Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park—Georgia, Tennessee — John Shaqi
Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park—Georgia, TennesseeSullivan, James R.
History
Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park—Georgia, Tennessee
Sullivan, James R.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (Ga. and Tenn.); United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Only part of the infantry troops, and none of the artillery, arrived in
time to participate in the Battle of Chickamauga; Longstreet himself was
not present for the first day’s fighting but three of his brigades were.
The five brigades (about 9,000 men) which took part in the second day of
battle became heroes along with their commander when they broke through
the Union line.
_Maneuver for Position_
Bragg was aware of the isolated positions of the Union Army, and he saw
an opportunity to strike his opponent in detail, one corps at a time,
while they were not in supporting distance of each other. He issued
orders to Maj. Gen. T. C. Hindman and Lt. Gen. D. H. Hill to strike Maj.
Gen. James S. Negley’s division of Thomas’ corps, which was in an
advanced position at McLemore’s Cove, but Hill failed to carry out his
order. Bragg ordered Buckner to join Hindman which he did on September
10. Instead of attacking Negley, the two Confederate commanders decided
that a different plan was needed for the situation and sent their
recommendation to Bragg. While this correspondence passed back and
forth, Negley withdrew and rejoined the rest of Thomas’ corps. The
Confederates had now lost their opportunity to strike and possibly
destroy this division.
Two days later a similar situation arose with the same result—loss of
the opportunity to strike another corps in detail. This time Bragg
ordered Polk to move his and Walker’s corps to Lee and Gordon’s Mills to
strike Union General Crittenden’s divided force. Two of Crittenden’s
divisions had marched toward Ringgold; one had moved to Lee and Gordon’s
Mills. Polk, instead of attacking, went on the defensive and asked for
reinforcements. For the second time in 3 days, subordinate Confederate
commanders allowed a Union corps to regroup.
Rosecrans now realized Bragg had concentrated and reinforced his army,
and that his own force was in danger of annihilation in its divided
condition. Accordingly he ordered General Granger, commanding the
Reserve Corps in the vicinity of Bridgeport, Ala., to Chattanooga;
General Crittenden to position at Lee and Gordon’s Mills on Chickamauga
Creek, some 12 miles south of Chattanooga; and General Thomas to move
northward toward Crittenden as soon as he was joined by General McCook’s
Corps, which had been commanded to make haste in joining the other
corps.
In the hurried concentration of the Army of the Cumberland, McCook
withdrew from Alpine and chose to retrace his way by crossing over
Lookout Mountain, thence up Lookout Valley where he had to recross the
mountain to join General Thomas. It took McCook approximately 5 days
(September 13 to 17) to complete this movement, greatly to the
consternation of Rosecrans who had expected McCook to follow the shorter
route on top of Lookout Mountain or roads through McLemore’s Cove. Some
of the troops, however, such as the Second Division, did forced marches
in some instances of 25 miles in a day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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