BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA.
Tactical Features--The Battle opened by Direct Attack on the Federals
in the Early Morning of September 20--Repeated and Determined Front
Assaults--Brigadiers Helm killed and Adams wounded--The Union Commands
lay behind Defences--Hood's Brigades surged through the Forest against
the Covered Infantry and Artillery--Hood wounded--Longstreet suggests
a Plan for Progressive Action--Halting Tactics at High Tide of
Success--The Confederate Left fought a Separate Battle--General Thomas
retreats--First Confederate Victory in the West, and one of the
Bloodiest Battles of the War--Forces engaged--Losses.
Satisfied that the opening of the battle was to be the attack against his
left, the Union commander ordered Negley's division out from its position
near the Glen House to report to General Thomas and assist in meeting the
attack, but only Beattie's brigade was in time for that service, the other
brigades waiting to be relieved from their positions in line. Meanwhile,
Baird's left had been extended by Dodge's brigade of Johnson's division of
the Twentieth Corps.
Before the Confederate commander engaged his battle he found the road
between the enemy's left and Chattanooga open, which gave him opportunity
to interpose or force the enemy from his works to open battle to save his
line. But he preferred his plan of direct attack as the armies stood, and
opened his battle by attack of the right wing at 9.30 A.M. of the 20th. He
was there, and put the corps under Lieutenant-General D. H. Hill to the
work. Breckenridge's and Cleburne's divisions, Breckenridge on the right,
overreached the enemy's left by two brigades, Stovall's and Adams's, but
the other brigade, Helm's, was marched through the wood into front assault
of the enemy behind his field-works. This brigade made desperate repeated
and gallant battle until the commander, Benjamin H. Helm, one of the most
promising brigadiers, was killed, when its aggressive work was suspended.
The other brigades crossed the Chattanooga road, changed front, and bore
down against the enemy's left. This gave them favorable ground and
position. They made resolute attack against Baird's left, threatening his
rear, but he had troops at hand to meet them. They had a four-gun battery
of Slocum's of the Washington Artillery,[178] and encountered Dodge's
brigade and parts of Willick's, Berry's, and Stanley's, and superior
artillery. In the severe contention General Adams fell seriously hurt, and
the brigades were eventually forced back to and across the road, leaving
General Adams on the field.
A separate attack was then made by Cleburne's division, the brigades of
Polk and Wood assaulting the breastworks held by the divisions of Johnson
and Palmer. These brigades, after severe fight, were repulsed, and their
positions were covered by Deshler's brigade. General Deshler received a
mortal wound from a fragment of shell, leaving the brigade in the hands of
the gallant Colonel Roger Q. Mills (our afterwards distinguished
statesman). General Thomas called repeatedly for reinforcements, and
received assurances that they were coming, even to include the army if
necessary to hold the left.
Johnson's brigade of Cheatham's division was ordered to support the
brigade under Colonel Mills, and the reserve corps under General W. H. T.
Walker (Gist's and Liddell's divisions) was ordered into the Breckenridge
battle, Gist's brigade against the left angle of the breastworks, and
Walthall's to the place of Cleburne's division. The other brigade of
Gist's division supported the battle of his own brigade, and General
Liddell was ordered with Govan's brigade to advance, passing beyond the
enemy's left to the Chattanooga road, and wheel to the left against his
left rear. The troops, without exception, made a brave, desperate fight,
but were unsuccessful, and forced to suspend aggressive work.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. Sept. 19th and 20th, 1863]
As the grand wheel to the left did not progress, I sent, at eleven
o'clock, to say to General Bragg that my column of attack could probably
break the enemy's line if he cared to have it go in. Before answer came,
General Stewart, commanding my right division, received a message from
General Bragg to go in and attack by his division, and reported that the
Confederate commander had sent similar orders to all division commanders.
He advanced, and by his severe battle caused the Union reserve division
under General Brannan to be drawn to the support of that front, and this
attack, with that of the divisions of our right against those of Baird,
Johnson, Palmer, and Reynolds, so disturbed General Thomas that other
reinforcements were called to support his defence.
