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After dark he retired a short distance.
The cavalry pickets were not molested during the night.
At daylight on the 5th, General Wheeler retired three miles from Murfreesboro; at 3 p. m. the Federals advanced a brigade of infantry, with artillery and cavalry, but were driven back.
In his report General Wheeler included Capt. Richard McCann of Tennessee, commanding a detachment, among those of whom he said, ‘during the many engagements incident to the battle of Murfreesboro, I take pleasure in commending their gallantry and good soldierly conduct.’
General Rosecrans, commanding the Federal army at Murfreesboro, reported his strength at 46,940 officers and men of all arms; killed and wounded, 8,778; lost by capture, 2,800; but the revised statement accompanying his report shows that he lost 3,673 captured by the Confederates, a total of 12,451; and a loss of 28 pieces of artillery, 3 battery wagons and 5 forges was admitted.
General Rosecrans reported a reserve of 7,495 at Nashville, 3,550 at Gallatin, and nearly 4,000 at Bowling Green and Clarksville.
Maj. W. K. Beard, inspector-general on the staff of General Bragg, made an official report in which he accounted for 6,273 prisoners captured at Murfreesboro.
Colonel Brent, adjutant-general on the staff of General Bragg, reported that we had present and in the battle 37,712, officers and men of all arms, including 4,237 cavalry.
Bragg's loss amounted to 10,266, of which 9,000,were killed and wounded, and 1,200 of the badly wounded, left in the hospitals at Murfreesboro, constituted the largest part of Rosecrans' captures.
Nearly one-third of the army of Tennessee were Tennesseeans; many of them fought and fell almost in call of their own wives and children; there were no holiday soldiers among them and no desertions, and they fell back from their homes with a loss of 3,500 killed and wounded, nearly half of the entire loss.
The greatest
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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