The Chattanooga Campaign: With especial reference to Wisconsin's participation therein

by Michael Hendrick Fitch

THE ADVANCE OF THE UNION ARMY

The Confederate Army, commanded by General Braxton Bragg, lay in front of Tullahoma,[3] where Bragg had his headquarters. There was a large entrenched camp at the junction of the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad. This camp and the McMinnville branch was each a secondary depot for commissary stores, while the base of supplies was at Chattanooga. Its front was covered by the defiles of the Duck River, a deep narrow stream edged by a rough range of hills, which divides the “Barrens” from the lower level of Middle Tennessee. The Manchester Pike passes through these hills at Hoover’s Gap, nineteen miles south of Murfreesboro, ascending through a long and difficult canon to the “Barrens”. The Wartrace road runs through Liberty Gap, thirteen miles south of Murfreesboro and five miles west of Hoover’s. There were other passes through these hills, but the enemy held all of them. Bragg’s main position was in front of Shelbyville, about twenty-eight miles southwest of Murfreesboro, and was strengthened by a redan line extending from Horse Mountain, located a little to the north of Shelbyville, to Duck River on the west, covered by a line of abatis. The road from Murfreesboro to Shelbyville was through Guy’s Gap, sixteen miles south of Murfreesboro. Polk’s corps was at Shelbyville, Hardee’s held Hoover’s, Liberty, and Bellbuckle gaps, all in the same range of hills. It was not wise to move directly against the entrenched line at Shelbyville, therefore Rosecrans’s plan was to turn the Confederate right and move on to the railroad bridge, across Elk River, nine miles southeast of Tullahoma. To accomplish this, it was necessary to make Bragg believe that the advance would be by the Shelbyville route. The following dispositions were therefore made: General Granger’s command was at Triune on June 23, fifteen miles west of Murfreesboro; some infantry and cavalry advanced that same day toward Woodbury seventeen miles to the east of Murfreesboro; simultaneously Granger sent General Mitchell’s cavalry division on the Eaglesville and Shelbyville Pike, seventeen miles southwest of Murfreesboro, in order to make an attack on the enemy’s cavalry, and to drive the enemy’s infantry guards on their main line. General Granger, with his own infantry troops and Brannan’s division, moved—with ten days rations—to Salem.[4]

On June 24, Granger moved to Christiana, a small village a few miles southwest of Murfreesboro, south of Salem, towards Shelbyville. On the same day Palmer’s division, and a brigade of cavalry, were ordered to move to the vicinity of Bradyville, fourteen miles southeast of Murfreesboro; his advance columns were to seize the head of the defile leading up to the “Barrens” by an obscure road to Manchester thirty-five miles southeast, and by way of Lumley’s Stand seven miles east of Hoover’s Gap. General Mitchell accomplished his work after a sharp and gallant fight. McCook’s corps advanced on the Shelbyville road, and turning to the left, six miles out, moved two divisions via Millersburg, a small village eleven miles south of Murfreesboro. By advancing on the road to Wartrace[5] he seized and held Liberty Gap.

Five companies of the Thirty-ninth Indiana mounted infantry opened the fight for Liberty Gap on June 24; they were followed by Willich’s brigade. General R. W. Johnson, in his report[6] says: “Here I placed at the disposal of General Willich a portion of the Second Brigade, Colonel Miller commanding, who sent the Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania and the Twenty-ninth Indiana to the right of the Fifteenth Ohio, then to change direction to the left, sweeping the hillside on which the Confederates were posted. This movement was handsomely executed. As soon as the change to the left had been made, General Willich ordered his entire line forward. Under his own eye and management, the Confederates were driven at every point, their camps and camp equipages falling into our hands, and Liberty Gap was in our possession.” The next morning Carlin’s and Post’s brigades of Davis’s division came to Johnson’s support. The Confederates attacked quite fiercely, but were repulsed, and finally retired. The enemy here was Cleburne’s division; he reported a loss of 121.

General Thomas advanced on the Manchester Pike with the Fourteenth Corps in order to make an attempt to take possession of Hoover’s Gap. Major-General Crittenden was to leave Van Cleve’s division of the Twenty-first Corps at Murfreesboro, concentrate at Bradyville, fourteen miles southeast of Murfreesboro, and there await orders. All these movements were executed with success in the midst of a continuous rain, which so softened the surface of the roads, as to render them next to impassable. The advance of the Fourteenth Corps on Hoover’s Gap, June 24, was Wilder’s brigade of mounted infantry, of Reynolds’s division; it was followed by the other two brigades of the same division. Wilder struck the enemy’s pickets within two miles of his camp at Murfreesboro and drove them through Hoover’s Gap to McBride’s Creek. The two rear brigades moved up and occupied the Gap. Soon afterwards Wilder’s brigade was attacked by a portion of Stewart’s division; this brought the rest of Reynolds’s division, and eventually the regular brigade of Rousseau’s division to his assistance.

On June 25 and 26, Rousseau’s, Reynolds’s, and Brannan’s divisions cooperated in an advance on the enemy; after a short resistance the enemy fled to Fairfield, five miles southwest of Hoover’s Gap, towards which place the Union pickets had advanced.

The First and the Twenty-first Wisconsin infantry were actively engaged at Hoover’s Gap, but suffered no casualties. The Seventy-ninth Pennsylvania, in the same brigade, lost twelve men, one wounded. General John T. Wilder’s brigade lost sixty-one men killed and wounded.

On June 27, Gordon Granger captured Guy’s Gap and the same evening took Shelbyville, the main Confederate Army having retreated. The Union headquarters reached Manchester on June 27. Here the Fourteenth Corps concentrated during the night. Part of McCook’s arrived on the 25th; the rest of it did not reach Manchester before the night of the 29th. The troops and animals were very jaded. Crittenden’s Twenty-first Corps was considerably delayed. The troops encountered continuous rains and bad roads, and the last division did not arrive at Manchester before June 29, although an order to march there speedily was received on the 26th. On arrival it was badly worn out.

The forces were at last concentrated on the enemy’s right flank, about ten miles northeast of Tullahoma. During the incessant rain of June 30, an effort was made to form them into position in anticipation of an attack by the enemy. The wagons and horses could scarcely traverse the ground, which was quite swampy. Fortunately the enemy’s forces suffered likewise. What was trial and hardship to one of the armies—on account of the weather—was equally detrimental to the other side. That army which could overcome quickly and victoriously the climatic conditions, had the best chances to win in the martial contest. In forming a line at Manchester to resist an attack, the Fourteenth Corps occupied the centre, with one division in reserve, the Twentieth Corps on the right and the Twenty-first on the left. The last two corps had each one division in reserve. The Union Army was on the right flank of the Confederate line of defense, and of course expected to be attacked. But it was not.

