The Tenth Wisconsin Infantry—commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John H. Ely—was in Scribner’s brigade of Baird’s division. The history of its fighting is almost identical with that of the First and Twenty-first. On the 20th the Tenth Wisconsin Infantry was immediately on the left of Starkweather. Colonel Ely, Major McKercher and several other officers, together with a large number of men were captured in falling back (by orders), on the evening of the 20th. They, by mistake, took the wrong direction, going too far to the right, as they faced the rear, and thus ran into the enemy. Its loss was a total of 211, but 145 of these were missing. Captain J. W. Roby, who made the report says: “Monday morning September 21st we numbered three officers and 26 men.” Lieutenant-Colonel Ely’s name appears among those killed; the other officers killed were Captain George M. West and Lieutenant Robert Rennie.
The Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry served in the Third brigade, Davis’s division of the Twentieth Corps. This brigade was commanded by Colonel Hans C. Heg until he was killed on the 19th; and afterwards by Colonel John A. Martin. This regiment fought most gallantly with Davis’s division on the 19th, when, according to their official report, the loss was 7 officers and 59 enlisted men killed, wounded, and missing. It will be remembered that on the 20th General Davis’s division was cut off on the right by the break at Wood’s division, and that it, after some desultory fighting, retired to McFarland’s Gap. The total loss of the Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry was 111, of which 55 men were captured or missing. The officers killed were Colonel Hans C. Heg, Captains Hans Hanson, Henry Hauff, John M. Johnson, and Lieutenant Oliver Thompson.
The Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry was in General Lytle’s brigade of the First Division of the Twentieth Corps. This regiment, with the brigade to which it was attached, occupied the entrenchments at Lee and Gordon’s Mill on the afternoon of the 19th, where it relieved General Thomas J. Wood’s division; it remained here all afternoon under a little artillery fire from the enemy, which did no harm, however. At 3 a. m. on the 20th it went to a point near General Rosecrans’s headquarters, near the Widow Glenn’s house; at 10:30 a. m. it double quicked—under a terrific fire from the enemy—to the point where General Lytle was killed; it fought here for thirty minutes driving the enemy, but was soon outflanked by Hindman’s troops coming toward its left flank from the celebrated break. The official report of its commander (Major Carl Von Baumbach), from which the foregoing facts are gleaned, says further: “We retreated in some disorder; but quickly reformed on a hill some 400 yards to the rear. Our brave and gallant commander, Lieutenant-Colonel T. S. West, being among the missing, I assumed command.” This regiment bivouaced for the night at Rossville; its loss was 3 officers and 69 men killed and wounded, and 20 missing; Captain Gustavus Goldsmith was killed. The Major in his report makes especial mention of Lieutenant Thomas E. Balding, acting adjutant, for his gallant conduct.
The First Wisconsin Cavalry—under command of Colonel Oscar H. LaGrange—was a part of the Second Brigade, of Colonel Edward M. McCook’s cavalry division. During the campaign, preceding the battle, this regiment performed the usual duties of cavalry in reconnoitering, picketing, leading in advance of the marching column of infantry, and generally acting with the rest of the cavalry, as the eyes of the army. On the 19th it was stationed on the right of the army to watch the enemy’s cavalry, which kept on the east side of the Chickamauga in the movement back to Rossville, and thence into Chattanooga, it protected the trains and rear of the army. Its loss was 2 men wounded and 4 missing.
There were three Wisconsin light batteries with the Army of the Cumberland, in the battle of Chickamauga: the Third, Fifth, and Eighth. The Third Battery—commanded by Lieutenant Courtland Livingston—was attached to Van Cleve’s division of Crittenden’s Corps. Captain L. H. Drury of this battery, was chief of artillery of the division; he was severely wounded in a skirmish several days before the battle. This battery followed the fortunes of its division; but there seems to be no definite report by its commanding officer. Its losses were 2 killed, 12 wounded and 12 missing, out of an aggregate of 119.
The Fifth Wisconsin Battery, commanded by Captain George Q. Gardner was attached to the First Brigade, commanded by Colonel P. Sidney Post of General Jefferson C. Davis’s division of the Twentieth Corps. This brigade was guarding the supply train, and was not engaged in the battle, and this battery had no losses. The brigade commander, in his official report, commends Captain Gardner for great zeal and ability in the management of the battery.
The Eighth Wisconsin Battery—commanded by Lieutenant John D. McLean—was attached to Colonel Heg’s brigade of Davis’s division of McCook’s Twentieth Corps. The chief of artillery of Davis’s division reports, that the movement of the artillery in the Chickamauga woods was not deemed practicable; therefore, this battery did not become engaged, and had no losses.
The Chickamauga campaign proper was now ended. It formed the second step in the campaign from Murfreesboro to Chattanooga; the Tullahoma campaign being the first. It is true, the city was now occupied by the Army of the Cumberland, but its possession was not secure as long as the Confederate Army lay within two or three miles, and held the city’s most available lines of supply by the river and the river road, between Bridgeport and Chattanooga. Therefore, another conflict was necessary, which would constitute the third step in the great campaign. An account of that struggle will include the coming of reinforcements to the Union Army; the opening of what the men in the ranks called, “the cracker line;” the reorganization of the Army of the Cumberland; and an account of the four battles of Wauhatchie, Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge. But before that is attempted, it will be necessary to make some observations on the late battle of Chickamauga.
The Army of the Cumberland—or rather that part of it which now occupied the city—was reduced by the Chickamauga battle to an estimated aggregate of 35,000. This estimate excluded perhaps the cavalry. Its total losses, killed, wounded, and prisoners, in the Chickamauga campaign reached 13,615. A large number of sick, besides the wounded, were in hospitals. But the Confederate losses were at least 5,374 more than those of the Union Army. General Longstreet, in his book, From Manassas to Appomatox, claims that the Confederate force at Chickamauga was somewhat less than 60,000 men. The Confederate records are so defective that it is largely an estimate to give their numbers or losses. General H. V. Boynton estimates the number at very much more than 60,000. There is no doubt that Bragg actually outnumbered Rosecrans on the field by several thousand troops, perhaps in the proportion of 60,000 to 50,000.
The Union Army captured 2,003 prisoners, and lost 4,774. Of the latter 2,500 were wounded and left on the field when the army fell back to Rossville. The terrible fighting which took place is shown by the number of killed and wounded on each side. Longstreet says in his book, that Bragg’s killed and wounded amounted to 16,986, but the official returns make them about 1,100 less, or 15,881. The official returns of the army give the Union losses of killed and wounded 11,338. The Confederate loss was greater in killed and wounded than at Gettysburg; and the largest the enemy had in a single battle. Attention is called to the fact, that the numbers engaged at Gettysburg were about 80,000 on each side; and that the battle lasted three days.