Rutherford County strongly supported the Confederacy during the Civil War, having voted 2,392 to 73 in favor of Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession on June 8, 1861. Rutherford County's central location and proximity to Nashville during the Civil War made it a contested area. The county was home to one of the bloodiest battles of the war, the Battle of Stones River, which was fought between December 31, 1861, and January 2, 1862. On July 13, 1862, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest conducted a series of operations in the county known as Forrest's Raid. The raid successfully led to the surrender of Union forces occupying the area. Soon after, Union troops retook the region and occupied it until the end of the war.