Download or read book The Greatest Civil War Battles written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the campaign's important generals. *Includes several maps of the campaign's battles. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Grant, Bragg, Sherman, Sheridan, Longstreet, Cleburne, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Meanwhile, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, took the surrounding heights, including Missionary Ridge to the east and Lookout Mountain to the southwest, allowing them control over the vital rail and river supply lines needed by the Union forces in the city. Bragg planned to lay siege to the city and starve the Union forces into surrendering. Having lost faith in Rosecrans after Chickamauga, Washington delegated Ulysses S. Grant with the task of lifting the siege by placing him in command of nearly the entire theater. Grant replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas, who had saved the army at Chickamauga, and ordered him to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards." Thomas replied, "We will hold the town till we starve." Meanwhile, President Lincoln detached General Hooker and two divisions from the Army of the Potomac and sent them west to reinforce the garrison at Chattanooga. What followed were some of the most remarkable operations of the entire Civil War. Hooker and his reinforcements helped open up a vital supply line known as the "cracker line," effectively ensuring that enough supplies could reach Knoxville. With that, preparations turned to a pitched battle between the two sides, and in a series of actions in late November, Grant sought to lift the siege and drive back Bragg's Confederate army by attacking their positions on high ground. Although the Chattanooga Campaign was months long and involved several battles, it has become mostly remembered for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, one of the most remarkable and successful charges of the war. As Thomas's men reached the base of the Missionary Ridge, they found that it had not afforded them protection from the Confederate defenders in their front. As a result, they began making impromptu charges up the hill, in defiance of Grant's orders, since Grant had only ordered them to take the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge and believed that a frontal assault on that position would be futile and fatal. As the Union soldiers stormed ahead, General Grant caught the advance from a distance and asked General Thomas why he had ordered the attack. Thomas informed Grant that he hadn't; his army had taken it upon itself to charge up the entire ridge. To the amazement of everyone watching, the Union soldiers scrambled up Missionary Ridge in a series of uncoordinated and disorganized attacks that somehow managed to send the Confederates into a rout, thereby lifting the siege on Chattanooga. While Pickett's Charge, still the most famous attack of the war, was one unsuccessful charge, the Army of the Cumberland made over a dozen charges up Missionary Ridge and ultimately succeeded. The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Chattanooga Campaign comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the climactic battles, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battles. Accounts of the campaign by important participants are also included, along with maps and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the Chattanooga Campaign like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book The Greatest Civil War Battles the Chattanooga Campaign written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2013-08-23 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the campaign's important generals. *Includes several maps of the campaign's battles. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Grant, Bragg, Sherman, Sheridan, Longstreet, Cleburne, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Meanwhile, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, took the surrounding heights, including Missionary Ridge to the east and Lookout Mountain to the southwest, allowing them control over the vital rail and river supply lines needed by the Union forces in the city. Bragg planned to lay siege to the city and starve the Union forces into surrendering. Having lost faith in Rosecrans after Chickamauga, Washington delegated Ulysses S. Grant with the task of lifting the siege by placing him in command of nearly the entire theater. Grant replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas, who had saved the army at Chickamauga, and ordered him to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards." Thomas replied, "We will hold the town till we starve." Meanwhile, President Lincoln detached General Hooker and two divisions from the Army of the Potomac and sent them west to reinforce the garrison at Chattanooga. What followed were some of the most remarkable operations of the entire Civil War. Hooker and his reinforcements helped open up a vital supply line known as the "cracker line", effectively ensuring that enough supplies could reach Knoxville. With that, preparations turned to a pitched battle between the two sides, and in a series of actions in late November, Grant sought to lift the siege and drive back Bragg's Confederate army by attacking their positions on high ground. Although the Chattanooga Campaign was months long and involved several battles, it has become mostly remembered