• Source: Third Battle of Murfreesboro

The Third Battle of Murfreesboro, also known as Wilkinson Pike or the Cedars, was fought December 5–7, 1864, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War.




Background


In a last, desperate attempt to force Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Union army out of Georgia, Gen. John Bell Hood led the Army of Tennessee north toward Nashville in November 1864. After suffering terrible losses at Franklin, he continued toward Nashville. Hood recognized that Federal forces at Murfreesboro posed a significant threat to his right flank, his supply line and his possible retreat route. On December 4, 1864 he sent Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest with two cavalry divisions and Maj. Gen. William B. Bate's infantry division to Murfreesboro, Tennessee.




Opposing forces






= Union

=
District of Tennessee – Maj. Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau

Defenses of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad – Maj. Gen. Robert H. Milroy
1st Provisional Brigade – Col. Minor T. Thomas
8th Minnesota Infantry: Col. Minor T. Thomas, Ltc Henry C. Rogers
61st Illinois Infantry: Lt. Col. Daniel Grass
174th Ohio Infantry: Col. John S. Jones
181st Ohio Infantry: Col. John O'Dowd
13th New York Light Artillery: Cpt. Henry Bundy
2nd Provisional Brigade (Post of Tullahoma) – Col. Edward Anderson
177th Ohio Infantry: Col. Arthur T. Wilcox
178th Ohio Infantry: Col. Joab A. Stafford
12th Indiana Cavalry: Col. Edward Anderson
5th Tennessee Cavalry: Col. William Brickly Stokes




= Confederate

=
Forrest's Cavalry Corps: Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest

Buford's Division: Brig. Gen. Abraham Buford
Bell's Brigade: Col. Tyree H. Bell
2nd/22nd Tennessee Cavalry (Barteau's)
19th Tennessee Cavalry
20th Tennessee Cavalry: Col Robert M. Russell
21st Tennessee Cavalry
Nixon's (22nd) Tennessee Cavalry
Crossland's Brigade: Col. Edward Crossland
3rd Kentucky Mounted Infantry
7th Kentucky Mounted Infantry
8th Kentucky Mounted Infantry
12th Kentucky Cavalry
Huey's Kentucky Battalion
Jackson's Division: Brig. Gen. William Hicks Jackson
Armstrong's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Frank C. Armstrong
1st Mississippi Cavalry
2nd Mississippi Cavalry
28th Mississippi Cavalry
2nd Mississippi Partisan Rangers
Ross's Brigade: Brig. Gen. Lawrence S. Ross
3rd Texas Cavalry
6th Texas Cavalry
9th Texas Cavalry
(1st Texas Legion) 27th Texas Cavalry
Attached Infantry:

(From Cheatham's Corps) Bate's Division: MG William B. Bate
Tyler's/Smith’s Brigade: BG Thomas Benton Smith
37th Georgia
4th Georgia Sharpshooters Battalion
2nd Tennessee
10th Tennessee
20th Tennessee
37th Tennessee
Finley's/Bullock’s Brigade: BG Robert Bullock (w); Major Jacob A. Lash
1st-3rd Florida
4th Florida & 1st Florida Cavalry (dismounted): Major Jacob A. Lash
6th Florida
7th Florida
Jackson's Brigade: BG Henry R. Jackson
36th Georgia (1st Georgia) Confederate
25th Georgia
29th Georgia
30th Georgia
66th Georgia
1st Georgia Sharpshooters Battalion
(From Lee’s Corps) Stevenson's Division: BG Joseph B. Palmer
Brown's & Reynolds' Brigade: BG Joseph B. Palmer
58th North Carolina
60th North Carolina
54th Virginia
63rd Virginia
3rd-18th Tennessee
23rd-26th-45th Tennessee: Col Anderson Searcy
32nd Tennessee: Col John P. McGuire
(From Stewart’s Corps) French's Division: BG Claudius W. Sears
Sears' Brigade: BG Claudius W. Sears
4th Mississippi
35th Mississippi
36th Mississippi
39th Mississippi
46th Mississippi
7th Mississippi Battalion
Artillery:

Slocomb's Louisiana Battery: Lt. Joseph E. Chalaron




Battle


On December 2, Hood had ordered Bate to destroy the railroad and blockhouses between Murfreesboro and Nashville and join Forrest for further operations. On December 4, Bate's division attacked Blockhouse No. 7 protecting the railroad crossing at Overall's Creek, but Union forces fought it off. On the morning of December 5, Forrest marched toward Murfreesboro in two columns, one to attack the fort on the hill and the other to take Blockhouse No. 4, both at La Vergne. Forrest demanded the garrisons at both locations surrender, which they did. Outside La Vergne, Forrest joined Bate's division and the command advanced on to Murfreesboro along two roads, driving the Union forces into their Fortress Rosecrans fortifications, then encamped in the city outskirts for the night. The next morning, on December 6, fighting flared for a couple of hours, but the Union troops ceased firing and both sides glared at each other for the rest of the day. Brig. Gen. Claudius W. Sears's and Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmer's infantry brigades joined Forrest's command in the evening, further increasing his numbers.
On the morning of December 7, Maj. Gen. Lovell Rousseau, commanding all of the forces at Murfreesboro, sent two brigades out under Brig. Gen. Robert H. Milroy on the Salem Pike to feel out the enemy. These brigades were led by Col. Minor T. Thomas, a veteran of the Dakota War, and Col. Edward Anderson. With Thomas' brigade forming the first line of battle and Anderson forming the second, Milroy engaged the Confederates and fighting continued. At one point some of Bate's troops broke and ran. Forrest "seized the colors of the retreating troops and endeavored to rally them". Bate was equally unsuccessful. The rest of Forrest's command conducted an orderly retreat from the field and encamped for the night outside Murfreesboro. Forrest had destroyed railroad track, blockhouses, and some homes and generally disrupted Union operations in the area. More importantly, he succeeded in keeping Rousseau confined to Murfreesboro and kept the important supply line and retreat route open.




References






Sources


Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
National Park Service battle description

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