Chickamauga Creek, Georgia
September 18-20, 1863
After the battle of Stone's River (January 1-2, 1863), where Gen. William S. Rosecrans' Union Army of the Cumberland badly mauled Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee near Murfreesboro, Bragg withdrew and both sides hunkered down for the winter. Under pressure from Washington to take the offensive, Rosecrans began a campaign in June that pushed Bragg all the way back to Chattanooga. In early September, Rosecrans consolidated his forces scattered in Tennessee and Georgia and forced Bragg's army out of Chattanooga, heading south into Georgia. Bragg was determined to reoccupy Chattanooga and decided to meet a part of Rosecrans’ army, defeat them, and then move back into the city. Reinforced by two of Johnston's divisions sent from Mississippi and additional troops from Longstreet in Virginia, Bragg concentrated his forces in the valley of Chickamauga Creek, twelve miles below Chattanooga (see map). He headed north on September 17 and ran into Federal forces the next day. Fighting began in earnest on the morning of the 19th when patrols bumped into each other just west of Chickamauga Creek. In some of the most vicious and chaotic fighting of the war, Bragg’s men hammered the Union line but failed to break it. The next day, Bragg continued his assault on the Union line on the left, and in late morning, Rosecrans was informed that he had a gap in his line. In moving units to shore up the supposed gap, he created a serious one, and Longstreet’s men promptly exploited it, driving one-third of Rosecrans' army from the field. A disastrous rout of the Federals was averted by Gen. Thomas (thereafter known as "the Rock of Chickamauga"), who took command of Rosecrans' shattered army and began consolidating forces on Horseshoe Ridge and Snodgrass Hill. Bragg launched several determined assaults, but Thomas held his position. After dark, the Federals withdrew to Chattanooga. Having lost a third of his army-- 20,000 Confederates were killed, wounded, or missing (Rosecrans and Thomas lost 16,000 men)--Bragg refused to pursue the Federals into the city. Chickamauga was an important tactical victory for the Confederates, but Bragg was criticized for failing to destroy the remains of Rosecrans' army taking the city while he had the chance. Still, Rosecrans was bottled up in Chattanooga and it seemed likely that the Army of the Cumberland would be starved into submission.
© 2004 David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College