In the meantime Stanley’s cavalry, supported by General Gordon Granger’s infantry and all troops under Granger’s direction, had attacked the enemy at Guy’s Gap—sixteen miles south of Murfreesboro and five miles west of Liberty Gap—and had driven the Confederate troops back to their entrenchments. Then, finding that the enemy’s main army had fallen back, Stanley captured the gap by a direct and flank movement with only three pieces of artillery. The cavalry unexpectedly captured Shelbyville with a number of prisoners, a quantity of arms, and the commissary stores. The reports of this cavalry battle show the retreat of the enemy to Tullahoma forty miles southeast of Murfreesboro, where it was supposed that he intended to make a stand. But on July 1, General Thomas ascertained that the enemy had retreated during the night from Tullahoma. Some Union divisions occupied Tullahoma about noon that same day, while Rousseau’s and Negley’s divisions pushed on by way of Spring Creek overtaking late in the afternoon the rear guard, with which these divisions had a sharp skirmish.

On July 2, the pursuit was made by the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps. The bridge over the Elk River had been burned by the enemy while retreating. The stream had risen and the cavalry could barely ford the river. On July 3, Sheridan’s and Davis’s divisions of the Twentieth Corps, having succeeded in crossing the Elk River, pursued the enemy to Cowan, on the Cumberland plateau, eighteen miles southeast of Tullahoma. Here it was learned that the enemy had crossed the mountains; and that only cavalry troops covered its retreat. Meanwhile the Union Army halted to await needed supplies, which had to be hauled by wagon from Murfreesboro over miserable roads. These supplies had to be stored at the railway station, nearest to the probable battlefield; and before the army could advance over the Cumberland plateau—where a battle would probably soon ensue—the railway had to be repaired. General Rosecrans in his official report says: “Thus ended a nine days’ campaign, which drove the enemy from two fortified positions and gave us possession of Middle Tennessee, conducted in one of the most extraordinary rains ever known in Tennessee at that period of the year, over a soil that became almost a quicksand.”[7] He claims—perhaps justly—that it was this extraordinary rain and bad roads, which prevented his getting possession of the enemy’s communications, and debarred him from forcing the Confederate Army to fight a disastrous battle. He speaks very highly of James A. Garfield, his chief of staff, saying: “He possesses the instincts and energy of a great commander.”

The Union losses during the “Tullahoma Campaign”—thus named in the official record—were as follows: 14 officers killed, and 26 wounded; 71 non-commissioned officers and privates killed, and 436 wounded; 13 missing. Total, 85 killed, 462 wounded, and 13 missing. 1,634 prisoners were taken, some artillery and small arms of very little value; 3,500 sacks of corn and cornmeal were secured.

On July 3, General Braxton Bragg sent the following dispatch from Bridgeport, Alabama—twenty-eight miles directly west from Chattanooga—to Richmond, Virginia: “Unable to obtain a general engagement without sacrificing my communications, I have, after a series of skirmishes, withdrawn the army to this river. It is now coming down the mountains. I hear of no formidable pursuit.”[8] The Confederate Army crossed the mountains to the Tennessee River and on July 7, 1863, encamped near Chattanooga. The Union Army went into camp along the northwestern base of the Cumberland plateau. The object of the Army of the Cumberland for the ensuing campaign was Chattanooga; the Tullahoma campaign was only a small part of the greater one which had yet to take place.

In the Tullahoma campaign the Tenth Wisconsin Infantry lost 3 enlisted men, wounded, and the First Wisconsin Cavalry 2 enlisted men. All the Wisconsin troops bore their full share of the fatigues of the campaign, but only the losses mentioned were reported.

There was one feature of the Tullahoma campaign that was very peculiar. A part of the Union Army had the previous year passed over this same region, while marching to the relief of Grant at Shiloh. Now returning by the way of Chattanooga, where Buell had marched on his way back to Louisville, they again came to this section of the country where the inhabitants mostly sympathized with the South. They were surprised and shocked in 1862 when the hated Yankees invaded their towns and farms. The Confederate authorities told them, that another invasion would never occur, that they could plant their crops and pursue their business without fear. Therefore, when their country was again overrun by the Union Army in 1863, their confidence in the Confederate generals was quite shaken.

CHAPTER II
The Chickamauga Campaign and Battle

A distinguished Confederate general—speaking of the importance of the city of Chattanooga to the Confederacy—said: “As long as we held it, it was the closed doorway to the interior of our country. When it came into your [the Union’s] hands the door stood open, and however rough your progress in the interior might be, it still left you free to march inside. I tell you that when your Dutch general Rosecrans commenced his forward movement for the capture of Chattanooga we laughed him to scorn; we believed that the black brow of Lookout Mountain would frown him out of existence; that he would dash himself to pieces against the many and vast natural barriers that rise all around Chattanooga; and that then the northern people and the government at Washington would perceive how hopeless were their efforts when they came to attack the real South.” With regard to the claim that Chickamauga was a failure for the Union arms, he said: “We would gladly have exchanged a dozen of our previous victories for that one failure.” It is correctly said, that even Richmond was but an outpost, until the success of the Union armies—in the centre of the Confederacy—left Lee’s legions nowhere to go, when they were expelled from Richmond.[9] This was accomplished or made possible only by the operations of the Army of the Cumberland in the Chattanooga Campaign of 1863.