General Stewart was in hot engagement before word reached me that the
battle had been put in the hands of division commanders; but my orders
reached General Hood in time to hold him and commanders on his left before
he received notice from the commanding general, and the brigades of
Kershaw and Humphreys were ordered nearer the rear of his column. The
divisions of B. R. Johnson and Hindman were ordered to follow in close
echelon on Hood's left. Buckner's pivoting division under Preston was left
to the position to which the Confederate chief had assigned it.
In our immediate front were the parts of the Twentieth and Twenty-first
Corps in two lines covered by rail defences and well-posted batteries. At
the early surging of his lines through the forest, General Hood came under
the fire of this formidable array of artillery and infantry, and found his
lines staggering under their galling missiles, and fast losing strength as
the fire thickened. His leading brigade was decimated, but his others
pushed to the front to take and pursue the assault. The divisions of B. R.
Johnson and Hindman were pressed hard on Hood's left, and the brigades of
Kershaw and Humphreys closed to his support, when a bold push gave us the
first line of the enemy and a large number of his guns; but General Hood
was fearfully wounded, supposed to be fatally; General Benning, of his
"Rock Brigade," lost his horse, and thought General Hood was killed. He
cut a horse loose from a captured gun, mounted, and using part of a rope
trace as his riding whip, rode to meet me and report disaster. He had lost
his hat in the melee, and the brigade disappeared under the steady
crushing fire so quickly that he was a little surprised. He reported,
"General Hood killed, my horse killed, my brigade torn to pieces, and I
haven't a man left." I asked if he didn't think he could find one man. The
question or the manner seemed to quiet somewhat his apprehensions and
brought affirmative answer, when he was told to collect his men and join
us at the front; that we had broken and carried the first line; that
Johnson's division, on his left, was then in the breach and pushing on,
with Hindman on his left, spreading battle to the enemy's limits; that
Stewart's division would hold it on our right, and the brigades of Kershaw
and Humphreys then on the quick step would be with us in a minute and help
restore the battle to good organization. Just then these two brigades
burst through the brush in cheerful, gallant march, and brought him back
to his usual courageous, hopeful confidence.
As we approached a second line, Johnson's division happened to strike it
while in the act of changing position of some of the troops, charged upon
and carried it, capturing some artillery, Hood's and Hindman's troops
pressing in close connection. This attack forced the parts of the
Twentieth and Twenty-first Corps from that part of the field, back over
Missionary Ridge, in disordered retreat, and part of Negley's division of
the Fourteenth Corps by the same impulsion. As our right wing had failed
of the progress anticipated, and had become fixed by the firm holding of
the enemy's left, we could find no practicable field for our work except
by a change of the order of battle from wheel to the left, to a swing to
the right on my division under General Stewart. The fire of the enemy off
my right readily drew Hood's brigades to that bearing. Johnson's and
Hindman's divisions were called to a similar move, and Buckner's pivotal
division under General Preston, but General Buckner objected to having his
left "in the air."
Presently a discouraging account came from General Hindman, that in the
progress of his battle his left and rear had been struck by a formidable
force of cavalry; that Manigault's brigade was forced back in disorder,
and his other brigades exposed on their open left could not be handled. I
wrote him a note commending the brave work of his division, and
encouraging renewed efforts; urged him to have his brigades in hand, and
bring them around to close connection on Johnson's left.
On the most open parts of the Confederate side of the field one's vision
could not reach farther than the length of a brigade. Trigg's brigade was
ordered to the relief of Manigault's, which had been forced back to the
Lafayette road, and the balance of Preston's division was ordered to
follow, if necessary, to support that part of the field, and our cavalry
far away from my left was called to clean it up and pursue the retreating
columns. It seems that Wilder's brigade of mounted infantry had struck
Manigault's left and put it back in disorder, and a brigade, or part of a
brigade, of cavalry coming against the rear, increased the confusion and
drove it back to the Lafayette road, when Trigg's brigade advanced to its
relief. The two put the attacking forces back until they found it
necessary to retire beyond the ridge and cover the withdrawal of trains
left exposed by the retreat of troops of the Twentieth and Twenty-first
Corps. General Hindman gathered his forces and marched for the left of
Johnson's division, and Preston's brigade under General Trigg was returned
to the point of its first holding.
