Chickamauga Part III: A major mistake handed the Confederates their greatest victory
By Bob Ford Special to
Articles, podcasts and YouTube videos are complimentary from those helping preserve our history: Eagle Communications, Nodaway Valley Bank, Hughes Chiropractic, The Hearing Connection and Anonymous Buffs. To comment or join in supporting this non-profit, contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com.
On its final day, the Battle of Chickamauga had turned into a mutual slaughter, with attacks and maneuvers from both sides adding up to a very costly stalemate.
One stupid tactical error could turn the tide of battle and Union Commanding Gen. William Rosecrans was about to make it.
On the morning of Sept. 20, 1863, minister and Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk attacked General George Thomas and his well dug-in corps on the Union left. Polk, sending 10,000 troops in, had initial success but could not break the Union’s line. Nevertheless Thomas called on Rosecrans for reinforcements which started a series of moves that spelled doom for the Union Army.
Rosecrans could hear the heavy fighting in the distance and sent two divisions in support. As the general and his staff were riding behind the Union lines, he thought the move created an opening in the middle, it did not. The Union Commander and others did not see a division that was well positioned lying in the woods.
“Rosecrans ordered Gen. Thomas Wood’s division to move and fill the gap that didn’t exist,” proclaimed my favorite grocer Adam Stretch, whose great-great grandfather was there.
General Wood was torn, he knew there was no gap but he had been severely reprimanded by Rosecrans in front of his officers earlier in the day for questioning his orders. Wood realized if he followed these orders it would leave a gaping hole in the Union line but he had had it with the ill-tempered and exhausted Rosecrans.
Wood held the paper order in the air to his staff, “Gentlemen, I hold the fateful order of the day!” Wood with an “I’ll show him,” attitude ordered the shift, dooming the Union Army of the Cumberland.
Precisely as Wood’s 3,000-man division moved off — creating a quarter-mile-wide opening in the middle of the Union line. Confederate Gen. James Longstreet and his newly-arrived and organized men from the Army of North Virginia were set to attack at that exact place. It wasn’t based on heroic reconnaissance or great strategy, the location for his strike was plain dumb luck!
Polk’s assault on the left was a feint to draw Union troops and the attention of Rosecrans to the left, and it worked.
In storming, Longstreet and his 7,000 rebel yelling veterans charged through the gap before Rosecrans could react. They were a mile behind the Yankees in minutes, the North’s line quickly crumbled. Union soldiers on the right started to retreat in a panic, thousands running past Rosecrans — whose staff was swept up and carried away in the pandemonium.
To add more confusion, Longstreet’s men had received new uniforms before leaving Virginia. Somehow there was a misunderstanding, instead of butternut or Rebel gray, the new uni’s had dark blue coats and lighter blue pants … just like the enemy wore!
Throughout the Battle of Chickamauga troops fired on friendly units and sometimes not on the enemy at all. Thinking they were fellow good guys.
The retreat of Rosecrans and most of his army left Gen. George Thomas and a few ravaged divisions as the only Union troops on the field.
Once in Chattanooga, Rosecrans had second thoughts and wanted to return five miles south to the battlefield, but his Chief of Staff James Garfield — yes our future president — talked him out of it. Garfield himself returned and found Thomas retreating to higher ground.
Snodgrass Hill is the highest spot on the battlefield. Thomas, with remnants of seven Union divisions, was quickly falling back to defend that position. There were a few generals left to accompany him, among them James Steedman and Wood, who started this whole mess by “following orders!”
In the heat of battle on the Hill, General Steedman got on his horse to ride the perimeter, an officer under his charge was aghast, the ride meant certain death. The Lieutenant wanted to know what to tell people, the general rode off for a minute then came back, “just make sure those damn newspapers in the East spell my name right!” Steedman survived Chickamauga.
The Union faithful who were left held off the charging Rebels through seven brutal assaults. Snodgrass Hill is roughly 20 acres of undulating land surrounded by a 30 foot incline that turns very steep towards the top. Jim Odgen, the National Historian of the Battlefield, invited me to climb up the face as the attacking Rebels had to do, through the brush, rocky terrain and oh ya Yankee fire … no thanks! In the haze of battle, unimaginable carnage and mutual heroics took place.
Gen. Thomas held out as long as ammunition and fortitude allowed, gaining the nickname “Rock of Chickamauga.” In the end as darkness set in, what was left of the Union force moved off the Hill in an orderly fashion, falling back to Chattanooga.
The Confederates held the field and had won their greatest victory of the war. The Battle of Chickamauga was over, but at what cost?
I have walked alone at sunset on Snodgrass Hill with all the monuments, five deer and my imagination, it’s humbling.
Rosecrans was relieved from duty and blamed everyone else including General Wood. Wood of course blamed Gen. Rosecrans with his constant maneuvering and nonexistent gap that confused and frustrated most of the field commanders.
Confederate Commander Gen. Braxton Bragg received his fair share of criticism too, why didn’t he pursue Rosecrans disorganized army in full retreat and destroy them, then retake the city that was so critical to the South’s survival?
All in all, I believe the Confederate victory at Chickamauga was a nail in the South’s coffin. The Rebels sustained 18,000 casualties in the three-day battle, men and equipment that could not be replaced. Although the war would go on for another year and a half with high casualty counts at the Battle of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania, the South had lost any hope for European support and passions were weakening on the home front for “The Cause.”
Bragg’s troops now limped on to Missionary Ridge overlooking Chattanooga and prepared to put the city with the defeated Union Army under siege. The Confederates it seemed had forgotten the goal of the entire campaign, to control those essential rail lines.
God bless all veterans, thank you!
