*Includes pictures of the battles' important generals.
*Includes several maps of the battles.
*Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Bragg, Rosecrans, Longstreet, George H. Thomas, D.H. Hill, and more.
*Includes a Bibliography for further reading.
"I know Mr. Davis thinks he can do a great many things other men would hesitate to attempt. For instance, he tried to do what God failed to do. He tried to make a soldier of Braxton Bragg." - General Joseph E. Johnston
Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War and its biggest battles, particularly Gettysburg, Antietam, and Shiloh, all of which involved Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant. But the second biggest battle of the entire war mostly gets overlooked among casual readers, despite the fact it represented the last great chance for the Confederates to salvage the Western theater.
In mid-September, the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans had taken Chattanooga, but rather than be pushed out of the action, Army of Tennessee commander Braxton Bragg decided to stop with his 60,000 men and prepare a counterattack south of Chattanooga at a creek named Chickamauga. To bolster his fire-power, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent 12,000 additional troops under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet, whose corps had just recently fought at Gettysburg in July.
The Confederates nearly destroyed the Union army on September 20 during the battle of Chickamauga, when a Union blunder opened up a gap in front of a Confederate attack that sliced their army in two. As the Confederate assault continued, George H. Thomas led the Union left wing against heavy Confederate attack even after nearly half of the Union army abandoned their defenses and retreated from the battlefield, racing toward Chattanooga. Thomas rallied the remaining parts of the army and formed a defensive stand on Horseshoe Ridge, with more units spontaneously rallying to the new defensive line. Thomas and his men managed to hold until nightfall, when they made an orderly retreat to Chattanooga while the Confederates occupied the surrounding heights, ultimately besieging the city. Dubbed "The Rock of Chickamauga", Thomas's heroics ensured that Rosecrans' army was able to successfully retreat back to Chattanooga.
In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Having lost faith in Rosecrans after Chickamauga, Washington delegated Ulysses S. Grant with the task of lifting the siege by placing him in command of nearly the entire theater. Grant replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas, who had saved the army at Chickamauga, and ordered him to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards." Thomas replied, "We will hold the town till we starve."
What followed were some of the most remarkable operations of the entire Civil War. Hooker and his reinforcements helped open up a vital supply line known as the "cracker line", effectively ensuring that enough supplies could reach Knoxville. With that, preparations turned to a pitched battle between the two sides, and in a series of actions in late November, Grant sought to lift the siege and drive back Bragg's Confederate army by attacking their positions on high ground.
Although the Chattanooga Campaign was months long and involved several battles, it has become mostly remembered for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, one of the most remarkable and successful charges of the war. While Pickett's Charge, still the most famous attack of the war, was one unsuccessful charge, the Army of the Cumberland made over a dozen charges up Missionary Ridge and ultimately succeeded, winning the campaign for the Union.
With this book, you'll learn about Chickamauga and Chattanooga like you never have before.