The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. The battle was the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and involved the second highest number of casualties in the war following the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the first major battle of the war that was fought in Georgia.
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| - The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. The battle was the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and involved the second highest number of casualties in the war following the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the first major battle of the war that was fought in Georgia.
- Forces: Army of the Cumberland (62,000 commanded by Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans) vs. Army of Tennessee (65,000 commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg). Location: Catoosa and Walker Counties, Georgia. “Chickamauga” means “stagnant water” in Cherokee and “good country” in Chickasaw. The popular translation “River of Death” comes from its notability as the location where the Cherokee first encountered smallpox. Chickamauga was the largest battle and the last Confederate victory in the western theatre. The battlefield is now Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
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- approx. 65,000
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| - 16170(xsd:integer)
- 18454(xsd:integer)
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| - Catoosa County and Walker County, Georgia
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| - The Edge of Glory, Rosecrans biographer William M. Lamers
- Telegram to U.S. War Department, 4 p.m., Charles A. Dana
- Confederate Brig. Gen. Bushrod Johnson
- Confederate Lt. Gen. D.H. Hill
- Six Armies in Tennessee, Steven E. Woodworth
- Six Armies in Tennessee, Steven E. Woodworth.
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| - Whether he did or did not know that Thomas still held the field, it was a catastrophe that Rosecrans did not himself ride to Thomas, and send Garfield to Chattanooga. Had he gone to the front in person and shown himself to his men, as at Stone River, he might by his personal presence have plucked victory from disaster, although it is doubtful whether he could have done more than Thomas did. Rosecrans, however, rode to Chattanooga instead.
- Taken as a whole, the performance of the Confederate right wing this morning had been one of the most appalling exhibitions of command incompetence of the entire Civil War.
- The scene now presented was unspeakably grand. The resolute and impetuous charge, the rush of our heavy columns sweeping out from the shadow and gloom of the forest into the open fields flooded with sunlight, the glitter of arms, the onward dash of artillery and mounted men, the retreat of the foe, the shouts of the hosts of our army, the dust, the smoke, the noise of fire-arms—of whistling balls and grape-shot and of bursting shell—made up a battle scene of unsurpassed grandeur.
- It seems to me that the elan of the Southern soldier was never seen after Chickamauga. ... He fought stoutly to the last, but, after Chickamauga, with the sullenness of despair and without the enthusiasm of hope. That 'barren victory' sealed the fate of the Confederacy.
- My report today is of deplorable importance. Chickamauga is as fatal a name in our history as Bull Run.
- The land between Chickamauga Creek and the LaFayette Road was gently rolling but almost completely wooded. ... In the woods no officer above brigadier could see all his command at once, and even the brigadiers often could see nobody's troops but their own and perhaps the enemy's. Chickamauga would be a classic "soldiers battle," but it would test officers at every level of command in ways they had not previously been tested. An additional complication was that each army would be attempting to fight a shifting battle while shifting its own position. ... Each general would have to conduct a battle while shuffling his own units northward toward an enemy of whose position he could get only the vaguest idea. Strange and wonderful opportunities would loom out of the leaves, vines, and gunsmoke, be touched and vaguely sensed, and then fade away again into the figurative fog of confusion that bedeviled men on both sides. In retrospect, victory for either side would look simple when unit positions were reviewed on a neat map, but in Chickamauga's torn and smoky woodlands, nothing was simple.
- While Rosecrans went to Chattanooga, Thomas and two thirds of the Union army were making a desperate yet magnificent stand that has become a proud part of the military epic of America. Thomas, Rosecrans' firm friend and loyal lieutenant, would thereafter justly be known as the Rock of Chickamauga.
