New Year's in Civil War, other conflicts brought little celebration

By Tom Emery

New Year’s Eve and Day mark the traditional end of the holiday season and are celebrated by millions of Americans. But in the Civil War and other American conflicts, there was little cause for celebration as the calendar changed from one year to the next.

On the last day of 1862, thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers clashed in the first day of battle at Stones River, Tenn., one of the bloodiest engagements of the western theater. After a successful effort on December 31, southern commander Braxton Bragg sent a telegraph during a respite on the following day proclaiming “God...