Before assisting in the gallant fight on the right of the center with Sheridan in his new position, Negley's division, after repelling all assaults made on it, had been engaged in heavy fighting on its front since the middle of the morning.On the withdrawal of Sheridan, Negley's division found themselves surrounded by the enemy in swarms.Rousseau's division in reserve, and Palmer's on the left, had retired to the rear of the cedars, to form a new line.Falling back through the cedar-brakes in the rear of the division, under a concentrated fire of musketry and artillery at short range, the rebels were driven back in front and checked in the rear.Miller's and Stanley's brigades on reaching the woods reformed their lines, faced to the rear and fired several volleys into the enemy, then advanced over the open fields across which these brigades had just retired.In passing through the cedars the enemy pressed so closely on the division that in some parts of Miller's brigade the lines of the opposing armies seemed commingled.
The division then reformed on the new line, as directed by Thomas, near the Nashville pike.
Early in the day, with the breaking up and retreat of the two fine divisions of McCook's corps, the extent of the disaster to the right was forced upon Rosecrans with terrible earnestness.Realizing at once that upon him devolved the task of making such disposition of his command as would ensure the safety of his army, he immediately gave the necessary orders for the movement of the troops.Hurriedly galloping to the centre, where he found Thomas, he at once ordered Rousseau's division--held as reserve heretofore--to be sent to the support of what was left of McCook's line into the cedar-brakes to the right and rear of Sheridan.Rosecrans then ordered Crittenden to suspend Van Cleve's movement across the river on the left, to cover the crossing with one brigade, and to move the other two brigades westward across the fields toward the railroad for a reserve.He also directed Wood to suspend his preparations for his crossing and for him to move at once to the new line on the right and hold Hascall in reserve.Up to this time Rosecrans had hoped that McCook, notwithstanding the disaster to the right, might stay the onset with his own troops.With the volume of stragglers and the detachments from the broken commands swarming to the rear through the cedars Rosecrans soon became satisfied that McCook was routed.
He then ordered Van Cleve to be sent in to the right of Rousseau, and Wood to send Colonel Harker's brigade farther down the Murfreesboro pike with orders to go in and attack the enemy on the right of Van Cleve.The pioneer brigade had been posted on the knoll of ground west of the Nashville pike and about four or five hundred yards in the rear of Palmer's centre, supporting Stokes's battery.On Negley's division being compelled to retire, Thomas ordered him with Rousseau to form their divisions along a depression in the open ground in rear of the cedars, as a temporary line, until the artillery could be posted on the high ground near to and west of the Murfreesboro pike.Rousseau's division, cutting its way through the enemy in falling back from the cedars, took position on this temporary line with all its batteries posted on the knoll a short distance to the rear.Here the severest engagement of this day of heavy fighting was had, almost hand to hand.At this point the new line had open ground in front of it for some four or five hundred yards.Rousseau, while his batteries were unlimbering, requested Van Cleve to move with Colonel Samuel Beatty's brigade of his division to form on his right, check the rebel advance and drive it back.Van Cleve instantly moved his troops on the double quick and reached the desired position in good season.Upon these troops in this new line the rebels charged in dense masses, flushed with the victory of the early morning and elate with the hope of continued success to the end.They had swept everything before them thus far, and felt that with renewed effort the successful issue of the battle was within their grasp.Emerging from the cedars with yell after yell, firing as they came, they rushed forward four lines deep in the attempt to cross the open field and drive back this new line that stood in their pathway to final victory.At once Rousseau's division and Beatty's brigade opened fire upon the advancing columns, while Guenther's and Loomis's batteries added effect to it by sending double shotted canister into their thick ranks.The rebels moved on for a time, but the fire proved too terrible and they were driven back with great slaughter.On reaching the cedars these troops were rallied by their officers, and with fresh troops as supports they advanced once more, with a determined effort to carry our position at this point.But again they were, after a more desperate struggle, driven back.Again and again they returned to the assault, in four deliberate and fiercely sustained efforts, each time to meet with a repulse.The brigade of regulars under the command of Colonel Shepherd sustained the heaviest blows of this assault.They had the efficient support of Scribner's and John Beatty's brigades, of Loomis's and Guenther's batteries, and of the pioneer brigade under Captain St.Clair Morton, with Stokes's battery.Sheppard's command lost in killed and wounded in this short and severe contest, 26 officers and 611 enlisted men, making a total loss of 637 out of 1,566 effectives.The centre succeeded in driving back the enemy from its front, gallantly holding its ground against overwhelming odds, while the artillery concentrating its fire on the cedar thickets on their right drove the enemy far back under cover of the woods.
While the right and centre had been thus actively engaged, the left had also borne its full share of the heavy fighting of the day.
