Booknotes: Force of a Cyclone

New Arrival:

• Force of a Cyclone: The Battle of Stones River, December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863 by Caroline Ann Davis and Robert M. Dunkerly (Savas Beatie, 2023).

The ECW series now turns to the Battle of Murfreesboro.

From the description: "... (O)n December 31, Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee faced off against William Rosecrans’s Federal Army of the Cumberland just outside Murfreesboro along Stones River. The commanders, who led armies nearly equal in size, had prepared identical attack plans, but Bragg struck first. His morning attack bent the Federal line back upon itself. The desperate fighting seesawed throughout the day amid rocky outcroppings and cedar groves. The Federals managed to avoid a crushing defeat and hold on until dark as the last hours of the old year slipped away."

As explained in Caroline Ann Davis and Robert Dunkerly's Force of a Cyclone: The Battle of Stones River, December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863, the battle's indecisive results nevertheless had significant strategic consequences.

More from the description: "With the fate of Middle Tennessee yet to be determined, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863. The president had signed the proclamation back in September of 1862, but he needed battlefield victories to bolster its authority. The stakes being gambled outside Murfreesboro were enormous. Determined to win the battle outright, Bragg launched another large-scale assault on January 2. The fate of the Army of the Cumberland and the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation hung in the balance."

Davis and Dunkerly's main battle narrative runs around 100 pages and is supported by seven brigade/division-scale maps along with the series staple's grand host of photographs and illustrations. The driving tour appendix (and map) covers a dozen battlefield stops and another twelve "Beyond the Battlefield" locations of interest. Another appendix examines the Union occupation of the Tennessee capital and Andrew Johnson's military government headquartered there. Filling out the rest of the section are pieces discussing Fortress Rosecrans, the freedmen community of Cemetery, and Stones River National Cemetery (which includes some additional notes on monuments and preservation). As is the case with all ECW battle books, the volume concludes with orders of battle and a suggested reading list.