After the retreat of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee from the region about Tullahoma, across the Cumberland Plateau to Chattanooga, Rosecrans established his headquarters at Winchester, Tennessee.[10] He began the repair of the railroad back to Murfreesboro and forward to Stevenson, Alabama, ten miles southeast of Bridgeport and eight miles north of the Tennessee River. The three corps were put into camp in their normal order. The Twentieth Corps occupied the country adjacent to Winchester; the Fourteenth Corps the region near to Decherd;[11] the Twenty-first Corps occupied the country near McMinnville.[12] Detachments were thrown forward as far as Stevenson. The campaign had so far been mere child’s play, compared with what lay before the army in the next movement against Chattanooga and the Confederate Army. The straight line of the plateau is thirty miles across from Winchester to the Tennessee River; the distance is perhaps forty miles by the available roads. The railroad after reaching the summit of the plateau followed down Big Crow Creek to Stevenson, then turned sharply up the valley of the Tennessee, crossing the river at Bridgeport to the South side; then winding among numerous hills, which constitute the south end of the Sand Mountain, continued around the northern nose of Lookout Mountain, close to the river bank, into Chattanooga. Bridgeport is on the Tennessee River twenty-eight miles in a straight line west of Chattanooga. Just opposite, towards the northern nose of Sand Mountain, on the north side of the river, is the southern end of Walden’s Ridge which extends northward from the river, and parallel with the plateau, from which it is separated by the Sequatchie River and Valley. In short the Cumberland Mountains are here a series of ridges and valleys which run from northeast to southwest in a uniform trend, parallel with each other. The Tennessee River rises in southwestern Virginia, and runs between the Cumberland Plateau and Sand Mountain; but between Chattanooga and Bridgeport it cuts a zigzag channel towards the west, between Sand Mountain and Walden’s Ridge, which is the name given to that portion of the ridge lying on the north of the river. What the Army of the Cumberland intended to do was to cross the ridge, called the Cumberland Plateau, then the river, and the Sand Mountain into Lookout Valley and then the Lookout Ridge, in order to reach the Chattanooga Valley south of Chattanooga. Such a movement would force Bragg to march out of the city to defend his communications. These ridges are all linked together at different places. Sand and Lookout at Valley Head, Alabama; the Cumberland Plateau and Walden’s at the head of Sequatchie Valley and River. Pigeon Mountain is a spur of Lookout Ridge. Chattanooga is located on the south side of the river, between the northern nose of Lookout and Missionary Ridge. The latter is a separate and low ridge about three miles southeast of Chattanooga. Without a map it will be difficult for the reader to perceive the rugged and almost impassable field of operations, which General Rosecrans faced, while his army lay at the northwestern base of the Cumberland Plateau, waiting for suitable preparation for the intended campaign.

There was an alternative line of advance open to Rosecrans, namely to cross the plateau into the Sequatchie Valley, or to march around the head of the valley at Pikeville, then over Walden’s Ridge, and thus attack Chattanooga directly from the north; or, to cross the river above and to the east of Chattanooga, at the north end of Missionary Ridge, that is, at the mouth of the Hiawassie River. This last route would have exposed his line of retreat or communications, and he therefore chose to operate at his right and enter into the valley south of Chattanooga.

Early in August the railroad was repaired to Stevenson and Bridgeport; also the branch to Tracy City on the plateau.

Sheridan’s division of the Twentieth Corps was pushed forward to Stevenson and Bridgeport. The commissary and quartermaster-stores were accumulated at Stevenson as rapidly as possible. By the 8th of August these supplies were sufficient in quantity to justify a distribution of them to the different commands, preparatory to an advance across the river and over the difficult ridges, that lay at almost right angles to the line of movement. The advance of the main army began August 16.

The Fourteenth Corps crossed along the railroad line, or near to it. Its advance was soon at Stevenson and some of it at Bridgeport. The Twenty-first Corps—which formed the left of the army at McMinnville—crossed by the way of Pelham, a small village on the plateau, to Thurman’s in the Sequatchie Valley. Minty’s cavalry covered the left flank by way of Pikeville, a village at the head of Sequatchie Valley. The Twentieth Corps also came to Stevenson and its vicinity, but by another route—to the right—than that taken by the Fourteenth, namely, via Bellefont, ten miles southwest of Stevenson, and Caperton’s Ferry, which is the river point nearest to Stevenson.

All these crossings of the plateau were made without resistance by the enemy, although there were small Confederate cavalry outlooks here and there, which fell back when the Union troops appeared. It seemed as if Bragg desired to have the Union Army advance as far as possible from its base of supplies into the mountain gorges and over a long and difficult line of communications. That course would afford him a better chance, as his army being reinforced would be in better condition to successfully attack and destroy the Union Army.

In order to save the hauling of full forage for the animals, General Rosecrans had delayed his movement until the corn should be sufficiently ripe. No detail seemed wanting in the preparations for the difficult campaign. Enough ammunition was provided for at least two battles, and twenty-five days rations for the troops were hauled in wagons.

The Tennessee River had to be crossed by the different corps; in order to conceal this movement and deceive the enemy at Chattanooga, Hagen’s brigade of Palmer’s division, and Wagner’s of Wood’s of the Twenty-first Corps, accompanied by Wilder’s mounted infantry of Reynolds’s division, crossed Walden’s Ridge from the Sequatchie Valley into the valley of the Tennessee. These troops made ostentatious demonstrations upon Chattanooga from the north side of the river. Wilder—with four guns of Lilly’s battery—appeared suddenly before Chattanooga, threw some shells into the city, sunk the steamer “Paint Rock,” lying at the city landing, then ascending the river, feigned to examine the crossings, making frequent inquiry as to their difficulty and the character of the country. On the other side of the river east of Chattanooga, General Cleburne was sent by Bragg to make preparations for defending the crossings against the supposed advance of Rosecrans’s army. He fortified the ferry crossings. General Buckner—who commanded in East Tennessee against the forces of Burnside—expressed as his opinion on August 21, that General Rosecrans would cross above the mouth of Hiawassie River—a stream flowing northwards—and transfer his forces into Tennessee on its south bank, some thirty-five miles northeast of Chattanooga. Buckner’s army was at the point mentioned.

