Stones River National Battlefield: Hours, Tour Road and Visitor Guide

Stones River National Battlefield quick facts

Managed by

National Park Service

Admission

Free. No entrance pass is required.

Visitor center

3501 Old Nashville Highway, Murfreesboro, TN 37129

Main park entrance

1563 N. Thompson Lane, Murfreesboro, TN 37129

Visitor center hours

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily in spring and summer; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 1 through February. Closed Thanksgiving Day and Dec. 25.

Tour road (vehicles)

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily March 1 to Oct. 31; gates close at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 1 through February.

Walkers and cyclists

Park roads and trails, sunrise to sunset

Phone

615-893-9501

Size

About 670 acres, with roughly seven miles of trails

Time to allow

About two hours for the museum and the self-guided battlefield tour (NPS)

Pets

Allowed on a leash of 6 feet or less; not in the visitor center or national cemetery

Hours are from the National Park Service's Operating Hours & Seasons page. The park posts closures on its current conditions page.

Visiting Stones River National Battlefield

Getting there and the visitor center

The main park entrance is at 1563 N. Thompson Lane. From Interstate 24, drivers take Exit 76 onto Medical Center Parkway, turn left onto Thompson Lane, turn into the park entrance and follow the tour road to the visitor center at 3501 Old Nashville Highway. Nashville International Airport is about 30 miles northwest. The visitor center has the battlefield museum, a 9-minute orientation film, accessible restrooms, a park store and the park folder with a map. Visitor center parking opens at 7 a.m. and closes 30 to 45 minutes before sunset.

The tour road and its stops

The self-guided battlefield tour can be driven, biked or walked. The tour road is one-way, and parking at tour stops is reserved for people taking the tour; recreational users park at the visitor center. The park suggests this order:

1. Visitor center

   The tour begins here. The visitor center has the museum, a 9-minute orientation film (captioned and audio described), the park store run by America’s National Parks, and the park folder with a map.

2. Stop 1: Eve of Battle

   On Dec. 30, 1862, Union troops of the Army of the Cumberland under Gen. William S. Rosecrans took position along McFadden’s Lane, today’s Van Cleve Lane, with the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg a quarter to half mile to the east.

3. Stop 2: The Slaughter Pen

   The battle began at 6 a.m. on Dec. 31. Union divisions under Gens. Philip Sheridan and James Negley held here, Negley’s men sheltering among limestone outcroppings and trees, and stalled nearly half the Confederate army for two hours while the rest of the Union army regrouped along the Nashville Pike.

4. Stop 3: The Struggle for the Nashville Pike

   Rosecrans re-formed his line into a horseshoe to protect the Nashville Pike, his only line of retreat. More than 30 cannons on the heights beat back repeated Confederate attacks across the cotton field.

5. Stop 4: Holding Fast

   Two untested units, the Chicago Board of Trade Battery and the Pioneer Brigade, turned back three Confederate attacks on the afternoon of Dec. 31. The battery fired nearly 1,300 rounds that afternoon.

6. Stones River National Cemetery

   The national cemetery sits along the tour route. Its parking area gate keeps the same hours as the tour road.

7. Stop 5: Hell’s Half Acre and the Hazen Brigade Monument

   Col. William B. Hazen’s brigade held the Round Forest between the Nashville Pike and the railroad through four attacks. It was the only Union unit that did not retreat on Dec. 31.

8. Stop 6: McFadden Farm

   The battle’s final action. At 4 p.m. on Jan. 2, 1863, Gen. John C. Breckinridge’s Confederates drove Union troops from the high ground east of the river, then Union cannon above McFadden’s Ford killed or wounded more than 1,800 of them in less than an hour.

McFadden Farm (Tour Stop 6), the national cemetery and Redoubt Brannan have their own parking areas, with gates open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., closing at 4:30 p.m. from November through February. The park says about 60 percent of its historic features can be seen from a vehicle.

Hazen Brigade Monument

The National Park Service describes the Hazen Brigade Monument as the oldest American Civil War monument still standing in its original battlefield location. A detail of soldiers led by Lt. Edward Crebbin of the 9th Indiana built it between June and October 1863, among the graves of 55 soldiers in the brigade cemetery. Two soldiers of the 115th Ohio Infantry carved its inscriptions in 1864.

