Winter Lightning: A Guide to the Battle of Stones River
By Matt and Lee Spruill

Illustrated, index, maps, 304 pp., 2007. University of Tennessee Press, 110 Conference Center, Knoxville, TN 37996-4108, $24.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Jeff Patrick
Jeff Patrick is an interpretive specialist with the National Park Service at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Republic, Mo. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in American history from Purdue University.

Review:
Matt Spruill, the author of tour guides to the battlefields of Chickamauga, Chattanooga and the Seven Days, has turned his attention this time (with co-author Lee Spruill) to the bloody clash outside Murfreesboro, Tenn., in late December 1862 and early January 1863.

Although the winter fight between Rosecrans and Bragg involved at least 80,000 troops and resulted in more than 23,000 casualties, the battle of Stones River has received little attention from tour guide writers.

While the major events of the action can be understood by following the National Park Service auto tour and viewing the new film and museum exhibits in the Stones River Visitor Center, many visitors want to know more.

Scholarly works by Peter Cozzens and James Lee McDonough are well researched and written, but of limited value for the hard-core battlefield hiker wishing to literally follow in the footsteps of the armies.

Now professional soldiers Matt and Lee Spruill have provided us with the ideal guide for those who wish to become “engaged” with the battlefield, or, as they put it, “to provide that connection with past events on the actual spot where they happened.”

In a series of 21 stops, the Spruills follow the battle chronologically, from the dramatic fighting withdrawal of the Army of the Cumberland on the first day, to the heroic but doomed final assault by the Army of Tennessee against massed Union artillery at McFadden’s Ford at the conclusion of the battle.

Each chapter also stands alone, in case visitors wish to visit only specific portions of the field.  Because the National Park Service owns only a fraction of the battlefield, this guide takes hikers well beyond current park boundaries into both the now developed and still pristine areas where the fighting took place.

The Spruills combine lengthy excerpts from the Official Records with their own extensive historical commentary, including driving directions, landscape descriptions, and other helpful details to orient the reader to the historic scene. The numerous tactical, operational and modern maps are quite useful as well.

Casualty tables, Union and Confederate orders of battle, monument descriptions and cemetery information round out this excellent guide to one of the most neglected battles of the Western Theater.

This reviewer certainly hopes that the Spruills will continue their excellent series, perhaps with volumes on Perryville, Kennesaw Mountain or Fort Donelson.