The Battle of Stones River began on the last day of 1862 and was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Civil War.  Union forces under the command of General William S. Rosecrans, marched from Nashville to engage General Braxton Bragg and his Army of Tennessee in Murfreesboro.   After Union artillery stopped  a Confederate advance on the second day of the battle, Bragg retreated, leaving Rosecrans victorious. More than one-quarter of the 80,000 soldiers involved were killed or wounded.