Rosecrans’s intention was, however, to cross at Caperton’s Ferry—near Bridgeport and not far from Stevenson—and at Shellmound; these places are from twenty to forty miles below and to the west of Chattanooga. On August 20 at daybreak, Heg’s brigade, of Davis’s division of the Twentieth Corps, in which served the Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry, crossed in pontoon boats at Caperton’s Ferry, drove away the enemy’s cavalry and occupied the southern bank. Here a twelve hundred feet pontoon bridge was soon completed, and Davis’s division of the Twentieth Corps, crossed and advanced to the foot of Sand Mountain, preceded by cavalry. Johnson’s division of the same corps crossed the following day on the same bridge. Sheridan’s division of the Twentieth Corps crossed at Bridgeport on a bridge constructed by them of pontoons and tressels; it was 2,700 feet long. Baird’s—formerly Rousseau’s—and Negley’s divisions of the Fourteenth Corps followed Sheridan’s division. The Twenty-first Corps marched down the Sequatchie Valley and crossed at Battle Creek, nine miles up the river from Bridgeport. Hazen’s, Wagner’s, and Wilder’s brigades were, as before mentioned, in the Tennessee Valley to the north of Chattanooga, and did not cross with their corps. The whole movement across the river began on August 29 and ended on September 4. The Third brigade of Van Cleve’s division of the Twenty-first Corps was left at McMinnville as a garrison. The railway was protected by the reserve corps; the Fourteenth Corps was ordered to concentrate in Lookout Valley and to send immediate detachments to seize Cooper’s and Stevens’s gaps of Lookout Mountain, the only passable routes to McLemore’s Cove, down which runs the west Chickamauga Creek in a northeasterly direction, towards Chattanooga. The Twentieth Corps was to move to Valley Head at the head of Lookout Valley, and seize Winston’s Gap forty miles south of Chattanooga. The Twenty-first Corps with the exception of Hazen’s and Wagner’s infantry and Minty’s cavalry—which were still north and east of Chattanooga—were to march to Wauhatchie, at the lower end of Lookout Valley, near Lookout Mountain, and to communicate with the Fourteenth Corps at Trenton in the same valley, and threaten Chattanooga by way of the Tennessee River via the nose of Lookout Mountain. The cavalry crossed at Caperton’s and at a ford near Island Creek, in Lookout Valley, from which point they reconnoitered towards Rome, Georgia, fifty-five miles south of Chattanooga, via Alpine. This last mentioned hamlet is forty-two miles south of Chattanooga. In the absence of Major-General Stanley—the chief of cavalry—its movements were not prompt. If the reader will refer to a good topographical map of the region around Chattanooga, he will see how sagacious these movements were, and what grand strategy they displayed. The Army of the Cumberland was stretched in line through the whole length of Lookout Valley, between Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain, on the south side of the Tennessee River; it faced east towards the Chattanooga Valley, with only one range between them and the Confederate line of retreat and supplies; while on the northeast side of Chattanooga was a Union force of several brigades to prevent any counter movement by the Confederates upon the Union line of supplies.

After crossing the Tennessee River, Rosecrans continued his feints to make Bragg think that the real movement was the feigned one. He had sent Wagner’s infantry, and Wilder’s and Minty’s cavalry brigades to report to Hazen with a force amounting to about 7,000. Hazen caused the enemy to believe that the whole army was there, intending to cross the river above Chattanooga. This was done by extensive firings, marchings, countermarchings, and by bugle calls, at widely separated points; while Wilder moved his artillery continuously across openings in sight from the opposite bank.

The Confederates occupied in force the point of Lookout Mountain at Chattanooga. To carry this by an attack of the Twenty-first Corps seemed too risky; therefore the original movement was continued, namely, against the line south of Chattanooga, over Lookout Ridge, south of the point where it was held in force. The cavalry was ordered to advance on the extreme right to Summerville, in Broomtown Valley, a village eighteen miles south of Lafayette, Georgia. McCook was to support this movement by a division thrown forward to the vicinity of Alpine forty-two miles southwest of Chattanooga. These movements were made on September 8 and 9.

General Thomas crossed his corps over Frick’s, Cooper’s, and Stevens’s gaps of Lookout Mountain, to McLemore’s Cove.

These movements forced Bragg to evacuate Chattanooga on September 8. Then Crittenden with the Twenty-first Corps and its trains marched the same day around the point of Lookout and camped that night at Rossville, at the gap through Missionary Ridge, five miles south of Chattanooga. Through this gap runs the wagon road from Lafayette to Chattanooga.

General Rosecrans claimed to have evidence that Bragg was moving towards Rome, and had therefore ordered Crittenden to hold Chattanooga with one brigade, call all the troops of Hazen’s command across from the north side of the river, an follow the enemy’s retreat vigorously.

On September 11, Crittenden was ordered to advance as far as Ringgold, but not farther, and to make a reconnoisance as far as Lee and Gordon’s Mill.[13] Crittenden’s report as well as other evidence convinced General Rosecrans that Bragg had only gone as far as Lafayette—twenty-five miles south of Chattanooga—and then halted. General Crittenden’s whole corps was therefore sent to Lee and Gordon’s Mill, where he found Bragg’s rear guard. He was ordered to communicate with General Thomas, who by that time had reached the eastern foot of Lookout Mountain in McLemore’s Cove, at the eastern base of Stevens’s gap. Wilder’s mounted brigade followed and covered the Twenty-first Corps in its movements to Lee and Gordon’s Mill, and had a severe fight with the enemy at Leet’s tan yard, five miles to the southeast. Although Bragg made his headquarters at Lafayette in his retreat from Chattanooga, his rear guard did not get beyond Lee and Gordon’s Mill.

On September 10 Negley’s division of the Fourteenth Corps marched—after having crossed the ridge—from the foot of Stevens’s Gap, across McLemore’s Cove, towards Dug Gap in the Pigeon Mountains and then directly towards Lafayette. Dug Gap is six miles west of Lafayette. Negley found this gap heavily obstructed, but Baird’s division came to his support on the morning of September 11. They became convinced by some sharp skirmishing, which occurred on the 11th, that the enemy’s forces were advancing; and therefore fell back from Davis’s cross roads to a good position near the foot of Stevens’s Gap. These two officers are entitled to great credit for their coolness and skill in withdrawing their divisions from a very perilous trap. The forces of the enemy would have been overwhelming in their immediate front, if the Confederates had been more expeditious and made the attack on the afternoon of September 10 or on the morning of the 11th. Hindman, Buckner, and Cleburne, with several divisions were there, but failed to cooperate in an attack at the right time. The obstructions placed in the gap by the Confederates favored Negley and Baird.

On September 12 Reynolds’s and Brannan’s divisions following over the mountain closed up to Negley and Baird. Bragg’s army was at Lafayette, near Dug Gap, in force. Having official information that Longstreet was coming from Virginia with large reinforcements, and having already received troops from Mississippi and the eastern part of Tennessee, Bragg halted in his retreat. He was preparing to give battle to the Union forces at the first good opportunity.

Two divisions of Joseph E. Johnston’s troops from Mississippi and Buckner’s Corps from Tennessee—where Burnside’s forces were—had joined Bragg before he moved north from Lafayette to Chickamauga, where he was joined by three divisions of Longstreet’s Corps from Virginia on the 18th, if not earlier. At the same time Halleck, chief of the army at Washington, D. C., telegraphed Rosecrans September 11, 1863, as follows: “It is reported here by deserters that a part of Bragg’s army is reinforcing Lee. It is important that the truth of this should be ascertained as early as possible.”[14]

The fact stands out in bold relief, that the Confederate Government at Richmond hastened reinforcements to General Bragg; while the Washington Government sent none to Rosecrans, although Burnside was in the eastern part of Tennessee with 16,000 troops, and was at that time at leisure. Because the force, lately in his front, had reinforced Bragg at Lafayette, Burnside did not obey Halleck’s order to join Rosecrans; on the contrary, he drove Buckner’s force, which united with Bragg; thus Burnside enabled Buckner’s men to take part against the Union Army in the battle of Chickamauga.

