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

by Michael Hendrick Fitch

WISCONSIN TROOPS IN THE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE

Wisconsin’s part in the battle of Missionary Ridge was important and honorable. The First and Twenty-first Infantry were in Starkweather’s brigade of Johnson’s division. This brigade had lost heavily at Chickamauga; it was assigned to remain in Chattanooga in order to hold the works, while the army was assaulting the ridge. This duty was cheerfully and thoroughly done, although it deprived the brigade of the glory of charging up the ridge.

The Tenth Infantry remained on detached duty holding a fort south of the Crutchfield house, on the side of Lookout Mountain, and did not ascend the ridge.

The Fifteenth Infantry was attached to Willich’s brigade of Wood’s division of Granger’s fourth corps; it was commanded by Captain John A. Gordon. In the ascent of the ridge it was in the reserve line of the brigade, therefore its loss was nominal; the entire loss during the battles was 6 men wounded. General Willich speaks of the regiment in high terms in his report. It consisted only of 130 men.

Before coming to the Army of the Cumberland the Fifteenth Infantry had distinguished itself. On October 19, 1862, Major Quincy McNeill of the Second Illinois Cavalry wrote to the Governor of Wisconsin, from Island Number Ten, that there was no braver man in the service than Captain John A. Gordon.

The Eighteenth Infantry came with Sherman’s troops of the Army of the Tennessee; it was commanded by Colonel Gabriel Bouck and attached to the First Brigade (Alexander’s), of the Second Division (General John E. Smith’s), of the Seventeenth Corps. This infantry regiment was engaged with Sherman’s troops on the extreme left; its losses are not reported. It was organized at Milwaukee in February, 1862, and was mustered in March. It proceeded to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and became a part of the Army of the Tennessee on April 5, 1862. This regiment was heavily engaged in the battle at that place on April 6; also in the battle of Corinth and other engagements prior to its coming to Chattanooga. The Eighteenth Infantry was noted for the size of its men; it was said that Company G of this regiment averaged by actual weight 160 pounds to the man. At the battle of Pittsburg Landing on April 6, 1862, this regiment was in the left brigade of General Prentiss’s division; it was then commanded by its first colonel, J. S. Alban. It formed for battle only thirty rods from its tents, and fifteen minutes later the Confederate line was upon it. The enemy outflanked and overpowered it; Alban was wounded, and carried from the field, dying soon afterwards; the Lieutenant-Colonel was also wounded and Major Crane was killed. All this occurred one week after the regiment left its camp of organization in Wisconsin. Captain Gabriel Bouck, Company E, Second Wisconsin Infantry was made Colonel of the Eighteenth on April 22, 1862.

The Twenty-fourth Infantry was attached to Francis T. Sherman’s Brigade of Sheridan’s division of the Fourth Corps, and was commanded by Major Carl Von Baumbach. His official report is a vivid account of how the top of the ridge was gained, “My regiment advanced in admirable line of battle up to the first pits of the enemy. Upon reaching the first line, the men were pretty much exhausted, and unable to move for some time. In about five minutes, however, we moved over the first pits of the enemy, but after advancing beyond the first line, the line of battle was not regular. The men took advantage of all obstacles, in the way, for shelter, and thus advanced toward the top of the ridge. The fighting was fierce and severe, but owing to the formation of the ground my men were able to screen themselves partially, from the deadly volleys, that were being hurled at us, at every step of our advance. In the course of the ascent my men had to rest several times on account of exhaustion. But at length we succeeded in gaining the crest of the ridge, after two hours steady fighting * * * I would most respectfully mention Adjutant Arthur McArthur, Jr., for his bravery. When the color sergeant was exhausted he carried the flag in front of the regiment, cheering the men to follow him up the ridge.”

The loss of the Twenty-fourth is given as 31 killed and wounded. Captain Howard Greene and Lieutenant Robert J. Chivas were killed. Captain Richard H. Austin and Lieutenant Thomas E. Balding were wounded. Major Von Baumbach commended especially the bravery of the latter two.

The Twenty-sixth Infantry, still in the second brigade of Schurz’s division of the Eleventh Corps, was commanded by Major F. C. Winkler; this regiment followed the movements of its brigade and on November 25, was with Sherman on the extreme left. Its losses are not reported.

The Third, Eighth, and Tenth light batteries were in the First Brigade of the Second Division of the artillery reserve. Company C of the first heavy artillery was in the Second Brigade of the same division.

