all arms equipped for duty of a few hundred more than 60,000. Of this
number Wagner's brigade, with 2,061 effectives, held Chattanooga,
leaving the Union force in front of Bragg slightly less than 58,000. It
was several thousand less at the battle, Post's brigade of Davis'
division and three regiments of infantry and one battery being engaged
in guarding supply trains.
In a letter from General Lee to President Davis, dated September 14,
1863, the following figures of Bragg's actual and prospective strength
are thus stated:
"If the report sent to me by General Cooper since my return from
Richmond is correct, General Bragg had, on the 20th of August last,
51,101 effective men; General Buckner, 16,118. He was to receive from
General Johnson 9,000. His total force will, therefore, be 76,219, as
large a number as I presume he can operate with. This is independent of
the local troops, which, you may recollect, he reported as exceeding his
expectations."
It will be well to remember, in connection with these official figures,
that Bragg, after the battle, reported Longstreet's force, which was not
included by Lee, at 5,000. This, according to the figures furnished
General Lee, gave Bragg 81,219. According to General Johnson's
correspondence, after he had sent 9,000 to Bragg, he subsequently
dispatched him two small brigades, and these, later, reached him the day
before the battle.
A reference to the losses on each side will show that there has been no
exaggeration in the description of the fighting. Rosecrans's loss was
16,179. This included 4,774 missing, of which a large number were killed
or wounded. Bragg's losses, as compiled and estimated at the War Records
Office, were 17,804. Thus the entire loss for each army was over
twenty-five per cent. of the entire force of each. Hill's corps of the
Confederate right wing lost 2,990 out of a total 8,884. Of the 22,885 in
Longstreet's left wing the loss was 7,856, with one brigade heavily
engaged not reported. Longstreet's loss on Sunday afternoon was
thirty-six per cent, of those engaged.
The casualties in Jackson's brigade of Cleburne's division, which
assaulted on Baird's front, was 35 per cent., while the Fifth Georgia,
of that brigade, lost 55 per cent., and the First Confederate Regulars
43 per cent. Gregg's brigade, of Buckner's corps, lost 652 out of 1,425.
Helm's Kentucky brigade, on the Union left, lost 75 per cent. of its
strength. Bate's brigade lost 7 officers killed and 61 officers wounded,
and the total casualties were 607 out of 1,316. All his field officers
except three were killed or wounded. The losses in Govan's brigade, of
Walker's corps, exceeded 50 per cent. Deas, who fought in front of
Steedman's assault, lost 745 out of 1,942. Walthall, of Walker, lost 705
out of 1,727. On the Union side Steedman in four hours lost 1,787 out of
3,700, and all were killed and wounded but one. Brannan's division had
5,998 engaged. Its casualties were 2,174, or 38 per cent. The loss in
Van Derveer's brigade, of this division, in four regiments and one
battery, was 840 out of 1,788 engaged, or 49 per cent. Croxton's
brigade, of the same division, made up of five regiments, lost 938. Of
Van Derveer's regiments the Ninth Ohio lost 50 per cent.; the
Thirty-fifth Ohio, a small fraction less than 50 per cent.; the Second
Minnesota 192, or exactly 50 per cent., and the Eighty-seventh Indiana
about half of its number. General Wood lost 1,070 in two brigades.
These figures become the more significant when compared with the
statement of losses in the world's noted battles. General Wheeler, the
distinguished Confederate cavalry commander, thus vividly presented this
question at the gathering of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland
and Confederates, at Chattanooga, in 1881:
"Waterloo was one of the most desperate and bloody fields chronicled in
European history and yet Wellington's casualties were less than 12 per
cent., his losses being 2,432 killed and 9,528 wounded out of 90,000
men, while at Shiloh, the first great battle in which General Grant was
engaged, one side lost in killed and wounded 9,740 out of 34,000, while
their opponents reported their killed and wounded at 9,616, making the
casualties about 30 per cent. At the great battle of Wagram Napoleon
lost but about 5 per cent. At Wurzburg the French lost but 3-1/2 per
cent., and yet the army gave up the field and retreated to the Rhine.
