DK - The American Civil War

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 September
18, 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 September 19, 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 Thomas’s 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 September 20,
Polk’s divisions—which had started
late—battered against Thomas’s
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

Colt 1853 revolving rifle
Developed by Samuel Colt, this rifle had a revolving
cylinder that increased its rate of fire. It was used
by the 21st Ohio Volunteers at Chickamauga.

THE CHICKAMAUGA CAMPAIGN

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.

BRAGG AND ROSECRANS STUNNED

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 superior’s 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

214–15 ❯❯, 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.”

CHATTANOOGA UNDER SIEGE

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 all but one fragile

supply line across the Cumberland Mountains.

If Rosecrans were to surrender, Union momentum

would have stalled considerably.

failed to pierce the enemy line, he had

arranged his brigades in columns.

When Longstreet ordered the

attack at about 11:30 a.m., 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 (402-m) gap in

the Union lines, and as Longstreet’s

veterans poured through, they

demolished the Federal right and sent

one-third of Rosecrans’s 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 none materialized, a nonplussed

Longstreet pressed forward nonetheless,

only to come up against Thomas’s

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

AFTER

The estimated total

number of casualties

resulting from the Battle of Chickamauga.

Bragg lost around 18,000 men to

Rosecrans’s 16,000 —more than one-

quarter of their combined forces.

34,000

CONFEDERATE GENERAL (1806–64)

Born in North Carolina in 1806, Polk

attended West Point but also took holy

orders, and rose to the post of Bishop for

Louisiana in the Episcopal Church. During

the war “the fighting bishop” was a

mediocre but high-ranking leader in the

Western Theater, serving unspectacularly

under Bragg in most of his campaigns.

Beloved by his soldiers if not by his

colleagues, he was killed by Union

artillery while conferring with

fellow officers at Pine Mountain.

LEONIDAS POLK

The second day at Chickamauga

The course of the battle changed on September 20,

when Longstreet’s men broke through and routed the

Union right. But George Thomas’s men on Horseshoe

Ridge held out bravely until dusk, when the battle ended.

Thomas held firm, 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.

“There is not a man in the

right wing who has any

fight in him.”

BRAGG’S COMMENT TO LONGSTREET ON THE ECHELON ATTACK, SEPTEMBER 20, 1863

Revolving cylinder

Snodgrass

House

Chattanooga

West^ Chickamauga (^) Creek
ROSECRANS
BRAGG
GRANGER
THOMAS
CRITTENDEN
McCOOK
LONGSTREET
POLK
HOOD
La Fayette Road
La
Fa
yette Roa
d
Kelly
Horseshoe Field
Ridge
⑤ 3 p.m.: Granger’s
reserve arrives to
reinforce Thomas, who
defends Horseshoe Ridge
throughout the afternoon ① Sep 20, 9 a.m.:
Polk’s divisions make
no progress against
Union left
② 11:30 a.m.:
Longstreet attacks
Union right, breaking
through gap in the line
③ 12:30 p.m.:
Rosecrans joins
his troops
retreating toward
Chattanooga
KEY
Union positions Sep 20, 11 a.m.
Confederate positions Sep 20, 11 a.m.
Confederate front line Sep 20, 3 p.m.
⑥ Dusk: Thomas
receives order
from Rosecrans
to withdraw
④ 1 p.m.: Longstreet’s
forces wheel to the
right and join assault on
Horseshoe Ridge
0 km
0 miles 0.5 1
0.5 1
N