Bragg in his official report, says: “During the 9th it was ascertained that a column, estimated at from 4,000 to 8,000 had crossed Lookout Mountain into the cove by way of Cooper’s and Stevens’s gaps. Thrown off his guard by our rapid movement, apparently in retreat, when in reality we had concentrated opposite his center, and deceived by the information, by deserters and others sent into his lines, the enemy pressed on his columns to intercept us, and thus exposed himself in detail.”[15] He says further that he ordered Hindman, Cleburne, and Buckner to join and attack the forces—Negley and Baird—at Davis’s cross roads, near Dug Gap; but because Dug Gap was obstructed by felled timber, which required twenty-four hours to remove, and because Buckner, when he joined Hindman, wanted to change the plans, Negley and Baird had been allowed to move back in a position not wise to follow. Bragg drew Buckner, Hindman, and Cleburne back to Lafayette and prepared to move in order to attack Crittenden at Lee and Gordon’s Mill. Polk’s and Walker’s corps were moved immediately in that direction.

The only Wisconsin troops in the affair at Dug Gap on September 10 and 11 were the First, Tenth, and Twenty-first Infantry. Lieutenant Robert J. Nickles of the First Wisconsin Infantry, aide to General J. C. Starkweather, commanding the brigade, was killed when reconnoitering alone the enemy’s skirmishers. This was the only casualty to the Wisconsin troops.

On September 12, General Leonidas Polk was ordered to attack Crittenden the next day, at Lee and Gordon’s Mill. Polk would not attack however, without reinforcements. Bragg spent the next five days getting his army in position along the west Chickamauga Creek, and on its east side from the north end of Pigeon Mountains to Reed’s Bridge. Brigadier-General B. R. Johnson, who had been holding Ringgold on the east side of the Chickamauga with one brigade, moved on the 18th to Reed’s Bridge on the west Chickamauga; this caused his force to become the extreme right of Bragg’s line. While Forrest’s and Pegram’s cavalry covered the extreme right at Reed’s Bridge, Walker’s Corps formed on the left of B. R. Johnson’s, opposite Alexander’s Bridge; Buckner’s was next to Thedford’s Ford; Polk’s opposite Lee and Gordon’s Mill, and Hill’s Corps was on the extreme left, near Glass’s Mill. Wheeler’s Cavalry protected the left flank, and was ordered to annoy the troops in McLemore’s Cove so much that Bragg’s movement would not be discovered. With B. R. Johnson’s movement from Ringgold came two brigades—just arrived from Mississippi—and three of Longstreet’s from Virginia. The other two brigades from Virginia came on the 19th in time to take active part, the Confederate Army being in position on the east side of west Chickamauga Creek; and Crittenden’s Corps near Lee and Gordon’s Mill on the west side. Bragg was finally ready for attack; and on the night of the 17th issued his order of battle, namely, that each body of troops should cross the creek at the nearest practicable bridge or ford, turn to the left, and sweep up the Chickamauga towards Lee and Gordon’s Mill. This would bring the troops upon the left flank of Crittenden’s forces. Leonidas Polk was to attack in front, across the stream, while Hill was ordered to prevent the Union forces in McLemore’s Cove from reinforcing Crittenden. It will be seen how Bragg’s plan of attack failed completely. The Chickamauga Creek or River rises at the head of McLemore’s Cove, and runs northeast, emptying into the Tennessee River about five miles above Chattanooga. Therefore, to retreat to Chattanooga, or to cut off the Union Army from it, the Confederate Army had to cross on the west side of Chickamauga. The road from Lafayette to Chattanooga—on which the Confederates marched—runs on the east side of and parallel with Pigeon Mountains and the river, and crosses the river at Lee and Gordon’s Mill. The road on which the Union troops at Stevens’s gap marched, runs down the cove on the west side of the river and Pigeon Mountains, past Crawfish Springs, near which it branches to McFarland’s Gap and to Kelly’s farm on the Lafayette road, three miles north of Lee and Gordon’s; this distance is about sixteen miles. The Pigeon Mountains dwindle away into the level country some miles south of Lee and Gordon’s.

The order of battle issued by Bragg on September 17, was not immediately executed, on account of some resistance made by Wilder’s mounted infantry and Minty’s cavalry at Reed’s and Alexander’s bridges.

The activity of Minty and Wilder, and the bold front shown by the troops of Crittenden at and about Lee and Gordon’s Mill, prevented a serious attack by General Leonidas Polk, who was in front of that position. These facts together with the affair at Dug Gap and the presence of McCook’s Corps at Alpine caused the Confederate Army to hesitate; thus General Rosecrans was given time to concentrate his whole army—not Crittenden’s Corps only—at Chickamauga, across the Lafayette road, between the Confederate Army and Chattanooga. Bragg’s plan was to attack Crittenden’s left and rear, throwing it back upon the centre—General Thomas’s—before Crittenden could be reinforced, and then to thrust his army between Rosecrans and Chattanooga. Rosecrans’s plan was to prevent such a disaster. Late in the afternoon of September 18, the first Confederate troops crossed the Chickamauga towards the west; this movement was still going on on the morning of the 19th, when something unexpected happened to Bragg’s Army.

About two-thirds of the Confederate Army had crossed and was facing towards Lee and Gordon’s Mill, when at 9 o’clock a brisk engagement commenced with Forrest’s cavalry on the right of the Confederate line at Jay’s Mill, near Reed’s Bridge.

While these movements of the Confederate Army were being inaugurated from Lafayette down on the east side of Chickamauga, the Union Army, at the foot of Stevens’s Gap in the cove and McCook’s Twentieth Corps, twenty miles away near Alpine, had to get together and join Crittenden’s Twenty-first Corps at Lee and Gordon’s Mill.

While waiting to receive sufficient information to convince him that Bragg had halted at Lafayette, Rosecrans had on September 11 or 12 greatly widened the distance between his corps. It was a very dangerous maneuver to face Bragg, and had a more enterprising general been in command of the Confederate Army, the result would probably have been fatal for the Union forces. General D. H. Hill says in a Century Magazine article, that Bragg was confused by the rapid movements of the Union Corps; the presence of McCook’s Corps, south of Lafayette, at Alpine, held Bragg for a while at that place. He was not well informed as to the movements of Rosecrans’s Army.[16]

Bragg, by failing to attack the detached Fourteenth Corps nearest him in McLemore’s Cove, and afterwards to march towards the more distant detached Twenty-first Corps at Lee and Gordon’s gave the Union commander an opportunity to concentrate, and place his united army across the road from Lafayette to Chattanooga, at Kelly’s farm between Rossville and Lee and Gordon’s Mill. How was this movement done?