Stones River National Cemetery

Beginning in October 1865, Chaplain William Earnshaw, the cemetery's first superintendent, and the 111th United States Colored Infantry spent nearly a year locating and reburying Union soldiers from the battlefield, Murfreesboro and the surrounding area. The park's cemetery page lists 6,124 Union soldiers buried there, 2,303 of them unknown, along with 793 later veterans and family members, for 7,148 total interments as of 2025. The cemetery closed to new burial reservations in 1973. Pets and bicycles are not allowed inside. In summer, rangers lead a limited, reservation-only lantern-light walk through the cemetery called Hallowed Ground.

Trails

The park has roughly seven miles of trails for walking, hiking and jogging. The half-mile Cotton Field Trail is paved and accessible and passes through fields where the battle was fought on the afternoon of Dec. 31, 1862. The 3.2-mile boundary trail is a more challenging walk through woods and rock outcrops. Bicycles, including e-bikes, are allowed on paved trails and roads but not on unpaved trails. Information about paved trails is available at the visitor center desk.

Ranger programs and kids

Park rangers and volunteers offer talks, walks, tours and living history programs through the year, including ranger-led bicycle tours that start at the visitor center. Dates are posted on the park calendar. Children can pick up a free Junior Ranger booklet at the visitor center: completing at least six activities at or above their age level earns a badge, and ten or more earns a patch.

The Battle of Stones River in brief

In late 1862 the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg was camped at Murfreesboro, about 30 miles from Gen. William S. Rosecrans' Union Army of the Cumberland in Nashville. Rosecrans left Nashville on Dec. 26, 1862. The battle opened at 6 a.m. on Dec. 31 with a Confederate attack on the Union right. By dark Rosecrans' army had been pushed back three miles, but it still held the Nashville Pike. Both armies spent Jan. 1 reorganizing. On Jan. 2, 1863, Union artillery at McFadden's Ford broke the final Confederate attack, and Bragg's army retreated, giving up a large part of Middle Tennessee.

The National Park Service counts it among the bloodiest battles of the war: more than 3,000 men killed, nearly 16,000 wounded, and nearly 24,000 casualties out of 81,000 engaged. The result gave President Abraham Lincoln a victory to boost morale and support the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect Jan. 1, 1863; later in 1863 he called it “a hard earned victory” in a telegram to Rosecrans.

President Calvin Coolidge signed the law creating Stones River National Military Park on March 3, 1927. It became part of the National Park Service in 1933 and was renamed Stones River National Battlefield in 1960, so the park reaches its 100th anniversary in 2027.

Fortress Rosecrans and the greenway connection

After the battle, the Union army built Fortress Rosecrans, which the park describes as the largest earthen fortification of its kind built during the Civil War. Designed by Brig. Gen. James St. Clair Morton, it covered more than 200 acres, was built to hold up to 10,000 troops and protected a supply depot that could supply 65,000 men for up to 90 days. It had nine lunettes, connecting curtain walls and four interior redoubts, and it was never attacked.

Only fragments survive. The park preserves Lunettes Palmer and Thomas, Curtain Wall No. 2 and Redoubt Brannan; remnants of Curtain Wall No. 1 sit on City of Murfreesboro property along the Lytle Creek Greenway. The park asks visitors to stay on the paved trail and boardwalks to protect the earthworks.

The city's Stones River Greenway gives walkers and cyclists access to McFadden Farm, General Bragg's Headquarters, Redoubt Brannan and Fortress Rosecrans, and a trail at Tour Stop 1 links the tour road to the greenway. See the Murfreesboro greenway guide for trailheads and routes.

Tips for visiting

• Allow about two hours for the museum and the self-guided tour, per the park.
• Plan around gate times: vehicle gates close at 5 p.m. (4:30 p.m. November through February), while walkers and cyclists may stay on park roads and trails until sunset.
• Summers are hot and humid with highs in the 90s; do not leave pets in vehicles.
• Picnicking is allowed only in the picnic area across the parking lot from the visitor center. Skates, skateboards, scooters, kite flying and ball games are not permitted.
• Watch for walkers, cyclists and wildlife on the tour road, and park only in designated areas.
• The visitor center and its restrooms are accessible, and the orientation film is captioned and audio described.
• Bring a camera: the battlefield appears in the Murfreesboro photography spots guide.

Nearby in Murfreesboro

• Oaklands Mansion

  Historic house museum with its own Civil War history.

• Murfreesboro Greenway System

  Paved trails that link to battlefield units by foot or bike.

• Cannonsburgh Village

  Pioneer village and museum in Murfreesboro.

• Photography spots

  Where to take photos around Murfreesboro.

• Free things to do

  More no-cost outings in Murfreesboro.

• All things to do

  The full Murfreesboro things-to-do guide.

Stones River National Battlefield FAQ