Stones River National Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Report Update, National Park Service

Quinn Evans

Stones River National Battlefield, located approximately three miles northwest of downtown Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is composed of a portion of the battlefield associated with the Civil War battle of Stones River, which occurred from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863. Union Major General William S. Rosecrans’s hard-fought victory at this key engagement in the Stones River campaign secured federal control of Middle Tennessee, bolstered Northern morale following a significant defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and supported the Emancipation Proclamation as it took effect. The park was established by an act of the United States Congress on March 3, 1927, as Stones River National Military Park, and was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service in 1933. The park consists of six discontiguous parcels that protect approximately 15 to 18% of the total land involved in the Battle of Stones River. The largest portion of the park is the Nashville Pike Unit, which includes the park headquarters and 490 acres that serve as the interpretive focal point of the battlefield. Smaller outlying parcels include the McFadden Farm Unit and the headquarters sites of Union Major General William S. Rosecrans and Confederate General Braxton Bragg. The park also includes two parcels that contain remnants of Fortress Rosecrans, the largest earthwork fortress built during the Civil War. This Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) describes the historical development of the park; documents the existing site conditions; identifies and assesses the integrity of the historic landscape; and presents treatment strategies that facilitate preservation of the park’s resources, address park management concerns, and inform ongoing and proposed facility development. This project is an update to a Cultural Landscape Report completed for Stones River National Battlefield in 2007. The updated report summarizes and expands upon the documentation and treatment included in the previous CLR, addresses additional lands acquired since 2007, and incorporates research, analysis, and treatment related to historical associations outside the Civil War era including the Cemetery Community, a freedpeople’s community that existed on the battlefield following the Civil War, and the Trail of Tears.

Stones River National Battlefield: Cultural Landscape Report Update, National Park Service

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