NPS Website; NPS Battle Website; National Cemetery Website
WHAT IS IT?Deadly Civil War battle that claimed nearly 24,000 casualties but ultimately proved “tactically indecisive”. The North named the battle, Stones River while the South referred to it as Murfreesboro.
BEAUTY (3/10)
The Park is a 700-acre tract wedged between the commercial and residential sprawl of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A short loop drive takes you through cotton fields, grasslands, open fields and eastern forests where much of the bloody fighting took place. As per Civil War Battlefield usual, cannons and monuments that identify the armies’ strategic location mark the now peaceful landscape.
HISTORICAL INTEREST (3/10)
Most history books do not mention the Stones River Battle. It still saw 13,200 Federal and 10,200 Confederate casualties in a Battle that gave neither side any significant land or road and rail access. The Federals would inhabit the modestly important town of Murfreesboro until the end of the War. The two commanding Generals, Rosecrans and Bragg, would meet eight months later at the more famous Battle of Chickamauga.
The Stones River Battle took place from December 31, 1862 through January 2, 1863. Those days might seem vaguely familiar as they coincide with Abraham Lincoln’s publication of the Emancipation Proclamation, a much more interesting and more widely debated historical occurrence.
CROWDS (6/10)
There are a lot of dedicated Civil War buffs out there. We ran into a few at Murfreesboro on a midday February Wednesday.
EASE OF USE/ACCESS (4/5)
The Visitor Center is a hop, skip and a jump from Interstate 24, Exit 78. Exit and go east on the Old Fort Parkway (State Route 96). Immediately turn left (north) onto Thompson Lane. Follow Thompson Lane until the Old Nashville Highway for about a mile. Turn left (northwest) and you should see the Park Entrance. There are plenty of signs so you should not get lost.
CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (4/5)
Bookstores for Civil War sites always impress. Stones River NB is no exception. No matter that the historical significance of the actual Site is questionable; the selection of books, audio visuals, CDs, toys, shirts, et cetera is superior. New books are showcased front and center. Good thing since they might get lost in the vast sea of offerings here. The Civil War is studied and shown from a variety of perspectives: race, religion, gender, age, geographic positioning. Eastern National stocks the shelves here and they do a very good job.
COSTS (4/5)The site is completely free.
RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (2/5)
Gab thought she might have seen a female Ranger behind the front desk for a moment. Other than that, the Site was staffed entirely by volunteers.
TOURS/CLASSES (7/10)
The Stones River NB has a terrific new Museum. One room is dedicated to the day-to-day life of the soldier and the Murfreesboro resident. It also includes a helpful panel that identifies why the Civil War was the first modern war, which further explains why so many people died. The introductory video follows next and provides an overview of the Battle tactics and aftermath.
The next room shows the gruesome Civil War medical techniques and recaps the fighting in short, easy to read writing. We enjoyed the poster-sized blow-ups of Harper’s Weekly, Times of London and other publications that recapped the saga of Murfreesboro. We left knowing far more about this Battle than we ever expected. A few days later, Gab even employed an allusion to General Bragg in normal (non Civil War-related) conversation.
FUN (2/10)
It is hard to have fun when the Park is at its essence a meaningless killing field. At some Battlefields you can somewhat understand the death because it necessitated the capture of a strategic city or led to a speedier end or because it allowed area slaves to be freed.
At Stones River, the fighting changed very little, big picture speaking, but to the thousands of families who lost their sons, husbands and brothers it must have been earth shattering. We had a hard time separating ourselves from the carnage and the unspoken and oft-forgotten ugliness that the Civil War wrought. There is no romance here.
WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (2/10)Not unless you have some personal ancestral attachment to the Battle or are an obsessive amateur Civil War historian and are fascinated by the insane retreats and asinine tactics employed by Confederate General Braxton Bragg.
TOTAL 37/80
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