At Racour Marshal Saxe lost but 2-1/2 per cent. At Zurich Massena lost
but 8 per cent. At Lagriz Frederick lost but 6-1/2 per cent. At
Malplaquet Marlborough lost but 10 per cent., and at Ramillies the same
intrepid commander lost but 6 per cent. At Contras Henry of Navarre was
reported as cut to pieces, yet his loss was less than 10 per cent. At
Lodi Napoleon lost 1-1/4 per cent. At Valmy Frederick lost but 3 per
cent., and at the great battles of Marengo and Austerlitz, sanguinary as
they were, Napoleon lost an average of less than 14-1/2 per cent. At
Magenta and Solferino, in 1859, the average loss of both armies was less
than 9 per cent. At Konigrattz, in 1866, it was 6 per cent. At Werth,
Specheran, Mars la Tour, Gravelotte, and Sedan, in 1870, the average
loss was 12 percent. At Linden General Moreau lost but 4 per cent., and
the Archduke John lost but 7 per cent. in killed and wounded. Americans
can scarcely call this a lively skirmish.
"At Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Gettysburg, Mission
Ridge, the Wilderness, and Spottsylvania the loss frequently reached and
sometimes exceeded forty per cent., and the average of killed and
wounded on one side or the other was over thirty per cent."
Those who remained at Chickamauga and fought till the night of Sunday
came, when, for many regiments, every other comrade was dead or wounded,
were satisfied with the result, and have always maintained that
Chickamauga was fought for Chattanooga, and have so regarded it as a
great and notable victory. General D. H. Hill in a recent _Century_
article thus sums up the result for the Confederate side: "A breathing
space was allowed him; the panic among his troops subsided, and
Chattanooga--the objective point of the campaign--was held. There was no
more splendid fighting in '61, when the flower of the Southern youth was
in the field, than was displayed in those bloody days of September, '63.
But it seems to me that the elan of the Southern soldier was never seen
after Chickamauga--that brilliant dash which had distinguished him on a
hundred fields was gone forever. He was too intelligent not to know that
the cutting in two of Georgia meant death to all his hopes. He knew that
Longstreet's absence was imperiling Lee's safety, and that what had to
be done must be done quickly. The delay to strike was exasperating to
him; the failure to strike after the success was crushing to all his
longings for an independent South. He fought stoutly to the last, but
after Chickamauga, with the sullenness of despair and without the
enthusiasm of hope. That 'barren victory' sealed the fate of the
Southern Confederacy."
The authorities at Washington, to cover their own shortcomings and
inexcusable neglect, chose to deepen the erroneous impression that the
Army of the Cumberland had been routed and driven back to Chattanooga in
confusion. The removal of General Rosecrans was determined upon. In
fact, it had been only a question of opportunity since the campaign
opened. There was only needed the misrepresentations about Chickamauga
to furnish this.
In the mean time General Rosecrans thoroughly fortified Chattanooga and
was actually engaged in preparations to open the river for supplies,
exactly as it was afterwards done, when he was removed. In fact, his
plan was partially perfected before he crossed the river, as is shown by
the fact that he made written contracts with Northern firms to have
bridges completed by October 1 for the Tennessee at Bridgeport, and the
Running Water at Wauhatchie. He had ordered the thorough reconnoitering
of the river bank opposite the north end of Missionary Ridge--where
Sherman afterward crossed with a view of a flank attack there. It was,
therefore, altogether fitting and proper that the order for his relief
should arrive while he was absent making a personal examination of the
vicinity of Brown's Ferry, where he intended to throw a bridge to unite
with Hooker from Bridgeport and open the river exactly as was afterward
done. He had even notified Harker of the plan three days before and
ordered him to be ready to execute his part of it. General Thomas, at
first, insisted that he would resign rather than appear to acquiesce in
Rosecrans's removal by accepting the command. It was at Rosecrans's
earnest solicitation that he reconsidered this determination. But he did
not hesitate to say that the order was cruelly unjust. When General
Garfield left for Washington soon after the battle he immediately
charged him to do all he could to have Rosecrans righted. These will be
new statements to most, but they are true.
