The Confederacy’s Costly Victory at Chickamauga,
September 20, 1863
he clash of Union and Confederate armies at the small Appalachian town of Chickamauga was one of the costliest engagements of the American Civil War with 125,000 troops engaged. Occurring on the heels of the war’s bloodiest summer yet—which included the disastrous Confederate losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg—Chickamauga was a battle of missed opportunities, stupendous tactical blunders, and savage fighting by the men in ranks. The Confederate army secured a decisive victory during this battle but lost twenty percent of its force in the process. After two days of fierce fighting, the Confederates broke through the Union lines and routed the Federals whom they then besieged at Chattanooga, a small yet vital town that served as the crossroads for four major railroads and was the true focal point of the military campaign.
Cannon overlooking the river and city at the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, Chickamauga, Georgia
The commanders of the forces engaged in this battle had been contesting each other’s movements since June of 1863, as Union General William Rosecrans had been commissioned to seize Chattanooga and destroy the southeastern supply line, while Confederate General Bragg opposed his advance in so cautious a manner that he ended up retreating clean out of middle Tennessee and into Georgia, much to the dissatisfaction of his own command—the famed Army of the Tennessee. Discontent with his bloodless victory in seizing Chattanooga, General Rosecrans then chose to push his luck and augment his martial glory by chasing the retreating Confederates over the border into Georgia. There, having greatly underestimated Confederate numbers and morale, he would make his final blunder that led him to engage with his enemy at Chickamauga Creek and its surrounding countryside and bridges, over which a heartbreaking 34,000 casualties would be sacrificed in just two days.
Gen. Braxton Bragg, CSA (1817-1876)
Alexander’s Bridge over Chickamauga Creek
While a few maneuvers and skirmishes occurred the day before, the fighting began in earnest on the morning of September 19 when General Bragg’s Confederate Army threw themselves against the Union line without success. The next day, being September 20, General Bragg resumed his assault in the late morning, and in a stroke of providence, General Rosecrans was at the same time misinformed of there being a large gap in his line. In moving units to shore up the supposed gap, General Rosecrans accidentally created a very real one directly in the path of an eight-brigade assault on a narrow front, led by intrepid Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, whose corps had been detached from the Army of Northern Virginia and sent southward as reinforcements. Longstreet’s Virginia men poured through the fatal gap like furies, and by noon disaster had engulfed the center and right wings of the Union army, from whence Confederate forces drove one-third of the U.S. army, including General Rosecrans himself, from the field.
Gen. William Starke Rosecrans, USA (1819-1898)
Gen. James Longstreet, CSA (1821-1904)
Union Major General and native Virginian George H. Thomas drew acclaim that day for assuming command amidst the route, and valiantly rallying a new defensive line with his remaining troops. They held onto their positions until twilight while rebuffing repeated Confederate assaults which allowed the main Union force to retire to Chattanooga while the Confederates had to content themselves with occupying the surrounding heights, besieging the city. This defense of Horseshoe Ridge earned him the sobriquet “The Rock of Chickamauga”.
Gen. George Henry Thomas, USA (1816-1870)
Brotherton Cabin on the Chickamauga Battlefield where Longstreet charged the Union line
Another instance of uncommon valor that day belonged to the men who were sent to attack General Thomas’ stronghold. A New York native, Major General Archibald Gracie’s Confederate brigade consisted of chiefly Tennessee and Alabama men, three regiments of whom he had raised himself after moving to Mobile and adopting Alabama as the state to whom he owed his allegiance. During this battle, with the majority of General Longstreet’s army fully engaged in routing the fleeing Federals, the last two uncommitted brigades—which included Gracie’s—were ordered to assault General Thomas’ position on Horseshoe Ridge. Under withering fire, Gracie’s Confederates charged up the rise again and again until an Alabamian regiment got within forty yards of the Union line and there they delivered their first volley, then remained fixed while exchanging fire with the enemy for two hours until all their ammunition was gone, Horseshoe Ridge secured, and three Union regiments comprising the Union Army’s rearguard, were captured.
