Hey everyone, welcome to the 245th episode of our Civil War podcast. My name is Rich.

And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

We wanted to let you guys know here at the top of the show that we'll have an announcement

at the end of the show about an idea we had for our 250th episode.

We'd like to perhaps do something special for that show. And well, we'll talk about it at the end of the episode.

But right now we're going to get back to the Battle of Stone's River.

As you all were recall, when we left off last time, the fighting had just come to a close on the last day of 1862.

And the Confederate attack on December 31 had come close, so very close to securing that most elusive of Civil War prizes, a decisive battlefield victory.

But, but at the end of the day, the Union line had held.

Braxton Bragg, the general leading the Confederate Army of Tennessee, had hoped to smash the Union right, snap-shut the enemy line like a Jackknife,

and seized the Nashville Pike, thereby trapping the Yankees against the river.

But some stubborn fighting by some Federal units, and the fact that William Rosecrands, the commander of the Union's Army of the Cumberland, had successfully shifted reinforcements to blunt the Rebel Drive,

meant that the Jackknife had comparallously close to snapping-shut. But at the end of the day, the Confederates had failed to secure a clear-cut victory.

That night, both Army commanders took stock. It had been a very bloody day. The Army of the Cumberland had sustained more than 25% casualties, and lost 28 cannon while being pushed to the edge of destruction.

Five Brigade commanders were casualties, along with two division commanders, Wood and Van Cleve, both wounded that afternoon.

On the other hand, plenty of ammunition remained for another day of fighting, and the two brigades that had been guarding Rosecrands' supply line against Rebel Cavalry had come up and joined the Army.

And so Rosecrands called a meeting of his commanders, although later on there were conflicting accounts about what exactly transpired at the gathering.

Several generals favored withdrawing, while others were non-committal. Rosecrands himself appeared unsure what to do. At one point he went out and scouted the Army's right with McCook, and returned satisfied with that the line could hold.

George Thomas ended all talk of withdrawing by declaring, this Army does not retreat.

Rosecrands agreed, telling the assembly, go to your commands, and prepare to fight and die here.

Rosecrands consolidated and reorganized the Army's lines, including abandoning the round forest, and had the troops stay in.

A wagon train with the Union wounded departed for Nashville under a strong escort.

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