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NASHVILLE, TN,, December 15, 1962 -- 1:10 PM

Major-General HALLECK:

   I have relieved General Hamilton from duty.  He is very sick.  His brother-in-law likely to die.  They will leave for New York as soon as practicable.  Authentic information up to this morning of the rebel army.  The center, composed of three divisions, at Murfreesborough, was reviewed by Jeff. Davis Friday week; left wing, under Buckner and Hardee, moved from Shelbyville to Triune and Nolensville; right, under Kirby Smith, at Readyville; Morgan probably crossing the Cumberland, now near Hartsville; object, dash on railroad; rebel troops say the will fight us; Bragg to go to Mississippi; Johnston to stay; bridge at Bridgeport, cross both sides on trestles, about finished; railroad track on front of Murfreesborough torn up, iron removed, and bridge fitted for the passage of troops; Cumberland still very low; rain threatens; will be ready in a few days.

W. S. ROSECRANS, 

Major-General.

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In the second message are the current reports about the location of the opposing army.  Some of the other information is doubtful, and Bragg is most certainly not leaving for Mississippi.  Rosecrans is promising that in a few days he will be ready to move.

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Fredericksburg Campaign

In the east, another devastating battle for the Union occurs at Fredericksburg, VA.  General Burnside attempts a direct assault on entrenched Confederate positions above Fredericksburg and suffers a bloody repulse, with 12,700 killed and wounded - over twice the Confederate loss.  An evacuation of Fredericksburg follows.

This defeat, along with Grant being stalled in Mississippi, means that any Union progress must come from Rosecrans' army.  The urging from Washington for a move forward will only grow.

More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XX, Chapter XXXII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 163-186.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 90.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1I, Fredericksburg to Meridian, pp. 1-81. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 600-603.
• Peter Cozzens, No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River, pp. 1-41.
  

 

NEXT POST: DECEMBER 19TH