Stones River Campaign Facts

December 26, 1862 - January 3, 1863

Key facts about the American Civil War Stones River Campaign.

Black and white photo of William H. Rosecrans.

Following his victories at the Battle of Iuka (September 19, 1862) and the Second Battle of Corinth (October 3–4, 1862), the U.S. War Department selected Major General William S. Rosecrans to command the newly created Fourteenth Army Corps on October 24, 1862, Rosecrans’ corps (also known as the Army of the Cumberland) went on to defeat General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Stones River. [Wikimedia Commons]

Date and Location

  • December 26, 1862 – January 3, 1863
  • Middle Tennessee

Timeline of the Stones River Campaign

The only major engagement of the Stones River Campaign was the Battle of Stones River.

Principal Union Commander

Principal Confederate Commander

Union Forces Engaged

Confederate Forces Engaged

Number of Union Soldiers Engaged

  • Roughly 44,000

Number of Confederate Soldiers Engaged

  • Roughly 38,000

Estimated Union Casualties

  • 12,906 (1,677 killed,7,543 wounded, 3,686 captured/missing)

Estimated Confederate Casualties

  • 11,739 (1,294 killed, 7,945 wounded, 2,500 captured/missing)

Result

  • Union victory

Impact of the Stones River Campaign

  • William S. Rosecrans’ successful Stones River Campaign drove the Confederate Army of Tennessee away from Nashville and forced it to assume a defensive position at Tullahoma, near Chattanooga, the Confederacy’s last stronghold in the Volunteer State.
  • Contrasted with late 1862 federal defeats at the Battle of Fredericksburg in the East, and the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in the West, the successful Stones River Campaign provided the Lincoln administration and the northern public with some much-needed hope.
  • The successful Stones River Campaign added some teeth to the Emancipation Proclamation, which had gone into effect on January 1, 1863, while the Battle of Stones River was being contested.