for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, one of the most remarkable and successful charges of the war. As Thomas's men reached the base of the Missionary Ridge, they found that it had not afforded them protection from the Confederate defenders in their front. As a result, they began making impromptu charges up the hill, in defiance of Grant's orders, since Grant had only ordered them to take the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge and believed that a frontal assault on that position would be futile and fatal. As the Union soldiers stormed ahead, General Grant caught the advance from a distance and asked General Thomas why he had ordered the attack. Thomas informed Grant that he hadn't; his army had taken it upon itself to charge up the entire ridge. To the amazement of everyone watching, the Union soldiers scrambled up Missionary Ridge in a series of uncoordinated and disorganized attacks that somehow managed to send the Confederates into a rout, thereby lifting the siege on Chattanooga. While Pickett's Charge, still the most famous attack of the war, was one unsuccessful charge, the Army of the Cumberland made over a dozen charges up Missionary Ridge and ultimately succeeded. The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Chattanooga Campaign comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the climactic battles, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battles. Accounts of the campaign by important participants are also included, along with maps and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the Chattanooga Campaign like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book Battle above the Clouds written by David Powell and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In October 1863, the Union Army of the Cumberland was besieged in Chattanooga, all but surrounded by familiar opponents: The Confederate Army of Tennessee. The Federals were surviving by the narrowest of margins, thanks only to a trickle of supplies painstakingly hauled over the sketchiest of mountain roads. Soon even those quarter-rations would not suffice. Disaster was in the offing. Yet those Confederates, once jubilant at having routed the Federals at Chickamauga and driven them back into the apparent trap of Chattanoogas trenches, found their own circumstances increasingly difficult to bear. In the immediate aftermath of their victory, the South rejoiced; the Confederacys own disasters of the previous summerVicksburg and Gettysburgwere seemingly reversed. Then came stalemate in front of those same trenches. The Confederates held the high ground, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, but they could not completely seal off Chattanooga from the north. The Union responded. Reinforcements were on the way. A new man arrived to take command: Ulysses S. Grant. Confederate General Braxton Bragg, unwilling to launch a frontal attack on Chattanoogas defenses, sought victory elsewhere, diverting troops to East Tennessee. Battle above the Clouds by David Powell recounts the first half of the campaign to lift the siege of Chattanooga, including the opening of the cracker line, the unusual night battle of Wauhatchie, and one of the most dramatic battles of the entire war: Lookout Mountain.
Download or read book All Hell Can t Stop Them written by David Powell and published by . This book was released on 2018-06-19 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To many of the Federal soldiers watching the Stars and Stripes unfurl atop Lookout Mountain on the morning of November 25, 1863, it seemed that the battle to relieve Chattanooga was complete. The Union Army of the Cumberland was no longer trapped in the city, subsisting on short rations and awaiting rescue; instead, they were again on the attack. Ulysses S. Grant did not share their certainty. For Grant, the job he had been sent to accomplish was only half-finished. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee still held Missionary Ridge, with other Rebels under James Longstreet threatening more Federals in Knoxville, Tennessee. Grant’s greatest fear was that the Rebels would slip away before he could deliver the final blows necessary to crush Bragg completely. That blow landed on the afternoon of November 25. Each of Grant’s assembled forces—troops led by Union Generals William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, and Joseph Hooker—all moved to the attack. Stubbornly, Bragg refused to retreat, and instead accepted battle. That decision would cost him dearly. But everything did not go Grant’s way. Despite what Grant’s many admirers would later insist was his most successful, most carefully planned battle, Grant’s strategy failed him—as did his most trusted commander, Sherman. Victory instead charged straight up the seemingly impregnable slopes of Missionary Ridge’s western face, as the men of the much-maligned Army of the Cumberland swarmed up and over Bragg’s defenses in an irresistible blue tide. Caught flat-footed by this impetuous charge, Grant could only watch nervously as the men started up . . . All Hell Can’t Stop Them: The Battles for Chattanooga—Missionary Ridge and Ringgold, November 24-27, 1863—sequel to Battle Above the Clouds—details the dramatic final actions of the battles for Chattanooga: Missionary Ridge and the final Confederate rearguard action at Ringgold, where Patrick Cleburne held Grant’s Federals at bay and saved the Army of Tennessee from further disaster.
