The Battle of Chickamauga was a bloody disaster for both sides and a shaky victory for the South. By comparison, its aftermath, the Battle of Chattanooga, was one of the most picturesque battles of the Civil War and a glorious victory for the North. It was this third and decisive victory for the North (after Vicksburg and Gettysburg) that gave the Union the upper-hand and turned the tide of the War. Henry Annis fought at both Chickamauga and Chattanooga, but years later, when reflecting on his wartime adventures, he chose to write the account of his experience at Lookout Mountain overlooking Chattanooga, Tennessee. Using Henry's memoir and the official reports and correspondence documented in the volumes of Official Records and The Rebellion Record, I have attempted to retrace Henry's wartime experience and reconstruct it in the larger context of this regiment, and of the battles themselves. I have also tried to trace the personal and military history of the man who told it the way he fought it, learn about his superior officers who controlled not only the outcome of the battles, but Henry's fate as well, and clarify his experiences with both a micro and macro account of the battles and the interim siege, striving for an overall picture of this part of the Civil War and Henry Annis's part in it.....June Gossler Anderson
About the authors:
Henry Brown Annis 1831-1922 On August 9, 1862 Henry Brown Annis was one month short of his 31st birthday when he enlisted in Company B, 96th Illinois to fight for the Cause of The Union on the battlefields of Chickamauga, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee leaving behind his wife, Emma, to tend the farm and care for their four young children. The Battle of Chickamauga was a bloody disaster for both sides and a shaky victory for the South. By comparison, its aftermath, the Battle of Chattanooga, was a glorious victory for the North and a severe blow to the dying Confederate Cause. Years later, when reflecting on his Civil War adventure, Henry Annis wrote a stirring account of this heady battle in his memoir: "Our Experiences on Lookout Mountain, November 23, 24, 25, 1863."
June Irene Anderson One hundred years later Henry's great-granddaughter, June Anderson, came upon a copy of the faded yellow manuscript. Pondering its significance she researched the battles and the role her ancestor and the 96th Illinois had played in them, attempting to retrace Henry's wartime experience and reconstruct it in the larger context of his regiment and of the battles themselves. Grandpa Henry and the Battle of Lookout Moutain is Henry's story as told through the history books, the reports of Henry's commanding officers, and Henry, himself.