Turning Point In Tennessee - The Union Army of the Cumberland had been pursing the Confederate Army of the Tennessee after the Battle of Perryville, in October 1862. Throughout November the Confederate commander, Braxton Bragg, had misinterpreted that pursuit as an effort to capture Chattanooga; so now he halted and deployed his troops northwest of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, so as to safeguard the road junction there. Thus the Confederates sat and awaited their pursuers for a month. When the Federal army arrived in late December 1862, the Confederates launched a surprise attack near Stones River.