Our front, cleared of opposing forces, was soon changed forward, and
formed at right angle to its first line to seek the enemy's line standing
against our right wing. Calls were repeated for the cavalry to ride in
pursuit of the retreating forces, and guard the gaps of the ridge behind
the enemy standing in front of our right wing. In the new position of the
left wing its extreme left encountered the enemy rallying in strong
position that was heavily manned by field batteries. At the same time my
left was approaching the line of fire of one of our batteries of the right
wing.
General Johnson thought that he had the key of the battle near Snodgrass
Hill. It was a key, but a rough one. He was ordered to reorganize his own
brigades and those of Hindman's division for renewed work; to advance a
line of skirmishers, and give time to the troops for refreshment, while I
rode along the line to observe the enemy and find relations with our right
wing.
It was after one o'clock, and the hot and dry and dusty day made work
fatiguing. My lunch was called up and ordered spread at some convenient
point while I rode with General Buckner and the staffs to view the changed
conditions of the battle. I could see but little of the enemy's line, and
only knew of it by the occasional exchange of fire between the lines of
skirmishers, until we approached the angle of the lines. I passed the
right of our skirmishers, and, thinking I had passed the enemy's, rode
forward to be accurately assured, when I suddenly found myself under near
fire of his sharp-shooters concealed behind the trees and under the brush.
I saw enough, however, to mark the ground line of his field-works as
they were spread along the front of the right wing, and found that I was
very fortunate in having the forest to cover the ride back until out of
reach of their fire. In the absence of a chief of artillery, General
Buckner was asked to establish a twelve-gun battery on my right to
enfilade the enemy's works and line standing before our right wing, and
then I rode away to enjoy my spread of Nassau bacon and Georgia sweet
potatoes. We were not accustomed to potatoes of any kind in Virginia, and
thought we had a luxury, but it was very dry, as the river was a mile and
more from us, and other liquids were over the border. Then, before we had
half finished, our pleasures were interrupted by a fragment of shell that
came tearing through the woods, passed through a book in the hands of a
courier who sat on his horse hard by reading, and struck down our chief of
ordnance, Colonel P. T. Manning, gasping, as was supposed, in the
struggles of death. Friends sprang forward to look for the wound and to
give some aid and relief. In his hurry to enjoy and finish his lunch he
had just taken a large bite of sweet potato, which seemed to be
suffocating him. I suggested that it would be well to first relieve him of
the potato and give him a chance to breathe. This done, he revived, his
breath came freer, and he was soon on his feet ready to be conveyed to the
hospital. In a few days he was again on duty.
[Illustration: R. J. Moses. Chief of Subsistence Department, First Corps,
Army of Northern Virginia.]
After caring for and sending him off, and before we were through with our
lunch, General Bragg sent for me. He was some little distance in rear of
our new position. The change of the order of battle was explained, and the
necessity under which it came to be made. We had taken some thirty or more
field-pieces and a large number of small-arms, and thought that we had cut
off and put to disorder the Twentieth and Twenty-first Corps that had
retreated through the pass of the Ridge by the Dry Valley road. He was
informed of orders given General Johnson for my left, and General Buckner
for a battery on the right. I then offered as suggestion of the way to
finish our work that he abandon the plan for battle by our right wing, or
hold it to defence, draw off a force from that front that had rested since
the left wing took up the battle, join them with the left wing, move
swiftly down the Dry Valley road, pursue the retreating forces, occupy the
gaps of the Ridge behind the enemy standing before our right, and call
that force to its own relief.
He was disturbed by the failure of his plan and the severe repulse of his
right wing, and was little prepared to hear suggestions from subordinates
for other moves or progressive work. His words, as I recall them, were:
"There is not a man in the right wing who has any fight in him." From
accounts of his former operations I was prepared for halting work, but
this, when the battle was at its tide and in partial success, was a little
surprising. His humor, however, was such that his subordinate was at a
loss for a reopening of the discussion. He did not wait, nor did he
express approval or disapproval of the operations of the left wing, but
rode for his head-quarters at Reed's Bridge.