Gen. Archibald Gracie III, CSA (1832-1864)
A period photograph of Lee and Gordon’s Mills on the Chickamauga Battlefield
The South’s tactical victory at Chickamauga would be reversed into a strategic defeat two months later when a reinforced Union Army drove out the besieging Confederates, occupied Chattanooga for good, and advanced deeper into Georgia the following year. This caused Atlanta to fall in 1864 and opened the path for Sherman’s terrorizing March to the Sea. The battle at Chickamauga also resulted in a grand reshuffling of command on both sides of the war, the most significant being President Lincoln’s choice to give Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland to the gruff, undiplomatic but wildly successful General Ulysses S. Grant.
Cannon on the Chickamauga Battlefield, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park
Amongst those regular men comprising the bulk of the armies, the events of these two days of fighting were recorded as some of the most savage they had ever encountered—veterans and green recruits alike considered it ferocious beyond comprehension. Private Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee regiment, famed author of one of the most beloved auto-biographies of the Civil War, Co. Aytch, wrote what he witnessed that day:
“Reader, a battlefield, after the battle, is a sad and sorrowful sight to look at. The glory of war is but the glory of battle, the shouts, and cheers, and victory. We remained upon the battlefield of Chickamauga all night. Everything had fallen into our hands. We had captured a great many prisoners and small arms, and many pieces of artillery and wagons and provisions. The Confederate and Federal dead, wounded, and dying were everywhere scattered over the battlefield. Men were lying where they fell, shot in every conceivable part of the body… In fact, you might walk over the battlefield and find men shot from the crown of the head to the tip end of the toe. And then to see all those dead, wounded and dying horses… We rested on our arms where the battle ceased. All around us everywhere were the dead and wounded, lying scattered over the ground, and in many places piled in heaps. Many a sad and heart-rending scene did I witness upon this battlefield of Chickamauga. Our men died the death of heroes. I sometimes think that surely our brave men have not died in vain. It is true, our cause is lost, but a people who loved those brave and noble heroes should ever cherish their memory as men who died for them. I shed a tear over their memory. They gave their all to their country. Abler pens than mine must write their epitaphs, and tell of their glories and heroism. I am but a poor writer, at best, and only try to tell of the events that I saw.
Sam Watkins, CSA (1839-1901)
One scene I now remember, that I can imperfectly relate. While a detail of us were passing over the field of death and blood, with a dim lantern, looking for our wounded soldiers to carry to the hospital, we came across a group of ladies, looking among the killed and wounded for their relatives, when I heard one of the ladies say, ‘There they come with their lanterns.’ We approached the ladies and asked them for whom they were looking.
They told me the name, but I have forgotten it. We passed on, and coming to a pile of our slain, we had turned over several of our dead, when one of the ladies screamed out, ‘O, there he is! Poor fellow! Dead, dead, dead!’ She ran to the pile of slain and raised the dead man’s head and placed it on her lap and began kissing him and saying, ‘O, O, they have killed my darling, my darling, my darling! O, mother, mother, what must I do? My poor, poor darling! O they have killed him, they have killed him!’
I could witness the scene no longer. I turned and walked away, and William A. Hughes with me was crying, and remarked, ‘O, law’ me (Lord have mercy on me); this war is a terrible thing.’”
Florida Monument on the Chickamauga Battlefield
Image Credits: 1 Cannon overlooking the river (wikipedia.org) 2 Braxton Bragg (wikipedia.org) 3 Chickamauga Creek (wikipedia.org) 4 William Rosecrans (wikipedia.org) 5 James Longstreet (wikipedia.org) 6 George Henry Thomas (wikipedia.org) 7 Brotherton Cabin (wikipedia.org) 8 Archibald Gracie III (wikipedia.org) 9 Lee and Gordon’s Mills (wikipedia.org) 10 Cannon on Battlefield (wikipedia.org) 11 Sam Watkins (wikipedia.org) 12 Florida Monument (wikipedia.org)