Van Cleve At Chickamauga: The Study Of A Division's Performance In Battle by Major Robert P. Lott

Author:Major Robert P. Lott [Lott, Major Robert P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877), Military, Modern, 19th Century
ISBN: 9781782896340
Google: aRZvCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2014-08-15T05:03:26+00:00

CHAPTER 5 — BROTHERTON FIELD: 19 SEPTEMBER 1863

Officers and soldiers, I have the greatest confidence in you all. Stand together firm. Unless we are deceived, we will have hot work and we will have it in a short time. Much is expected from this division and this brigade. — Colonel Sidney M. Barnes — Commander, 3rd Brigade 19 September 1863

General Bragg, while awaiting the arrival of General James Longstreet's corps, issued orders on the night of 16 September to attack the Federal army's left flank and interpose his army between General Rosecrans and the Federal supply base at Chattanooga, which would cut the Federal lines of communications. Unable to wait any longer for Longstreet, Bragg ordered the attack to commence on the morning of the 19 September. The Army of Tennessee initiated its attack in earnest and by mid-morning the Army of the Cumberland was hard pressed on its left. Even though the men of the division could hear the sounds of combat, the heavy booming of the cannons, the rattle of musketry, and eerily, the loud cheers from men of both armies which normally accompanied a charge, the situation remained stable and quiet on General Van Cleve's front at Lee and Gordon's Mill. The men knew it was merely a question of time before they themselves would be thrust into the fire. Second Lieutenant Hurd of the 19th Ohio remembered:

During the forenoon, artillery was constantly thundering and bellowing in a hundred different positions at a distance, while the neared rattle of small arms told us all that a heavy battle was in progress. Both men and officers exhibited a good deal of anxiety, which at times bordered almost upon nervousness, as we lay there listening to those deep reverberations.{275}

By mid-morning, the only action involving the men of the division was a short artillery duel with a hidden Confederate battery and a small firefight with confederate skirmishers who probed General Van Cleve's position. The men positioned safely behind the cover provided by a rail barricade easily repelled the skirmishers. Midday came and went without a call for their support.{276}

The 21st corps Commander General T. L. Crittenden had been busy all morning long. Early in the morning, he conducted a personal reconnaissance along the LaFayette Road to assess the situation to his front. All was quiet when he visited Colonel Wilder's and Colonel Dick's positions. Later at approximately 1100, the corps commander listened to the same sounds of combat Van Cleve's men heard. His initial reaction caused him to bring up his 2nd Division commanded by General John M. Palmer with orders to support General George H. Thomas' corps on the left.{277} Rosecrans approved of the move while General Palmer gathered his men and moved to the left. Marching north, General Palmer received some timely guidance from General Rosecrans, who suggested that it would be better to stagger his brigades and move en echelon. This afforded the added benefit of refusing the division’s flank as Palmer moved through the dense timber.{278}

As

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