Private John R. Halford (Co. D) from Blueville died today in Memphis.
The winter of 1862-63 was discouraging to the Union effort. Besides soldiers succumbing to disease, the battles had not gone their way. The Army of the Potomac, under General Burnside, met with terrible disaster on the battlefield at Fredericksburg, Virginia in December. That same month, General Sherman was turned away and suffered great losses at Vicksburg.
On January 1, 1863 the bloody battle of Stone's River, or Murfreesboro, was fought between the Union forces under General Rosecrans and the Confederates under General Bragg. Both sides lost eight to ten thousand men in killed and wounded, and neither could claim a decisive victory.
