Rail fences like this one kept free-ranging livestock out of farm fields, but both armies quickly consumed them for firewood and breastworks. Courageous Confederate infantry made several charges across this field from noon on the 31st until dusk, while Union cannon posted to your right and on the rise across the Nashville Pike made the crossing almost suicidal. From that afternoon through the evening of January 3, 1863, this cotton field became a no man's land occupied by the dead and wounded of both sides. During that time, sharpshooters and skirmishers exchanged shots, making it dangerous to expose oneself, and Federal artillery frequently shelled the woods to harass the Confederates occupying crude breastworks behind you. On January 5, 1868, the grim work of burying the dead began.