While it took Bragg five days—from September 12 to 17—to concentrate his army from Lafayette and Ringgold near Lee and Gordon’s, it required the same length of time for McCook to march his corps from the vicinity of Alpine to connect it with Thomas at the foot of Stevens’s Gap in the cove. There was a distance of forty miles from flank to flank of the Union Army, that is, from Alpine to Lee and Gordon’s. But McCook marched fifty-seven miles by the route he took in order to connect with Thomas. General Rosecrans in his official report says: “He [General McCook] had, with great prudence, already moved his trains back to the rear of Little River, on the mountain, but unfortunately, being ignorant of the mountain road, moved down the mountain at Winston’s Gap, down Lookout Valley to Cooper’s Gap, up the mountain, and down again, closing up with General Thomas on the 17th.”[17]

Looking back at this scattering of Rosecrans’s forces by the sending of McCook’s Corps to Alpine—twenty miles southwest of Lafayette—one can understand that such tactics were serious mistakes. General Rosecrans thought himself justified for the movement upon the supposed correctness of the information he had received, namely, that Bragg’s Army was in full retreat towards Rome, Georgia. It is apparent, however, that a reconnoisance of the cavalry to Alpine and Summerville would have accomplished the same result as the corps of infantry which was sent. The alternative before Rosecrans, when he discovered the retreat of the Confederate Army, was to concentrate the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps at Chattanooga, occupy Rossville Gap with a strong outpost, well entrenched, and Lookout Mountain with another entrenched detachment; he could then have waited for further developments. It is hardly probable that Bragg would have attacked him after having received his reinforcements, but would perhaps have fallen back on his line of supplies at some point in the rear. Before that could have occurred, however, the reinforcements that Rosecrans afterwards received would have been able to protect his line of communications.

By the evening of the 17th the Union troops were substantially within supporting distance, but not yet in line to resist an attack by the enemy upon Crittenden at Lee and Gordon’s, but orders were immediately given to move the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps towards the northeast, down the west Chickamauga River, in order to cover the Lafayette road, somewhere near Crittenden’s Corps. The position of the troops and narrowness of the roads retarded the march.

It must be kept in mind, that the movements which Rosecrans made after he discovered that Bragg had halted at Lafayette, were for the purpose of concentrating upon Chattanooga; and that the route Rosecrans took after the junction of the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps was perhaps the shortest route he could take to Chattanooga, while he could at the same time watch the enemy. He encountered Bragg’s force at Chickamauga and was forced to fight there. This was, therefore, the battle for Chattanooga. He gained his point—the military occupancy of Chattanooga—but it required two battles to win it; those of Chickamauga and the three days fight immediately around Chattanooga.

During the 18th Minty’s cavalry, in position east of Reed’s Bridge, was attacked by Bushrod Johnson’s troops coming from Ringgold, and Wilder’s mounted infantry at Alexander’s, by Walker’s Corps. Both were holding bridges, but were driven back into the Lafayette road. General Rosecrans’s plan, as given in orders, was that General Thomas on his way down the cove road passing Crawfish Springs, near the battlefield, should post General Negley’s division there, relieving two divisions of Crittenden’s Corps. With the remainder of his corps, he was to march by way of Widow Glenn’s house to the Lafayette road, and take position at Kelly’s farm, across this road. General Crittenden was to move Palmer’s and Van Cleve’s divisions, relieved by Negley, to the left of his line, and with them prolong his left, from the left of Wood’s division, so as to cover that part of the Lafayette road, near Lee and Gordon’s. McCook’s Corps was to follow General Thomas and take temporary position at Crawfish Springs, protecting the right of the Union line, and to keep his corps mainly in reserve.

The cavalry was to close on McCook’s right, and to watch the crossings of the Chickamauga in that region.

The Union movements began on the morning of the 18th, but were so slow, that McCook’s Corps only reached Pond Spring at dark, and bivouaced there for the night. Crittenden’s two divisions reached their positions on the Lafayette road near midnight. In view of the accumulated evidence, that the enemy was crossing his forces over the Chickamauga below Lee and Gordon’s on the 18th, General Thomas pushed forward his corps, uninterruptedly during the night. He halted his leading division—Negley’s—at the assigned position near Crawfish Springs, where his corps rested for two hours at midnight and made coffee. From there on Baird’s division was in the lead, and General Thomas and staff rode with General Baird at the head of the column. This was a weird night-march. The utmost secrecy was kept. If the enemy—who was just across the river not far away—had discovered the movement, he would perhaps also have marched in the night and occupied the place for which General Thomas was aiming. General Hill’s Corps and Wheeler’s Cavalry of the Confederate Army were on the east side of the Chickamauga, in order to prevent the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps from making this march. To deceive the enemy campfires were left burning in the camps in the early evening; in fact all along the road southwest of Crawfish Springs, frequent fires were kindled. Soon after leaving Crawfish Springs the column deflected to the right into an obscure cross-country road, which led to Kelly’s farm. Along the windings of this road, some of the hardest fights of the 19th and 20th took place. A pond afterwards known as “bloody pond” was passed soon after leaving Crawfish Springs; to the left, and a short distance from this pond, General William H. Lytle was killed September 20. Still further on was the place where the fatal blunder of the 20th occurred—at about 11 a. m.—near Brotherton’s house; General T. J. Wood, obeying his interpretation of an order from General Rosecrans, having withdrawn from the line, let in Longstreet’s troops.

This road runs almost entirely through thick hardwood timber, but about half way between Crawfish Springs and Kelly’s farm, there was a little dwelling in the midst of a clearing, known as Widow Glenn’s. Here the next day, General Rosecrans lifted the name of the widow from the depths of utter obscurity to the heights of national fame, by making her home his headquarters. In fact, the whole region from Missionary Ridge, on the left of the marching column as far as Rossville Gap (four miles to the northwest) to the Chickamauga on the east, was densely wooded and covered with heavy undergrowth. A few small farms scattered through this woodland were tilled by the obscurest of backwoodsmen, who lived in small log cabins or small frame buildings. Their names would never have been known, even in Chattanooga nine miles away, had it not been for the accidental fighting there of the greatest battle of the west. Widow Glenn’s, Kelly’s farm, Snodgrass Hill, McDonald’s, Poe’s, Brotherton’s, Dyer’s, Vittetoe’s, and Viniard’s were suddenly made historical by the battle of Chickamauga.

