Fortress Rosecrans

The outcome of Stones River gave the Lincoln administration a psychological boost at a time when Federal armies had suffered stinging defeats in Virginia and Mississippi. Rosecrans planned to follow up his success by pressing the Confederates south to Chattanooga. Because his army was far from its base at Louisville, he ordered his soldiers to build a depot, along with fortifications to defend it, at Murfreesboro to distribute arms, food, and equipment to the troops. From January through June 1863, they labored to complete the 200-acre earthen fort, which was the largest enclosed earthen fortification built during the Civil War. In 1993 the city transferred remnants of the fort to the National Park Service. Only 3000 feet of the original 14,000 feet of earthworks remain. Today Lunettes Palmer and Thomas and Curtain Wall No. 2 are among all that remain of the original 14,000 feet of earthworks. Of the original four interior forts, only Redoubt Brannan survives.

Location: Murfreesboro Tennessee Telephone 615-893-9501

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