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| - Forces: Army of the Cumberland (62,000 commanded by Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans) vs. Army of Tennessee (65,000 commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg). Location: Catoosa and Walker Counties, Georgia. “Chickamauga” means “stagnant water” in Cherokee and “good country” in Chickasaw. The popular translation “River of Death” comes from its notability as the location where the Cherokee first encountered smallpox. The Battle of Chickamauga was the most decisive Union defeat in the American Civil War. It was the final battle of the Chickamauga Campaign, following 2nd Chattanooga and Davis’s Cross Roads. The combination of limited visibility and a tactical blunder allowed the Confederate forces to break the Union line and force them to retreat. The Union won strategic victories in the Stones River and Tullahoma Campaigns, driving General Braxton Bragg’s forces into Chattanooga and putting Middle Tennessee in Union hands. Following the Battle of Stones River, Rosecrans spent five and a half months reinforcing Murfreesboro into a supply depot. Situated between Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Raccoon Mountain, and Stringer’s Ridge, Chattanooga (pop. 2,500 as of the battle) occupied an important, defensible position. It is on a rail line directly through the Appalachian Mountains into the Confederate heartland and on the shore of the Tennessee River. Chattanooga is also a manufacturing centre for iron and coke. Whoever controlled Chattanooga had access to road, rail, and river routes directly into the heart of Confederate territory. Prior to Chickamauga, General Rosecrans had executed a cunning plan in the Second Battle of Chattanooga. For two weeks from August 21, Col. John T. Wilder’s brigade bombarded the city from the northeast, within line of sight, to keep General Bragg’s attention on him and away from the four divisions sneaking in from the south and west. On September 8, Bragg learned about the massive Union force and abandoned the city. Rosecrans left about 1/5 of his 80,000 men to protect middle Tennessee and his communications lines. The Army of the Cumberland captured the city without a fight. On September 10-11, Maj. Gen. James S. Negley’s division withdrew from battle with the forces of Breckinridge and Hindman at Davis’s Cross Roads. After the indecisive encounter, Bragg turned his attention north, toward the XXI Corps of Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden. The battle occurred because the armies met near Jay’s Mill; they had not wanted to engage in the thick forests between Chickamauga Creek and La Fayette Road, which limited visibility to 150 yards at best. Col. John Croxton encountered Brig. Gen. John Pegram’s unaware cavalry several hundred feet south of Reed’s Bridge Road, which Croxton thought he was following. The cavalry had been sent to investigate the fire coming from Reed’s Bridge. The surprise attack was the opening of the Battle of Chickamauga. Rosecrans and Thomas continually moved troops to reinforce the left flank. Rosecrans eventually concluded that he had a gap in his right-centre, ordered Brig. Gen. Wood to plug it, and opened a gap for Hood and Lt. Gen. Longstreet to exploit before McCook could move his division into that position. Brotherton cabin was an excellent choice for the attack: it had no nearby high ground, no creeks or rivers to impede the advance and some roads that could make it easier to move wagons forward. It also was directly in front of the Widow Glenn’s house, where Rosecrans had set up headquarters after moving north from the town of Chickamauga. Longstreet’s corps, along with Bushrod Johnson’s men had moved into position directly in front of Thomas Wood and began to drive forward just as Wood’s men pulled back. The result was devastating. The Confederate push swept Rosecrans, McCook, and Crittenden from the battlefield. George Thomas’s line curled under the attack. He withdrew to Snodgrass Hill and formed his defences there. Brig. Gen. James Steedman’s division of Granger’s reserve corps arrived just in time to reinforce Thomas against Bushrod Johnson. Rosecrans ordered Thomas at sundown to withdraw beyond Missionary Ridge. Bragg then used key high terrain to siege Rosecrans’s retreating forces and Chattanooga itself. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant commanded the Federal troops sent from Virginia and Mississippi to relieve the Army of Cumberland (see Chattanooga Campaign), affecting the timetable of Federal victory in those areas. Chickamauga was the largest battle and the last Confederate victory in the western theatre. The battlefield is now Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Casualties: 16,170 Union, 18,454 Confederate
- The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. The battle was the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and involved the second highest number of casualties in the war following the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the first major battle of the war that was fought in Georgia. The battle was fought between the Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg, and was named for Chickamauga Creek, which meanders near the battle area in northwest Georgia (and ultimately flows into the Tennessee River about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northeast of downtown Chattanooga). After his successful Tullahoma Campaign, Rosecrans renewed the offensive, aiming to force the Confederates out of Chattanooga. In early September, Rosecrans consolidated his forces scattered in Tennessee and Georgia and forced Bragg's army out of Chattanooga, heading south. The Union troops followed it and brushed with it at Davis's Cross Roads. Bragg was determined to reoccupy Chattanooga and decided to meet a part of Rosecrans's army, defeat it, and then move back into the city. On September 17 he headed north, intending to attack the isolated XXI Corps. As Bragg marched north on September 18, his cavalry and infantry fought with Union cavalry and mounted infantry, which were armed with Spencer repeating rifles. Fighting began in earnest on the morning of September 19. Bragg's men strongly assaulted but could not break the Union line. The next day, Bragg resumed his assault. In late morning, Rosecrans was misinformed that he had a gap in his line. In moving units to shore up the supposed gap, Rosecrans accidentally created an actual gap, directly in the path of an eight-brigade assault on a narrow front by Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet. Longstreet's attack drove one-third of the Union army, including Rosecrans himself, from the field. Union units spontaneously rallied to create a defensive line on Horseshoe Ridge, forming a new right wing for the line of Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, who assumed overall command of remaining forces. Although the Confederates launched costly and determined assaults, Thomas and his men held until twilight. Union forces then retired to Chattanooga while the Confederates occupied the surrounding heights, besieging the city.
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