Steadily the rain had pelted down all day, and now as wintry winds and darkness ushered in another miserable night at the mercy of the elements, the battle-tried veterans of Perryville, both Blue and Gray, struggled to find what fitful sleep they could. The following morning, the last one of 1862, would certainly be the last for many of them. In just a few hours, the fields and cedar thickets around the Tennessee village of Murfreesboro would shake with the angry roar of cannons and the sharp crackle of musketry.

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Suddenly, almost ghostly in its faintness, the familiar strains of ‘Yankee Doodle’ arose on the chill night air, as a Federal military band broke the uneasy calm. Rebel musicians took up the challenge, and the jaunty strains of ‘Dixie’ rolled back toward the Union lines a scant 700 yards away. The musical competition continued, with every band on either side playing, until the lively, spirited tunes gave way to ‘Home Sweet Home,’ and the lonely men in both armies raised their voices in unison. The impromptu concert belied for a time the death and destruction that would commence with the dawn.

Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee had been camped in the vicinity of Murfreesboro for more than a month following his fruitless invasion of Kentucky. In order to cover the major approaches to the crucial railroad center at Chattanooga, 100 miles south, from the Union base at Nashville, Bragg had arrayed his troops in a great arc, his right 12 miles east of Murfreesboro at Readyville under Maj. Gen. John P. McCown, his left 20 miles west at Eagleville and Triune under Lt. Gen. William Hardee. Commanding Bragg’s center at Murfreesboro was Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk, a West Point graduate and an Episcopal bishop. From this alignment Brag could keep his eye on the massing Union army and concentrate his forces quickly when the time came to fight.

A tall, chronically ill man of 45, Bragg had done little in his tenure to inspire the respect and admiration of his subordinates. An 1837 graduate of the Military Academy, he had served with distinction in Mexico and was well-acquainted with many of the best-known field commanders on both sides of the present struggle. A coal-black beard streaked with steel gray gave Bragg the appearance of a grizzled veteran, the consummate professional soldier.

His lieutenants, however, thought Bragg was quite adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They questioned his handling of the army at Perryville, and grumbled about having fought, bled and won what they considered to be a victory there–only to find themselves inexplicably retreating back into Tennessee.

Fanning the flames of dissension in the Confederate camp was a bitter war of words between Bragg and Kentucky-born Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, the former vice president of the United States who now commanded a division in Hardee’s corps. Bragg, it seemed, had become somewhat bitter at the lack of support his troops had received from the people of Kentucky during their recent campaign of Southern ‘liberation.’ Breckinridge and other Kentucky Confederates felt that Bragg had begun to question their own loyalty to the cause.

A strict disciplinarian, Bragg had on more than one occasion imposed the death penalty for desertion. He had also recently made an example of one of Breckinridge’s men. On the eve of the Battle of Stones River, the mood among the leaders of the Army of Tennessee was one of tension and uncertainty.

Union Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell had failed to pursue Bragg in force after the October 8 Battle of Perryville, and recently had been removed from command. The fortunes of the Army of the Cumberland now lay in the seemingly competent hands of Ohio Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans. ‘Old Rosy’ had graduated from West Point in 1842, fifth in a class of 56. A devout converted Catholic who carried a rosary with him and heard Mass every morning, the general stood 6 feet tall and was immensely popular with his troops. President Abraham Lincoln and Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck hoped his appointment would inspire the heretofore sluggish Union forces in the west to greater action.

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