General George H. Thomas was a very sedate man. There was about him, at all times, the very atmosphere of solid merit and reserved strength. As he rode beside General Baird, attended by the two staff corps, there was no indication that he was conscious of his high position. His modesty was always conspicuous. No one in the long line of troops stretching for miles behind could see in this unpretentious officer the true hero of the coming conflict, who would be known in the future as the “Rock of Chickamauga.” After Negley’s division was left in position near Crawfish, there remained in the marching column the three divisions of Baird, Brannan, and Reynolds. Baird’s and Brannan’s had three brigades each, but Reynolds’s had only two; Wilder’s was mounted and operated as cavalry, wherefore it was not always with its division.

Chickamauga, September 19, 1863
Adapted from Fiske’s The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War, p. 266

About daylight on September 19, Baird’s division filed across the Lafayette road near Kelly’s log house, stacked arms, and commenced to prepare breakfast. Forrest’s Confederate cavalry lay at that time in the neighborhood of Jay’s Mill, one mile to the east, near Reed’s Bridge; Hood’s and Walker’s corps were further up, or west towards Lee’s and Gordon’s and within a mile and a half of Crittenden’s left. The stream was in many places easily fordable. The whole Confederate Army was across the Chickamauga at sunrise with the exception of Hindman’s, Breckenridge’s, and Cleburne’s divisions. Thomas made temporary headquarters under a large tree by the roadside; while waiting for the closing up of the rear division, he lay down on some blankets, and told his aide not to let him sleep more than an hour. General Gordon Granger, who commanded the reserve corps, had been ordered by Rosecrans on September 13 to bring three brigades of this corps—which happened then to be at Bridgeport, Alabama, guarding that point of the Union line of supplies—to the Rossville Gap. His duty was to guard the approaches from the south and east and to generally support the main army. He moved with his usual energy and arrived at the gap on September 14, although the distance is about thirty-five miles. He brought with him two brigades of Steedman’s division, viz.: Mitchell’s and Whittaker’s, and Daniel McCook’s brigades of James D. Morgan’s division. Granger’s presence in the front of Rossville Gap at McAffee’s Church with Whittaker’s brigade, and his sending Daniel McCook’s and Mitchell’s brigades towards Jay’s Mill and Reed’s Bridge, assisted greatly in postponing the crossing of the Confederate forces until the 18th and thus preventing an attack on Crittenden’s left flank.

On the morning of the 19th McCook’s brigade was bivouacing somewhere near Reed’s Bridge. McCook rode over to where Thomas was, and said hurriedly he must speak to him. He told General Thomas that a Confederate brigade had crossed at Reed’s Bridge and that his (own) brigade had then burned this bridge, thus this detached brigade could be captured, if General Thomas would send forces enough to do it. At that moment the head of Brannan’s division was approaching in rear of the line of Baird’s division to take position on the latter’s left. Thomas ordered Brannan to reconnoitre in that direction with two brigades and to attack any force met. His advance brigade—Croxton’s—encountered very soon Forrest’s cavalry, about 7:30 or 8 a. m. (some reports say 9 a. m.) and drove it more than half a mile. “This vigorous movement disconcerted the plans of the enemy to move on our left and opened the battle of the 19th September,” says General Rosecrans in his official report.[18] Forrest was in that place as a defense of Bragg’s right flank. The sudden musketry of Croxton’s attack on Forrest far to the right of the Confederate commanders startled them and gave them the first intimation, that Bragg’s order did not meet the situation.

General H. V. Boynton says that, at the time the isolated Confederate brigade was reported as on the west side of Chickamauga, early in the morning of September 19, two-thirds of the Confederate Army were on the west side.

It was 6:30 a. m. when Brannan left Kelly’s and moved north; he took the Reed’s Bridge road for the capturing of the isolated brigade. It was between 8 and 9 a. m., before the enemy was struck.

General Forrest called immediately for assistance. Ector’s and Wilson’s infantry brigades of Walker’s Corps returned down the stream and drove Croxton. This brought Brannan with his two remaining brigades forward; he in turn drove back the Confederate force. Brannan in his report[19] says, that his troops came upon a strong force of the enemy, consisting of two divisions instead of the supposed brigade. Very soon Baird’s division was sent in on the right of Brannan; this at first drove the Confederate force that was attacking Brannan, but in turn it was attacked directly on its right flank and rear by Liddell’s division, which threw it into temporary confusion. In the meantime McCook’s Corps arrived on the field. R. W. Johnson’s division of that corps was sent in, at noon, on Baird’s right; it struck Cheatham’s division on its right flank, driving it back in confusion. Johnson’s was overlapped and in immediate danger, when General John M. Palmer’s division of Crittenden’s Corps, relieved the right of his division; Crittenden had very wisely dispatched Palmer’s division toward the sound of the firing and this burst upon the enemy. Palmer’s right was soon overlapped when Van Cleve from Crittenden’s Corps came to the rescue, but later in the day he also was beaten back. Then Reynolds’s division of Thomas’s corps advanced on the left of Palmer’s division, and two brigades of Van Cleve’s division came in on Palmer’s right. Davis’s division of McCook’s Corps attacked most opportunely and drove the enemy, but was compelled somewhat to give way. In this attack Colonel Hans C. Heg of the Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry was mortally wounded. In the meantime Crittenden’s remaining division under Wood attacked the Confederates and turned the tide. Lee and Gordon’s Mill was at that moment uncovered, all of Crittenden’s Corps having marched towards the left. About 3 o’clock p. m. McCook was ordered to send his remaining division (Sheridan’s) to support the line near Wood and Davis, and to place Lytle’s brigade at Lee and Gordon’s as the extreme right. This stayed the Confederate advance in that section.

Lytle’s brigade was considered sufficient at that time to hold a point against which Bragg was, at first, directing his whole force. This point—at Lee and Gordon’s—was the left of the Union Army on the 18th; at noon on the 19th it was the right.

Negley’s division, which had been posted near Crawfish Springs the night before, was then the only Union division which did not partake in the battle at first, but arrived in accordance with orders on the field about 4:30 p. m. He was ordered to the place, from which Van Cleve had been driven, in order to attack; he drove the enemy steadily, while Thomas was driving him on the Confederate right; these movements continued until night.

