In December 1862, Union General William S. Rosecrans led the Army of the Cumberland from Nashville toward Murfreesboro while Confederate General Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee held the town to protect the approaches to Chattanooga. The armies clashed on December 31, and a flank attack nearly drove the Federals from the field. Rosecrans held off another attack on January 2, 1863, and prepared to go over to the offensive, but Bragg, with his army exhausted, evacuated Murfreesboro the next day. One of the bloodiest battles of the war, Stones River produced 23,000 casualties out of 81,000 soldiers engaged. Its bloody finale came around 4 P.M. on January 2, 1863, when Union Colonel Samuel Beatty and his infantry division braced on a hill for an attack by Confederate General John C. Breckinridge's 4,400-man division. Bragg ordered the assault despite Breckinridge's objections because he could not tolerate Federal cannons on the hill overlooking his main line. Confederate guns bombarded the Union lines to divert attention, and when the cannon fire lifted, Breckinridge's men charged with fixed bayonets, broke Beatty's line, and pursued the retreating division over the hill. They were then met by the fire of 57 Union guns on the west side of the river, and the Confederate assault faltered and fell back to Wayne's Hill. Breckinridge's division lost more than 1,800 men killed or wounded. The action ended the battle, and that night Bragg's subordinates convinced him to abandon the fight. His withdrawal gave the Federals a slim tactical victory that became a critical strategic and political triumph at the beginning of 1863.