The Battle of Chickamauga (18-20 September 1863) was a major battle of the American Civil War that was fought between the 60,000-strong Union Army of the Cumberland under William S. Rosecrans and the 65,000-strong Confederate Army of Tennessee under Braxton Bragg in northern Georgia. The battle came at the end of a Union offensive against the Confederate States Army in the Tennessee region, and the Union repulsed Bragg's attacks on 18 September 1863 with heavy losses. The next day, Rosecrans was misinformed that there was a gap in his line, and he redeployed some forces to that sector; in doing so, he created an actual gap, which was exploited by James Longstreet's corps. The Confederate attack on this gap forced Rosecrans and a large portion of his army to retreat, and George Henry Thomas led a fighting retreat, leading to him becoming known as "the Rock of Chickamauga". The end result of the battle was a Union withdrawal to Chattanooga, which was soon under siege by the Confederates. However, Bragg had failed to recover eastern Tennessee or to destroy Rosecrans' army, and his army suffered heavy losses. The Union lost 16,170 troops, including William H. Lytle, while the Confederates lost 18,454 troops, including generals Benjamin Hardin Helm, James Deshler, and Preston Smith; John Bell Hood lost a leg in the battle.
Background[]
After the near defeat at Stones River, William S. Rosecrans spent the spring and early summer of 1863 rebuilding his strength, much to Lincoln's exasperation. When Rosecrans finally moved in late June and early July, he succeeded in driving Braxton Bragg out of south-central Tennessee, leaving the major railroad junction of Chattanooga vulnerable to capture.
In one week, Union troops pushed their foes back almost 80 miles at the cost of only 570 casualties - an advance known as the Tullahoma campaign. But then Rosecrans stalled, waiting for repairs to railroads and more supplies, before he moved forward again.
History[]
Reactivated to command the Army of the Ohio, General Ambrose Burnside marched on Knoxville, the "capital" of East Tennessee. On 3 September 1863, he was greeted with joy by most of its citizens, who were Union sympathizers. Meanwhile, Rosecrans had been on the move since mid-August, advancing virtually unopposed the last few miles to Chattanooga, thanks to various feints and deceptions that fooled General Braxton Bragg about his final objective.
On 8 September, the Confederates evacuated Chattanooga, to the great dismay of Jefferson Davis, who wrote, "We are now in the darkest hour of our political existence." But Davis had weathered similar military disappointments before and was determined to turn this one around. Bragg withdrew to northern Georgia, where he received two divisions from Joseph E. Johnston's inactive army, bringing the strength of the Army of Tennessee almost on par with Rosecrans' force. To provide Bragg with the numerical superiority that might bring victory, Davis also sent him the bulk of Longstreet's corps from the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee protested, claiming that he needed Longstreet and his divisions for a new offensive against General Meade, but Davis rightly understood that the decisive theater of the war was, for now, in the West.
Tension mounts[]
On 9 September, the first of Longstreet's seasoned troops boarded trains for a 550-mile journey through Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia. The direct route from Virginia to Tennessee no longer existed because of the fall of Chattanooga to the Union. It would take nine days for these reinforcements - 12,000 strong - to reach Bragg from the East, but they would arrive just in time.
In early September, Bragg made a series of attempts to bait Rosecrans into advancing his army corps. On three occasions the Union commander took the bait, and could have been badly mauled. But in each instance one or other of Bragg's subordinates failed to follow his orders sufficiently. Rosecrans grew cautious, consolidating his army along the West Chickamauga Creek. Bragg was determined to flank him and to get between him and his base at Chattanooga. On 18 September, the first of Longstreet's troops arrived, and after a day of desultory skirmishing, Bragg decided to wait to the morrow to hit the Union army in full force.
The Battle of Chickamauga[]
As the sun rose on 19 September, the pickets of each side, after lying close to each other the night before, opened fire with a sharp exchange. The fire grew in intensity, especially on the Union left, where, despite the thick woods, Bragg attempted to outflank General George Henry Thomas' corps. Brigade after brigade was sent in by both sides in an attempt to win the field, but by the end of the day neither side had gained the advantage.
That night Thomas ordered his men to dig entrenchments, while Rosecrans reinforced him. Meanwhile, the majority of Longstreet's two divisions joined Bragg's army. Bragg decided to renew the fight the next day with an army-wide attack en echelon, in a slightly staggered right-to-left sequence. Leonidas Polk's wing was to start the action on the right, which would progress to Longstreet, who controlled the left.
On the morning of 20 September, Polk's divisions - which had started late - battered against Thomas' entrenched defenders to no avail. Bragg became frustrated with Polk and canceled the echelon attack, and ordered Longstreet to assault with everything he had. Unbeknownst to either Bragg or Rosecrans, Longstreet had prepared his troops for such an event. Perhaps remembering Pickett's Charge, where linear formations had failed to pierce the enemy line, he had arranged his brigades in columns.
When Longstreet ordered the attack at about 11:30 AM, it hit the enemy with tremendous power and, unfortunately for Rosecrans, precisely in a location that one of his divisions had just mistakenly vacated. Poor staff work was responsible for an error that now left a quarter-mile gap in the Union lines, and as Longstreet's veterans poured through, they demolished the Federal right and sent one-third of Rosecrans' army running for their lives to Chattanooga. The Union commander joined the flight, abandoning his army to its fate.
Longstreet now smelled a victory of strategic proportions and ordered in his last reserves, at the same time begging Bragg to send him reinforcements. When one materialized, a nonplussed Longstreet pressed forward nonetheless, only to come up against Thomas' corps. The Union general had ordered them to make a rearguard stand on Horseshoe Ridge, in a bid to protect the retreat of the rest of the army. Longstreet responded by throwing assault after assault, but each time Thomas held him, his valor and steadfast conduct later earning him the nickname "The Rock of Chickamauga."
As the sun set on the bloodsoaked field, Thomas finally withdrew his weary command and joined the rest of the Union army at Chattanooga.
Aftermath[]
The Battle of Chickamauga proved to be a bloody Confederate tactical victory that temporarily shifted the course of the Civil War in the Western theater.
Rosecrans had escaped destruction and now lay behind Chattanooga's fortifications. Both Longstreet and Nathan Bedford Forrest urged Bragg to move at once against the Union forces before they could recover, but the Confederate commander was as stunned in victory as Rosecrans was in defeat. Incredulous about his superios' inertia, Forrest asked, "What does he fight battles for?" In the weeks to come the strategic fruits of Chickamauga slipped away into an exhausting siege of Chattanooga, which the Confederates were ill-equipped to undertake. As for Rosecrans, Lincoln wrote that he behaved "confused and stunned like a duck hit on the head."
Rosecrans found himself and his army in an unusual situation after Chickamauga: a Union army occupying a Southern city besieged by a Confederate army. By October, food was running out for the Union troops, and Bragg had cut off al but one fragile supply line across the Cumberland Mountains. If Rosecrans were to surreder, Union momentum would have stalled considerably.