The Eighth Battery did excellent service on the evening of the 24th, when Carlin’s brigade crossed Chattanooga Creek at its mouth and joined Hooker. Lieutenant O. German, commanding the battery, placed two sections near the mouth of the creek on its right bank, and shelled the Confederate position and the road up the east of the mountain. On the 25th, after the infantry had taken Missionary Ridge it ascended to the crest. Losses, none.

The Fifth Battery was part of the artillery which was so placed as to cover the pontoon bridge at the mouth of the Chickamauga, where Sherman’s troops crossed on the 24th.

The Twelfth Battery was placed on a hill near the location of the Fifth Battery.

The Sixth and Twelfth batteries were attached officially to the Second Division of the Seventeenth Corps; therefore they were on the left with Sherman during the 25th. Their losses are not reported.

There is no report from the Tenth Battery, which was stationed at Harrison’s Landing, about twelve miles up the river, east of Chattanooga; a section of this battery reported to Colonel Eli Long (of the cavalry) at Calhoun, Tennessee.

Battery C of the First Regiment of Wisconsin Heavy Artillery was mustered in October 1, 1863; it was sent directly to Chattanooga and assigned to Fort Wood.

The Sixth Wisconsin Battery was mustered into service at Racine, Wisconsin, October 2, 1861. It did not leave the State until March 15, 1862, when it went to St. Louis. It took part in the siege of Island Number Ten, the siege and battle of Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg. This battery came to Chattanooga with the Fifteenth Corps under Sherman.

The Tenth Wisconsin Light Battery was mustered into the service at Milwaukee on February 10, 1862, with Captain Yates V. Beebe as commander. It left the State March 18 and went to St. Louis. From there it joined the Army of the Tennessee and took part in the battle of Corinth. On September 14, 1862, it arrived at Nashville, and took part in the battle of Stone’s River. It did active duty in various locations until the date of the battles around Chattanooga.

The Twelfth Wisconsin Battery was organized and equipped at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. It did service in both Tennessee and Mississippi until coming to Chattanooga with General Sherman.

The Army of the Cumberland—as reorganized prior to the battles around Chattanooga—with General Thomas in command, was now in permanent possession of Chattanooga. The Confederate Army took up its winter quarters at Dalton, Georgia, on the railway twenty-eight miles southeast of Chattanooga, across two mountain ranges. The assignment of General Grant as commander of the Division of the Mississippi—giving him command of all the forces, operating in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi—which so greatly contributed to the victories in the battles around Chattanooga, insured also the permanent holding of that city.

Whatever was accomplished by Rosecrans during the four months of the campaign, beginning on June 23 at Murfreesboro, and ending on October 19, 1863 at Chattanooga, was done by him and his Army of the Cumberland alone. He could not get any cooperation from the East or West. The President and General Halleck at Washington, seemed to be in earnest by the wording of their dispatches, as published in the Rebellion Record, in urging and commanding Burnside in east Tennessee and the Army of the Tennessee on the Mississippi to join with Rosecrans prior to the battle of Chickamauga; for reasons not apparent to the reader of present history, no reinforcements came. It is pathetic to read the official record of those days, which gives an account of the struggles, the marches, the battles, the sacrifices, the patient endurance by the musket bearers of extreme fatigue, and the cheerfulness with which the soldiers endured all. They faced death without a thought of their real heroism. To one who went through the campaign and came out alive and unwounded it is incomprehensible, that all did not die.

It is true other armies, such as those of the Potomac, the Tennessee, and the one in Missouri had campaigns at the same time and were equally exposed to the hazards of war; but none of them marched over a territory so mountainous and so difficult; none of them fought battles in so perilous a region or with more deadly effect, than the soldiers in the battle of Chickamauga. Had the Union Army been really defeated and had it lost Chattanooga, the army could hardly have recovered from the disaster, without the quick aid of large reinforcements, which were too far away at that time to be available in an emergency. Burnside was besieged at Knoxville, and the Army of the Tennessee so far away, that it took weeks to get it to Chattanooga. It will be of great interest to the future student of the military history of the War between the States to follow the subsequent campaigns of the Western armies after Grant became commander-in-chief, and Sherman was assigned to the command in the West, with headquarters at Chattanooga. He will apprehend how all the armies worked together, and how soon the rebellion itself was crushed, although its soldiers fought to the bitter end.