1862 Civil War Battleground and the Headless Horseman of Garesché
3501 Old Nashville Highway, Murfreesboro, TN 37129
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission to the battlefield, visitor center, and Stones River National Cemetery. Some interpretive programs may have separate ranger-led schedules.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved auto tour road; mix of paved and dirt walking trails through woods, fields, and earthworks
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1863 · Civil War Battlefield · National Park System · Stones River National Cemetery · Hazen Brigade Monument
The Battle of Stones River was fought from December 31, 1862 through January 2, 1863 between Major General William Rosecrans's Union Army of the Cumberland and General Braxton Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee. Of the roughly 76,400 troops engaged across three days of fighting, the Union suffered 12,906 casualties and the Confederate forces 11,739, producing the highest percentage of killed and wounded of any major engagement of the Civil War. The strategic outcome was a Union victory that ended the Confederate threat to Kentucky and Middle Tennessee and confirmed Nashville's role as a forward Union supply base.
The most intense combat occurred in a dense cedar thicket and limestone outcropping that the surviving men named Hell's Half Acre. More than 400 soldiers of Colonel William B. Hazen's Union brigade fell in roughly two hours of fighting in this small area. In 1863, while still encamped near the battlefield, surviving members of Hazen's brigade constructed a limestone monument over the burial site of their comrades. The monument is the oldest intact Civil War battlefield monument in the country.
The federal government established Stones River National Cemetery on the battlefield in 1865; more than 6,100 Union dead from Stones River and surrounding engagements are buried there. The battlefield itself was protected as Stones River National Military Park in 1927 and transferred to the National Park Service in 1933, joining the system as a national battlefield in 1980.
The park's 570 acres preserve sections of the original battlefield interspersed with twentieth-century development along the I-24 corridor. The six-stop auto tour follows the principal Union and Confederate positions, beginning at the visitor center, passing through the Slaughter Pen and the cedar glades, and ending at Hell's Half Acre and the national cemetery.
Sources
The most frequently cited Stones River paranormal account concerns Lieutenant Colonel Julius Peter Garesché, chief of staff to Major General William Rosecrans. Garesché was killed on December 31, 1862 when a Confederate solid shot struck him in the head while he rode with Rosecrans's staff near the present-day Round Forest. He was buried initially near where he fell.
Reports of a headless mounted figure crossing the field near the railroad cut south of the national cemetery have been documented in regional newspapers, local-tour materials, and the WKRN-TV haunted-Tennessee feature. Reenactors at the December anniversary events have reported the figure on multiple occasions, often described as a mounted officer in Union staff dress proceeding at a measured pace before fading near the cedar thicket.
Additional reports from park rangers and visitors describe the sounds of distant musket and cannon fire during quiet evenings, particularly near tour stops four and six. Visitors near the Hazen Brigade Monument have reported the appearance of a soldier in full uniform with his hand raised, who collapses and vanishes when approached. A separate strand of reports describes a Confederate-uniformed figure visible at reenactor campfires, leaning against a cedar trunk before disappearing.
The National Park Service does not actively promote the paranormal narrative, but the Garesché incident is documented in park interpretive material as a verified Civil War casualty. Visitors are reminded that the park closes at sunset and that nighttime access is restricted.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A self-guided drive along the six-stop interpretive road through the 1862 battlefield, including Hell's Half Acre, where the 1863 monument built by surviving Union soldiers is the oldest intact Civil War battlefield monument in the country. Visitors can extend the route through Stones River National Cemetery and the Slaughter Pen on foot.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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