There was nothing for the left wing to do but work along as best it could.
The right wing ceased its active battle as the left forced the enemy's
right centre, and the account of the commanding general was such as to
give little hope of his active use of it in supporting us. After his
lunch, General Johnson was ordered to make ready his own and Hindman's
brigades, to see that those of Hood's were in just connection with his
right, and await the opening of our battery. Preston's division was pulled
away from its mooring on the river bank to reinforce our worn battle.[179]
The battery not opening as promptly as expected, General Johnson was
finally ordered into _strong_, _steady_ battle. He pushed through part of
the woodland, drove back an array of artillery and the supporting
infantry, and gained other elevated ground. The sound of battle in his
rear, its fire drawing nearer, had attracted the attention of General
Granger of the reserve corps, and warned him that it was the opportunity
for his command. He marched, without orders, towards the noise, and passed
by the front of Forrest's cavalry and the front of our right wing, but no
report of his march was sent us. Day was on the wane. Night was advancing.
The sun dipped to the palisades of Lookout Mountain, when
Lieutenant-Colonel Claiborne reported that the cavalry was not riding in
response to my calls. He was asked to repeat the order _in writing_, and
despatched as follows:
"BATTLE-FIELD, September 20, 1863, 5.09 P.M.
"GENERAL WHEELER:
"Lieutenant-General Longstreet orders you to proceed down the road
towards the enemy's right, and with your artillery endeavor to
enfilade his line, with celerity.
"By order of Lieutenant-General Longstreet.
"THOMAS CLAIBORNE,
"_Lieutenant-Colonel Cavalry_."
Then our foot-scouts reported that there was nothing on the road taken by
the enemy's retreating columns but squads of footmen. Another written
order for the cavalry was despatched at 5.30.[180]
General Preston reinforced us by his brigade under Gracie, pushed beyond
our battle, and gained a height and intervening dell before Snodgrass
Hill, but the enemy's reserve was on the hill, and full of fight, even to
the aggressive. We were pushed back through the valley and up the slope,
until General Preston succeeded in getting his brigade under Trigg to the
support. Our battery got up at last under Major Williams and opened its
destructive fire from eleven guns, which presently convinced General
Thomas that his position was no longer tenable. He drew Reynolds's
division from its trenches near the angle, for assignment as rear-guard.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sorrel, of the staff, reported this move, and was sent
with orders to General Stewart to strike down against the enemy's moving
forces. It seems that at the same time Liddell's division of the extreme
right of our right wing was ordered against the march of the reserves.
Stewart got into part of Reynolds's line and took several hundred
prisoners. Meanwhile, Reynolds was used in meeting the attack and driving
back the division of General Liddell. That accomplished, he was ordered to
position to cover the retreat. As no reports came to the left from the
commanding general or from the right wing, the repulse of Liddell's
division was thought to indicate the strong holding of the enemy along his
intrenched front line, and I thought that we should wait to finish the
battle on the morrow.
The direct road to Chattanooga was practically closed. McFarland Gap, the
only _debouche_, was supposed to be occupied by the cavalry. Another blind
road was at the base of the mountain on its east side. During the
artillery practice the fire of some of the guns of our battery was turned
to the contest at Snodgrass Hill, which disturbed part of our infantry
fiercely struggling for that ground, and they complained, but the fire was
effective. As the woods were full of the enemy, a shot would find a mark.
The intrenched line was crumbling faster than we supposed, and their
reserve was engaged in hot defensive battle to hold secure the Gap while
yet there were two hours of daylight. Had the four brigades of Cheatham's
division that had not been in action gone in at the same time as Liddell's
division, it is hardly possible that the Confederate commander could
have failed to find the enemy's empty lines along the front of his right
wing, and called both wings into a grand final sweep of the field to the
capture of Thomas's command; but he was not present, and the condition of
affairs was embarrassing to the subordinate commanders.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. CONFEDERATES FLANKING THE UNION
FORCES.]
