What happened at the Battle of Chickamauga when the fighting became really intense on the second and third days was so critical and so significant in terms of military tactics, strategies and movements that it continues to be discussed at length to this day.
There are endless historical publications regarding the event—one of the most authoritative books on the battle is over 600 pages long—and it continues to be a source of training and study for those interested in the tactics of war. Students from the U.S. War College, a training ground for the best and brightest military students in this country, are regularly sent by that institution to walk the ground of Chickamauga battlefield with the park historian to learn lessons about the decisions made, for good or ill, and the outcomes of those decisions.
Since I am no expert in military studies and will have to admit that I am less than interested in which general outflanked which other or which commander allowed his right flank to be “up in the air”—that being a truly mysterious term for an army, I think—I will borrow from several sources here and summarize the outcomes of this terrible battle in the simplest terms possible which I can understand.
Historical painting of the Battle of Chickamauga by James Walker
Although it wasn’t fought there, the Battle of Chickamauga was really about Chattanooga which, after Atlanta, was the chief transportation center of the South. New Orleans, the great river transport center, had been lost to the South sometime before. Bragg and his Confederate Army had been forced out of Chattanooga by the Union army in early September and had moved into North Georgia prepared for a fight. The skirmishes I have mentioned in earlier articles, which took place in Dade and Walker Counties, were steps toward what everyone knew would be a huge battle, but it turned out to be a great deal more horrifying than anyone expected.
There were a number of rather disorganized skirmishes on September 18, 1863, as both sides found their footing and tried to grasp the lay of the land. More intense fighting began on the morning of September 19, 1863. The Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg strongly assaulted units of the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans but the rebels were unable to break the Union line, which basically followed the LaFayette Road as we know it today.
On the next day, 20 September, the Confederates resumed the assault. Toward noon of that day, the Union commander received news that there was a gap in his line and he rushed to move units of soldiers to that area to fill it.
One of the amazing things about life is how often, despite all our planning and methodology, things just happen serendipitously that may affect the rest of our future. This message and the resulting movement affected many lives on that day and forever after.
There was no gap in the line. It was a mistake made because in the thick woods of the battlefield, it was hard to see men who were doing their best to take cover. So whoever was sent to check Rosecrans’s line in this area made a mistake. Rosecrans’s action was thus another mistake, for when he pulled troops from the area where he thought there was a gap, he created a real gap. And this is where the serendipitous stuff comes in.
The new gap was right in front of a bunch of crack Confederate troops who had just arrived in Chattanooga the day before. Their commander was Lieutenant General James Longstreet, a Georgian from Gainesville and one of Robert E. Lee’s favorite lieutenants in the Virginia campaign. He and his troops had been sent as reinforcements to the Army of Tennessee because of the importance of this battle and, to be honest, because the general-in-charge, Braxton Bragg, was not performing very well. When Rosecrans created the real gap, Longstreet saw it immediately and attacked through it with his full force so ferociously that he drove one-third of the Union army, including Rosecrans himself, from the field.
Rosecrans and crew took a huge number of soldiers, wagons carrying everything that was needed to fight including ammunition, food, and ambulances, and departed in a frenzy up the Dry Valley Road (about where the lower part of McFarland Gap Road is now) toward Chattanooga and safety. After years of being held in high esteem by his peers and the men who fought for him alike, this was, effectively, the end of Rosecrans’s career and he was relieved of his position soon afterward.
But this wasn’t the end of the Battle of Chickamauga. A group of Union units decided to make a stand on Horseshoe Ridge (now called Snodgrass Hill for the family whose farm had stood there). The man who took charge was Major General George H. Thomas who, for his actions that day earned the title of “Rock of Chickamauga.” Although the Confederates made assault after assault on the ridge, Thomas and his men held on until twilight, thus enabling the soldiers who had fled earlier to get away safely. The last fighters then retired to a gap in Missionary Ridge to safety for the night and eventually also retired to Chattanooga.
This was, of course,, a Confederate victory but it became a rather hollow victory as the Confederate commander, Braxton Bragg, then made a mistake probably as damaging as Rosecrans’s had been.
The Union army was on the run and demoralized. Many of those around Bragg felt that the Confederates should pursue the Union forces, take them on again while they were in a weakened situation, and try again to regain Chattanooga. For reasons known only to himself, as General Bragg was not a well man and trusted no one, he refused to take this advice.
So, although the Battle of Chickamauga was a win for the Confederacy, it was a much less meaningful win than it might have been as the South still did not regain Chattanooga and the fighting there had to continue. It was also a terribly destructive loss for the Union forces—not just in military terms but in terms of damage to morale in that army.
Most important of all, it was terribly costly to both sides in terms of casualties, which is a story in itself. Next time: the cost of war at Chickamauga.
To be continued...
--Joy Odom
hujodom149@gmail.com
NOTE: At this point we don’t know if the Dade Historical Society coke oven hike for March 2 will be postponed again. The weather looks very doubtful. The weatherman was calling for 60 percent thunder storms on Saturday.
If the hike is postponed again, it will be posted in the DCHSGA Facebook page and on the library electronic sign on the Courthouse Square as soon as a decision has been finalized. All who have signed up will receive an email about the status of the hike.
