After the Battle of Stones River ended on January 2, 1863, Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans occupied Murfreesboro while Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg withdrew south to the Highland Rim to protect the rail junction at Tullahoma, his headquarters, and the roads to Chattanooga, fortifying Shelbyville and Wartrace behind lightly defended mountain gaps. After months of delay, Rosecrans feinted toward Shelbyville on June 23, captured Hoovers and Liberty Gaps the next day, and sent a mounted infantry brigade to take Manchester on June 27, forcing the Confederates to concentrate at Tullahoma. On June 27, Bragg's army was withdrawing from the vicinity of fortified Shelbyville and concentrating at Tullahoma as rain, muddy roads, and swollen rivers hampered both armies. Union Gen. David S. Stanley's cavalry clashed outside town with Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler's troopers, who were screening the infantry's retreat. Wheeler's men temporarily occupied part of the defensive works on the outskirts of Shelbyville, but because the works were so extensive, Stanley's cavalry found an undefended section, entered it, and moved along it until they struck the Confederate flank. Part of Wheeler's command fled through Shelbyville, where street fighting included cavalry charges and artillery duels. Heavy fighting took place around the railroad depot, where the Confederates made a brief stand before continuing the retreat. After Wheeler learned that Gen. Nathan B. Forrest was on the way to support him, the Confederates attempted to capture the bridge over the Duck River, but Union cavalry overwhelmed Wheeler's men, and some men and horses were trampled near the bridge or drowned in the river. Lacking infantry support, Stanley discontinued the pursuit. Over the next several days, Bragg's army withdrew successively to Tullahoma, Decherd, and Cowan before the final retreat through the rugged mountains to Chattanooga by July 3. During the Civil War, Bedford County was divided in its loyalties and supplied nearly equal numbers of troops to the Confederate and Union armies. Shelbyville's pro-Union stance earned it the title "Little Boston," and Nathan Bedford Forrest, one of the Confederacy's best-known generals, was born in Bedford County in 1821 and took his middle name from the county. Five courthouses have stood on the square; the third, an imposing brick building constructed in 1830, burned in 1863 during the Confederate occupation, and the current courthouse, built in 1935, almost replicates the fourth courthouse, which burned in 1934.