Land Campaigns of the Civil War by Paul Calore

Author:Paul Calore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2013-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

XI

Chickamauga to Chattanooga

(June–November 1863)

Following the Battle of Stone’s River, the Confederate and Union armies were camped a mere 30 miles apart in central Tennessee. The Northern soldiers were near Murfreesboro and the Southerners in the Duck River Valley area. The long and monotonous months of winter passed uneventfully for both Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland and for Bragg’s Army of Tennessee, thanks in large part to General Rosecrans’ inflexibility.

Considering the fact that Johnston and Lee were being pressured concurrently, Johnston in Mississippi and Lee in Virginia, the Lincoln administration wanted desperately to harass Bragg in Tennessee at the same time. The consensus was that with all three Confederate fronts fighting simultaneously, the Rebel armies would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to reinforce each other. Stubbornness prevailed as General Rosecrans insisted he must wait until receiving his supplies, and his men were, in his opinion, ready to fight. As Washington feared, Bragg’s army served as a convenient source of Confederate reinforcements. While Rosecrans procrastinated, most of Bragg’s troops were sent to assist General Johnston’s efforts to lift Grant’s siege of Vicksburg. Although severely weakened by this action, Bragg’s depleted force remained bivouacked across the area between Shelbyville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, unmolested.

As a result of this manpower drain on Bragg’s army, Rosecrans was repeatedly ordered to attack. Lincoln, Stanton, Halleck and even Grant at Vicksburg all agreed that with Bragg’s troop strength reduced, the advantages lay with the North if an advance on Bragg was carried out immediately. Remaining steadfast in his own philosophy, Rosecrans casually disregarded the orders.

On June 23, Rosecrans, or “Old Rosy” as his men called him, considered his supplies adequate and his troops ready for battle. He marched out of the Murfreesboro area with about 58,200 troops for Bridgeport, Alabama, a small town on the Tennessee River 30 miles west of Chattanooga. Taking full advantage of its proximity to the Tennessee River as well as its strategic connection to the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, Bridgeport was considered an ideal site for Rosecrans’ supply depot.

Receiving word of the Union movement in his direction, General Bragg had little choice considering his weakened position but to abandon middle Tennessee. As Rosecrans advanced, Bragg’s army retreated via railroad through the Cumberland Mountains and south across the Tennessee River to Chattanooga.

At this time, the Army of the Cumberland comprised three corps: the 14th Corps under Gen. George H. Thomas; the 20th Corps, commanded by Gen. Alexander M. McCook; and the 21st Corps under Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden.

Following their arrival at Bridgeport, Rosecrans met with his commanders and outlined his next objective: to dislodge Bragg from Chattanooga. Rosecrans also informed his corps commanders that threatening Bragg’s all-important supply line would force the Confederate troops to come out in the open to fight, or to surrender Chattanooga.

To accomplish this goal, on August 16, Thomas and McCook were ordered to march their corps below Chattanooga to take out Bragg’s supply line from Atlanta. Bragg played into their hands by evacuating Chattanooga on September 7, and concentrating his troops at Lafayette, Georgia, 25 miles farther south.

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