Slaughter Pen

One of Sheridan's final positions is within the park boundary. This area is known as the Slaughter Pen. It is also on the edge of a cedar/limestone area. The irregular limestone outcroppings limited movement for both sides. They made moving artillery around especially difficult.

This field is on the edge of a limestone outcropping and shows that Sheridan's men did also get some excellent fields of fire. I only wish the park had more land at Stones River as I had a relative (24th Wisconsin) in Sheridan's Division and would love to follow their day step by step. Matt Spruill has written a guide book (Winter Lightning) that does take one over what is left of the battlefield outside the park boundaries. Unfortunately I have not been to Stones River since its publication so I have not been able to utilize that resource.

This picture is actually near the stop for Parson's Battery but I liked how it showed the outcroppings.

The park has placed a few cannon in a broken down position here to illustrate just how difficult it would have been to move artillery in these areas.