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Event Details
In Person in the Lincoln Gallery at ACFL&MH!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarnegieCarnegie
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Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9370579279
Meeting ID: 937 057 9279
The Battle of Stones River, fought at the turning of the year from 1862-1863, was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The Army of the Cumberland and Army of Tennessee clashed for control of middle Tennessee and in a see-saw battle that stretched over four days, the Federals emerged triumphant but by the narrowest of margins. This sole victory in a sea of Federal defeats helped provide military support for the recently issued Emancipation Proclamation and started the Union army back on the road to Chattanooga. The cost was incredibly high: more than 25,000 casualties among the 81,000 participants.
Pennsylvania’s contribution to the victory was small but mighty. The state had just three infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, and a single artillery battery present with the Army of the Cumberland. However, their contributions were significant. The 77th Pennsylvania launched the first Federal counterattack in the opening moments of the battle while the 78th Pennsylvania won plaudits for not only capturing the colors of the 26th Tennessee but for playing a hand in capturing Wright’s Tennessee battery on January 2nd. Likewise, the Anderson Troop, a cavalry regiment that had mutinied at the beginning of the campaign, played a very active role in the campaign that eventually resulted in two of its soldiers being awarded the Medal of Honor.
A graduate of the University of Toledo, Dan Masters is the descendant of five Union veterans of the Civil War and has been deeply involved in the study of that conflict since the late 1990s. He has written eleven books, numerous articles, and more than 950 blog posts about the Civil War, much of his work focusing on the western theater. In addition to regularly writing on his blog Dan Masters’ Civil War Chronicles, he also recently finished work on his eleventh book Hell by the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign published by Savas Beatie in November 2024. He currently lives in Perrysburg, Ohio with his wife Amy and four of their six children while his oldest son is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force.