A reconnoissance made just before the first strokes of the morning
engagement discovered an open way around the enemy's left by turning his
intrenched line in reverse, which General Hill thought to utilize by
change of tactics, but General Bragg present, and advised of the
opportunity, preferred his tactics, and urged prompt execution. At the
later hour when Liddell's division was passed beyond the enemy's
intrenchments to strike at his reinforcing march under General Granger,
the subordinate of the right wing could not see how he was to be justified
in using a greater force in that direction, affairs of the wing being
similar to those of the opening, while the relations of the right and left
were in reverse of tactical orders; but a vigilant chief present and
caring for the weaker part of his battle, advised that the enemy was on
his last legs, with his reserves could well have sprung the right wing
into the opening beyond his right, securing crushing results. Earlier in
the afternoon he did send an order for renewed efforts of the right wing
under his plan of parallel assault, but the troops had tested the lines in
their first battle, and were not in condition for a third effort, at
parallel battle.
The contention by our left wing was maintained as a separate and
independent battle. The last of my reserve, Trigg's brigade, gave us new
strength, and Preston gained Snodgrass Hill. The trampled ground and bushy
woods were left to those who were too much worn to escape the rapid
strides of the heroic Confederates. The left wing swept forward, and the
right sprang to the broad Chattanooga highway. Like magic the Union army
had melted away in our presence. A few hundred prisoners were picked up
by both wings as they met, to burst their throats in loud huzzas. The Army
of Tennessee knew how to enjoy its first grand victory. The dews of
twilight hung heavy about the trees as if to hold down the voice of
victory; but the two lines nearing as they advanced joined their
continuous shouts in increasing volume, not as the burstings from the
cannon's mouth, but in a tremendous swell of heroic harmony that seemed
almost to lift from their roots the great trees of the forest.
Before greetings and congratulations upon the success had passed it was
night, and the mild beams of the quartering moon were more suggestive of
Venus than of Mars. The haversacks and ammunition supplies were ordered
replenished, and the Confederate army made its bivouac on the ground it
had gained in the first pronounced victory in the West, and one of the
most stubbornly contested battles of the war.
Our cavalry had failed to close McFarland Gap, and through that General
Thomas made his march for the stand at Rossville Gap.
It has been stated that this retreat was made under the orders of the
Union commander. General Thomas did, in fact, receive a message from his
chief a little after four o'clock, saying that he was riding to
Chattanooga to view the position there; that he, General Thomas, was left
in command of all of the organized forces, and should seek strong and
threatening position at Rossville, and send the other men back to
Chattanooga to be reorganized. This was a suggestion more than an order,
given under the conviction that the Confederates, having the Dry Valley
road, would pass the ridge to the west side, cut General Thomas off, and
strike his rear at pleasure. The order to command of the troops in action,
and the conditions referring to duties at Chattanooga, carried inferential
discretion. That General Thomas so construed it was evidenced by his
decision to hold "until nightfall if possible." But directly, under the
practice of our enfilading battery, he became convinced that it was not
possible, changed his purpose, and at 5.30 gave orders for his commanders
to prepare to retire, and called Reynolds's division from its trenches to
be posted as rear-guard to cover the retreat.
General Granger was then engaged in severe contention against my left at
Snodgrass Hill. His march along the front of our cavalry and right wing
suggested the advance of Liddell's division to the Chattanooga road to try
to check it. The withdrawal of Reynolds's division was in season to aid in
driving Liddell's division back to its former ground. Reynolds was posted
on eminent ground as rear-guard, and organized retreat followed. It was
not until after sunset that Rosecrans's _order_ for retreat was issued, as
appears from the letter written from Rossville by General James A.
Garfield, chief of staff, dated 8.40, three hours and more after the move
was taken up, viz.:
"Your order to retire to this place was received a little after sunset
and communicated to Generals Thomas and Granger. The troops are now
moving back, and will be here in good shape and strong position before
morning."[181]
So events and the evidence seem conclusive that it was our artillery
practice that made the confusion of Chickamauga forests unbearable, and
enforced retreat before Rosecrans order was issued.
