Military Order of the Loyal Legion
of the
United States.
COMMANDERY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
WAR PAPERS.
68
Army of the Cumberland and the Battle of Stone’s River.
prepared by Companion
Lieutenant-Colonel GILBERT C. KNIFFIN,
U. S. Volunteers,
AND READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF APRIL 3, 1907.
Army of the Cumberland and the Battle of Stone River.
The Army of the Ohio, after crowding into the space of six weeks more hardmarching and fighting than fell to the lot of any other army in the UnitedStates during the summer of 1862, was, on the last of October, encamped inthe vicinity of Bowling Green, Kentucky. General Bragg and Kirby Smith,turning Buell’s left flank, had invaded Kentucky, gained the rear ofBuell, threatened his base at Louisville, and but for the vis inertiawhich always seemed to seize upon the Confederates when in sight ofcomplete victory, would have captured Louisville. The battle of Perryvilleresulting in the hasty exit of the combined armies of Bragg and Smiththrough Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee, the deliberate sweep ofBuell’s columns in their rear, the halt at Crab Orchard, and the returnmarch towards Nashville are part of the events of an earlier chapter inthe history of the rebellion. The occupation of East Tennessee by theUnion Army had from the commencement of hostilities been an object dear tothe great heart of President Lincoln. He had hoped for its accomplishmentunder General Sherman. It had been included in the instructions to GeneralBuell, but eighteen months had passed and the Confederate flag still wavedin triumph from the spire of the court-house at Knoxville. The retreat ofthe Confederate Army into East Tennessee in what was reported as a routedand disorganized condition had seemed like a favorable opportunity to[Pg 4]carry out the long-cherished design of the Government. The movement oflarge armies across the country upon a map in the War Office, althoughapparently practicable, bore so little relation to actual campaigning asto have already caused the decapitation of more than one general.
The positive refusal of General Buell to march 60,000 men into a sterileand hostile country across a range of mountains in pursuit of an army ofequal strength with his own, when by simply turning southward he couldmeet it around the western spur of the same range, although it has sincebeen upheld by every military authority, caused his prompt removal fromcommand of the army he had organized and led to victory. The army had beenslow to believe in the incapacity of General Buell, and had recognized thewisdom of his change of front from Cumberland Gap towards Nashville, butthere were causes for dissatisfaction, which, in the absence of knowledgeas to the difficulties under which he labored were attributed to him. Afull knowledge of all the circumstances would have transferred them to theWar Department. Major-General William S. Rosecrans, the newly-appointedcommander of the Army of the Cumberland, graduated at West Point July 1,1842, as brevet second lieutenant corps of engineers. He resigned from thearmy April 1, 1854, and entered civil life at Cincinnati as a civilengineer and architect. His energy and capability for large undert