The sun rises over the National Cemetery at Stones River National Park near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.Today marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stones River and the beginning of the Union march through Tennessee to pivotal battles in Chattanooga and Chickamauga.
President Abraham Lincoln was desperate for a decisive Union victory to turn northern sentiment after the Army’s defeat at Fredericksburg.
A win could help time the president’s release of the Emancipation Proclamation and perhaps reframe the Civil War with moral purpose, said Gib Backlund, chief of operations at Stones River National Military Park near Murfreesboro.
Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg had his troops in the Middle Tennessee region to protect farms that fed the rebel army.
Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans was told by his boss that if he didn’t take his men to fight the Confederates he would be replaced.