The Union army and reserve had been fought, and by united efforts we held
the position at Snodgrass Hill, which covered McFarland Gap and the
retreat. There were yet five brigades of Confederates that had not been in
active battle. The Confederate commander was not present, and his next in
rank thought night pursuit without authority a heavy, unprofitable labor,
while a flank move, after a night's rest, seemed promising of more
important results. The Confederate chief did not even know of his victory
until the morning of the 21st, when, upon riding to his extreme right, he
found his commander at that point seeking the enemy in his immediate
front, and commended the officer upon his vigilance,--twelve hours after
the retreat of the enemy's forces.
The forces engaged and their respective casualties follow:
General Bragg's returns of the 20th of August--the
last of record--reported his aggregate of all arms 43,866
Reinforced from J. E. Johnston's army in August 9,000
Reinforced from J. E. Johnston's army in September
(Gregg and McNair) 2,500
Reinforced from General Lee's army, September 18
and 19 (a large estimate) 5,000
------
Total 60,366
Losses on the 18th and 19th 1,124
------
Aggregate for battle on the 20th 59,242
General Rosecrans's return of September 20, 1863,
showed: Aggregate of infantry, equipped 46,561
Aggregate of cavalry, equipped 10,114
Aggregate of artillery, equipped 4,192
------
Total 60,867
------
Confederate losses (estimated; returns imperfect) 17,800
Union losses by returns (infantry, artillery, and cavalry) 16,550
The exceeding heaviness of these losses will be better understood, and the
desperate and bloody character of the Chickamauga battle more fully
appreciated, upon a little analysis. The battle, viewed from the
stand-point of the Union losses, was the fifth greatest of the war,
Gettysburg, Spottsylvania, the Wilderness, and Chancellorsville alone
exceeding it, but each of these battles were of much longer time. Viewed
by comparison of Confederate losses, Chickamauga occupies similar
place--fifth--in the scale of magnitude among the battles of the war.
But the sanguinary nature of the contention is best illustrated by a
simple suggestion of proportions. Official reports show that on both sides
the casualties--killed, wounded, and missing--embraced the enormous
proportion of thirty-three per cent. of the troops actually engaged.
On the Union side there were over a score of regiments in which the losses
in this single fight exceeded 49.4 per cent., which was the heaviest loss
sustained by a German regiment at any time during the Franco-German war.
The "charge of the Light Brigade" at Balaklava has been made famous in
song and history, yet there were thirty Union regiments that each lost ten
per cent. more men at Chickamauga, and many Confederate regiments whose
mortality exceeded this.
Longstreet's command in less than two hours lost nearly forty-four per
cent. of its strength, and of the troops opposed to a portion of their
splendid assaults, Steedman's and Brannan's commands lost respectively
forty-nine and thirty-eight in less than four hours, and single regiments
a far heavier percentage.
Of the Confederate regiments sustaining the heaviest percentages of loss
(in killed, wounded, and missing,--the last a scarcely appreciable
fraction) the leading ones were:
Regiment. Per cent.
Tenth Tennessee 68.0
Fifth Georgia 61.1
Second Tennessee 60.2
Fifteenth and Thirty-seventh Tennessee 59.9
Sixteenth Alabama 58.6
Sixth and Ninth Tennessee 57.9
Eighteenth Alabama 56.3
Twenty-second Alabama 55.2
Twenty-third Tennessee 54.1
Twenty-ninth Mississippi 52.7
Fifty-eighth Alabama 51.7
Thirty-seventh Georgia 50.1
Sixty-third Tennessee 49.7
Forty-first Alabama 48.6
Thirty-second Tennessee 48.3
Twentieth Tennessee 48.0
First Arkansas 45.1
Ninth Kentucky 44.3
These are only a few of the cases in which it was possible to compute
percentages of casualties, the number of effectives taken into battle not
having been mentioned, but they serve to illustrate the sanguinary
severity of the fight and the heroism of the troops.