It can readily be perceived that the battle of the 19th was more or less a haphazard fight, neither side being aware of the position of the other. The undergrowth of the woods was so dense in most places, that opposed sides could not perceive each other until they were within a few yards, except by the firing. It was unfortunate that Rosecrans was not present with Thomas, when the latter’s corps crossed the Lafayette road. Before an attack was made, the Twenty-first Corps, being the nearest one to the Fourteenth, should have been formed on the right of the Fourteenth, both in a compact line, and with a brigade for each division in reserve; and the Twentieth Corps—when it closed up on the right of the Twenty-first in the same compact order—should have advanced swiftly upon the Confederates, some of whom were still crossing the river, and some with their right flanks to the Union line of attack. It is possible that such an attack would have driven the Confederates into the river in great confusion; but an attack by only one division (Brannan’s) on Forrest’s cavalry beyond the Confederate right flank, simply notified the Confederate commanders, and gave them ample time to wheel their divisions into the proper direction, and signalled them where to attack. General Rosecrans in his report does not mention a night fight that occurred on the extreme Union left. In fact, he says, there was no firing after dark. Just as it began to grow dark, however, Cleburne’s division of Hill’s Corps arrived from across the river. He boldly and characteristically marched through the defeated and prostrated divisions of Walker and Cheatham, was joined by two brigades of Cheatham’s division, Jackson’s, and Preston Smith’s, and then attacked with great fierceness the Union troops under R. W. Johnson and Baird; they covered Johnson’s front and lapped over on Baird. It was too dark to recognize friend from foe, and it was more or less a hand-to-hand contest. Finally the attack was repulsed, the Union troops holding the field. The Confederate general, Preston Smith, and two of his staff officers were killed.

Some idea of the severity of the fighting on the 19th—the charging and falling back of both sides; the difficulty in keeping alignments; the impossibility of officers identifying friend or foe; the losing of artillery batteries and single pieces, their recapture; and the awful slaughter in both armies—can be obtained only by reading official reports in serial numbers 50 and 51 of Rebellion Records. Its intensity can be estimated from the following data. Breckenridge’s division was not in the fight of September 19, but fought on the 20th only; his loss in killed and wounded was 1,075. Cleburne was in the night fight of the 19th, and was as active as Breckenridge on the 20th; his loss was 1,743 in killed and wounded. The total difference of 668 does not give an accurate comparison of the two days’ fighting, but does give some idea of the awful slaughter. The battle of the 19th was fought without breastworks; it was a square stand-up fight; nearly every division engaged on both sides, first attacked, then drove its opponent, and after falling back in some disorder, reformed, and again advanced, until the day and part of the night were gone.

The surgeon-general of the Union Army reported that about 4,500 wounded were treated after this battle of the 19th. The loss in killed and wounded must, therefore, have reached 6,000, but the Union reports do not separate the losses of the 19th from the total.

Late in the afternoon of the 19th, Brannan’s division was withdrawn from the left and placed in reserve, or rather in echelon at the right of Reynolds, near Brotherton’s house, at the right of Thomas’s line.

During the night of the 19th the lines of both armies were readjusted. That of the Union Army was drawn back. Palmer of Crittenden’s Corps and Johnson of McCook’s, who had reported to General Thomas the day before, were ordered to remain under his direction. He placed his troops in a compact line—facing east with the Lafayette road in his rear—around Kelly’s farm, but some distance in the woods. The divisions were in the following order from left to right: Baird, Johnson, Palmer, Reynolds, and Brannan; Brannan was drawn back so far, however, that he could be available as a reserve and at the same time close enough to advance quickly to the front line. The right and left were both refused. Baird had no reserve; but Johnson and Palmer had each a brigade in reserve. Each division was formed in two lines, and both were protected by hastily thrown up log breastworks. The artillery was in battery between brigades; this line was not broken during the battle of the 20th. Reynolds’s line crossed the Lafayette road at Poe’s house, near Brotherton’s, and from there to Lee and Gordon’s neither of the armies was in possession of the road. Reynolds had Turchin’s brigade in line and King’s in reserve. Baird’s left did not reach to the Lafayette road. Kelly Field, which was a parallelogram about half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, was the storm centre of battle during September 20. Besides the immense fighting along the main line of log works, there were five different charges, in rear of the main line from the south to the north side by five different Union brigades. These charges were made against the Confederate troops, which had turned on the left of Baird’s line and gained his rear. The brigades of Stanley, Van Derveer, Gross, Willich, and Turchin made these charges.

The right of the Union line on the 20th—from Brannan’s right—was neither compact nor protected. During the night of the 19th, or early morning of the 20th, the four divisions of Sheridan, Davis, Wood, and Van Cleve had been moved to the eastern slope of Missionary Ridge, a mile or more from the Lafayette road, in order to cover the road leading from Crawfish Springs to McFarland’s Gap, west of Rosecrans’s headquarters. General Rosecrans says he rode the line about daylight, and that he suggested certain changes to McCook, especially that he keep close to the left, which was not done, however, in time to prevent disaster. Negley of the Fourteenth Corps, who was in line on the right adjoining Brannan, was ordered to proceed to Thomas’s left, but only two brigades, John Beatty’s and Stanley’s, arrived, one at a time; both were driven away by the enemy. John Beatty’s brigade—which at 8:30 a. m. was placed on the left of Baird, so as to reach the Lafayette road—was not fortified; its thin line was swept away at the first attack by the enemy. Negley was expected to fill this gap with his whole division, and Thomas sent request after request for Negley’s division. There was so much re-adjustment going on at the wrong time, and much of it not going on at any time in the troops under McCook and Crittenden on the 20th, that it is difficult now to try to place them up to 11 a. m. Wood, with his two brigades from the reserve, relieved Negley’s two remaining brigades in the front line, next to Brannan’s about 9:30 a. m., his brigade being a little withdrawn in echelon. This was done to enable Negley to take position on Baird’s left. About 11 a. m. Van Cleve marched to the rear of Wood and had his men lie down. All these troops on the right—from Reynolds’s right to Sheridan’s the extreme right of the Union Army—were very thinly drawn out, and did no good in the day’s fight, with the exception of one full brigade of Wood’s, namely, Harker’s, one regiment of Buell’s brigade, and a few regiments from other divisions, which will be mentioned further on. The troops had done excellent service the day before; but future events will show that they seemed to be paralyzed, by not having been well fortified and compactly placed the night before. This mistake had been corrected to some extent, when the disaster came. On the 20th the troops faced Longstreet, a most sagacious general, who was exceedingly energetic in taking advantage of every defect of his opponent’s line and every blunder in his maneuvers.

McCook had Davis’s and Sheridan’s divisions still on his extreme right. Crittenden had Van Cleve’s and Wood’s, although the latter was in the early morning supposed to be in reserve. Wood came into the front line as stated, but Van Cleve seems not to have found a place there on the 20th.