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

by Michael Hendrick Fitch

The Confederate Army which confronted the Army of the Cumberland on June 24, 1863, was officially called the Army of the Tennessee. It was divided into four corps—two of infantry and two of cavalry. General Leonidas Polk commanded one infantry corps, and General William J. Hardee the other. The cavalry corps were commanded by General Joseph Wheeler, and General N. B. Forrest. In addition to the artillery, attached to the regular corps, there was also a reserve artillery. In General Bragg’s return of the “aggregate present” of his army in the field on June 20, 1863, his figures are 55,070. His reserve troops were not included in this statement; they were scattered throughout the districts of Tennessee and northern Alabama.

At this same date the return of the Army of the Cumberland was 71,409 of all arms—exclusive of the reserve corps—as “aggregate present.” It will be noticed later on, that the Confederates greatly increased their numbers prior to the battle of Chickamauga, but that the Union Army received no reinforcements; on the contrary, it lost heavily by sickness as the army advanced.

General Bragg was at that time forty-six years old. He had distinguished himself in the Mexican War. He commanded the Confederate Army in both the battles of Perryville and Stone’s River. He did not win either of these, having in both of them abandoned the field to the Union forces.

Perhaps the most distinguished officer in Bragg’s army was Major-General John C. Breckenridge. He was more distinguished, however, as a politician, than as a military leader. He was forty-two years old. Before the war he had been a member of Congress, vice-president of the United States, and in 1860 the presidential candidate of the Southern democrats. At the breaking out of the war, he was a United States Senator from Kentucky. He was a Confederate officer at Shiloh in April, 1862, and commanded the right wing of the Southern forces at Stone’s River.

General Leonidas Polk was fifty-seven years old in 1863. He was a bishop of the Episcopal church. He graduated from West Point in 1827, but resigned his commission in the army in the same year. He entered the Confederate Army as a major-general, but was soon promoted to lieutenant-general.

General William J. Hardee was forty-seven years old at this time. He graduated from West Point in the class of 1838. He served with distinction in the Mexican War. He entered the Confederate service as colonel, commanded a corps at Shiloh in 1862; was appointed lieutenant-general in October, 1862; and commanded the left wing of the Southern Army at Perryville.

General Simon Bolivar Buckner, another officer in the Confederate Army, was forty years old, and a West Pointer. He surrendered Fort Donelson to General Grant in February, 1862.

Of the two Confederate cavalry commanders, General Nathan B. Forrest was by far the greater. He was a rough, uneducated man, but of great force as a partisan leader. When Lord Wolseley was at the head of the British Army, he said of Forrest that he was the ablest cavalry leader that was produced by our War between the States. He was personally brave, possessed a fine physique, and had sufficient magnetism to inspire the soldiers of his command to great activity and endurance. During the war twenty-nine horses were shot under him, and he took active part in thirty-one encounters, it has been stated. He was wounded several times.

The rank and file of the Confederates were made up of the citizens of the Southern states, in much the same manner that the Union Army was composed of Northern citizens. They fought with a certain fanaticism, for what they deemed their rights. It is singular, that at the beginning of the war, so universal a desire to dissolve the Union seized the great majority of the white people of the South, although they might not be slave owners. They made most efficient soldiers and suffered many hardships, unknown to the soldiers of the Union Army. The martial temperament, inherited as well as acquired through personal habits, was more predominant in the South than in the North. The Southerners lived largely a country-life before the war; they rode horseback, hunted with hounds, and had become more familiar with firearms than the Northerners. The practice of duelling continued longer with them than with the men of the North, who were not as fiery tempered as those of the South. These traits made them soldiers by nature; they liked to serve in the field, and were therefore difficult to conquer. They seemed more lithe and active, than the staid volunteers from the colder North. They have claimed, that they were largely outnumbered; that is true in the aggregate, but not so true on the firing line. The battles of Stone’s River and Chickamauga illustrate these facts. The numbers in both armies were quite evenly matched. During the last year of this war there was little difference in the fighting qualities of the veteran regiments on both sides. The rebellion was put down according to the rules of warfare, and whatever that result may have cost in numbers, it was worth the price. Not every revolt against authoritative power has been suppressed by superior numbers, not even that of the thirteen colonies against England’s. At first, the power of England seemed so overwhelming, that scarcely any one expected that colonial independence could be gained. Foreign nations did not believe that this rebellion could be suppressed, notwithstanding the superiority in numbers of the Union Army.

The wonderful thing about it is, that Lincoln persevered to the end, against discouragements and disasters which seemed, at the time, to be insurmountable. Fortunately there was no compromise, the rebellion was simply crushed, no terms were made; and no promises given to embarrass the reconstruction. Of course, it required large armies and grim determination to reach the goal. The great fact is, not that the Union armies outnumbered the Confederate forces, but that the Union itself was restored. The war was merciless; all wars are. Mercy, pity, and the extension of the hand of helpfulness came after the war was over, not while it was going on. Each side did all it could to fight and win its battles. The North had the larger number of citizens from which to draw, and of course, availed itself of that advantage. The South would have put larger armies into the field if it could have done so; it did use every available man, however, and fought its best. The South might have conquered the Union by overwhelming forces, could such have been secured, but available men were lacking. At all events, the rebellion was crushed by means of legitimate warfare, and the Union was restored.