The survivors of the Army of the Cumberland should awake to great pride
in this notable field of Chickamauga. Why should it not, as well as
Eastern fields, be marked by monuments, and its lines accurately
preserved for history? There was no more magnificent fighting during the
war than both armies did there. Both sides might well unite in
preserving the field where both, in a military sense, won such renown.
H. V. B.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note
Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer
errors have been changed and are listed below. All other
inconsistencies are as in the original.
Characters that could not be displayed directly in Latin-1 are
transcribed as follows:
_ - Italics
Page 5: "Chicamauga" changed to "Chickamauga".
Page 5: "vordict" changed to "verdict".
Page 6: "maneuvred" changed to "maneuvered".
Page 12: "Wilder swan" changed to "Wilder swam".
Page 13: "precipitious" changed to "precipitous".
Page 13: "resit" changed to "resist".
Page 13: "Raccoon Mountains" changed to "Raccoon Mountain".
Page 13: "similar" changed to "similar".
Page 13: "Lookoot" changed to "Lookout".
Page 15: "basis" changed to "bases".
Page 16: "culimnated" changed to "culminated".
Page 16: "through" changed to "though".
Page 16: "Lookout Mountains" changed to "Lookout Mountain".
Page 16: "Pigeon Mountains" changed to "Pigeon Mountain".
Page 17: "fortanate" changed to "fortunate".
Page 17: "Rosecran's" changed to "Rosecrans'".
Page 19: "re enforcing" changed to "re-enforcing".
Page 19: "Chicamauga" changed to "Chickamauga".
Page 20: "Tenessee" changed to "Tennessee".
Page 20: "struggte" changed to "struggle".
Page 20: "Johston" changed to "Johnston".
Page 22: "Chicamauga" changed to "Chickamauga".
Page 22: "Infantry" changed to "infantry".
Page 22: "Braggs's plan" changed to "Bragg's plan".
Page 26: "Telford's" changed to "Tedford's".
Page 26: "reconnoissance" changed to "reconnaissance".
Page 29: "presentoed" changed to "presented".
Page 30: "Layfayette" changed to "Lafayette".
Page 30: "earrying" changed to "carrying".
Page 31: "David was" changed to "Davis was".
Page 32: "Starkweathar" changed to "Starkweather".
Page 34: "Breckrinridge, to" changed to "Breckinridge, to".
Page 35: "Layfayette" changed to "Lafayette".
Page 35: "plainful quiet" changed to "painful quiet".
Page 36: "Breckenridge" changed to "Breckinridge".
Page 37: "Breckenridge" changed to "Breckinridge".
Page 37: "Breckenridge's" changed to "Breckinridge's".
Page 38: "Stoval" changed to "Stovall".
Page 38: "noth" changed to "north".
Page 40: "Brechinridge" changed to "Breckinrdige".
Page 40: "unexpectly" changed to "unexpectedly".
Page 40: "detrimeat" changed to "detriment".
Page 40: "occurred" changed to "occurred".
Page 41: "through a considerable" changed to "though a considerable".
Page 41: "Laibolt's" changed to "Laiboldt's".
Page 41: "Longstreets'" changed to "Longstreet's".
Page 43: "final assanlt" changed to "final assault".
Page 44: "Breckenridge" changed to "Breckinridge".
Page 45: "direet fire" changed to "direct fire".
Page 47: "assauit was made" changed to "assault was made".
Page 50: "begun soon" changed to "began soon".
Page 53: "Navarra" changed to "Navarre".
Page 53: "enthusiam" changed to "enthusiasm".
End of Project Gutenberg's Chattanooga and Chickamauga, by Henry V. Boynton