Download or read book The Chattanooga Campaign written by Steven E. Woodworth and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2012-08-29 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the Confederates emerged as victors in the Chickamauga Campaign, the Union Army of the Cumberland lay under siege in Chattanooga, with Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee on nearby high ground at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. A win at Chattanooga was essential for the Confederates, both to capitalize on the victory at Chickamauga and to keep control of the gateway to the lower South. Should the Federal troops wrest control of that linchpin, they would cement their control of eastern Tennessee and gain access to the Deep South. In the fall 1863 Chattanooga Campaign, the new head of the western Union armies, Ulysses S. Grant, sought to break the Confederate siege. His success created the opportunity for the Union to start a campaign to capture Atlanta the following spring. Woodworth’s introduction sets the stage for ten insightful essays that provide new analysis of this crucial campaign. From the Battle of Wauhatchie to the Battle of Chattanooga, the contributors’ well-researched and vividly written assessments of both Union and Confederate actions offer a balanced discussion of the complex nature of the campaign and its aftermath. Other essays give fascinating examinations of the reactions to the campaign in northern newspapers and by Confederate soldiers from west of the Mississippi River. Complete with maps and photos, The Chattanooga Campaign contains a wealth of detailed information about the military, social, and political aspects of the campaign and contributes significantly to our understanding of the Civil War’s western theater. Univeristy Press Books for Public and Secondary Schools 2013 edition
Download or read book The Greatest Civil War Battles written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the battle's important generals. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Grant, Sherman, Bragg, Longstreet, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Meanwhile, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, took the surrounding heights, including Missionary Ridge to the east and Lookout Mountain to the southwest, allowing them control over the vital rail and river supply lines needed by the Union forces in the city. Bragg planned to lay siege to the city and starve the Union forces into surrendering. Having lost faith in Rosecrans after Chickamauga, Washington delegated Ulysses S. Grant with the task of lifting the siege by placing him in command of nearly the entire theater. Grant replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas, who had saved the army at Chickamauga, and ordered him to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards." Thomas replied, "We will hold the town till we starve." Meanwhile, President Lincoln detached General Hooker and two divisions from the Army of the Potomac and sent them west to reinforce the garrison at Chattanooga. What followed were some of the most remarkable operations of the entire Civil War. Hooker and his reinforcements helped open up a vital supply line known as the "cracker line," effectively ensuring that enough supplies could reach Knoxville. With that, preparations turned to a pitched battle between the two sides, and in a series of actions in late November, Grant sought to lift the siege and drive back Bragg's Confederate army by attacking their positions on high ground. Although the Chattanooga Campaign is mostly remembered for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, that climactic battle was preceded by the Battle of Lookout Mountain, which witnessed some of the most unique fighting of the war. Also known as the "Battle Above the Clouds," on November 24, 1863, the Union and Confederate soldiers fought each other on mountainous terrain in heavy fog that obscured the battle lines throughout the battle, leading one soldier to call it "undoubtedly the roughest battle field of the war." By mid-afternoon, the heavy clouds had actually made the field dark, and with Confederate and Union commanders literally in the dark, Union soldiers under the command of Fighting Joe Hooker seized the summit of Lookout Mountain on their own initiative and compelled the Confederates to withdraw from what had seemed a daunting and impregnable defensive line. The Union victory at Lookout Mountain would completely alter the dispositions of the two armies and change Grant's battle plan, all of which inadvertently helped produce the Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day. The successes at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge would save the day for Grant, and his victory in the Chattanooga Campaign is considered the last good chance the South had in the West during the Civil War. The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of Lookout Mountain comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the crucial battle, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battle. Accounts of the fighting by important participants are also included, along with maps and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the Battle of Lookout Mountain like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book The Greatest Civil War Battles written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the battle's important generals. *Includes several maps of the battle. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Bragg, Rosecrans, Longstreet, George H. Thomas, D.H. Hill, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "I know Mr. Davis thinks he can do a great many things other men would hesitate to attempt. For instance, he tried to do what God failed to do. He tried to make a soldier of Braxton Bragg." - General Joseph E. Johnston Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War and its biggest battles, particularly Gettysburg, Antietam, and Shiloh, all of which involved Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant. But the second biggest battle of the entire war mostly gets overlooked among casual readers, despite the fact it represented the last great chance for the Confederates to salvage the Western theater. In mid-September, the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans had taken Chattanooga, but rather than be pushed out of the action, Army of Tennessee commander Braxton Bragg decided to stop with his 60,000 men and prepare a counterattack south of Chattanooga at a creek named Chickamauga. To bolster his fire-power, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent 12,000 additional troops under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet, whose corps had just recently fought at Gettysburg in July. On the morning of September 19, 1863, Bragg's men assaulted the Union line, which was established in a wooded area thick with underbrush along the river. That day and the morning of the next, Bragg continue to pummel Union forces, with the battle devolving from an organized succession of uncoordinated assaults into what one Union soldier described as "a mad, irregular battle." Late that second morning, Rosecrans was misinformed that a gap was forming in his front line, so he responded by moving several units forward to shore it up. What Rosecrans didn't realize, however, was that in doing so he accidentally created a quarter-mile gap in the Union line, directly in the path of Longstreet's men. Described by one of Rosecrans' own men as "an angry flood," Longstreet's attack was successful in driving one-third of the Union Army off the field, with Rosecrans himself running all the way to Chattanooga, where he was later found weeping and seeking solace from a staff priest. As the Confederate assault continued, George H. Thomas led the Union left wing against heavy Confederate attack even after nearly half of the Union army abandoned their defenses and retreated from the battlefield, racing toward Chattanooga. Thomas rallied the remaining parts of the army and formed a defensive stand on Horseshoe Ridge, with more units spontaneously rallying to the new defensive line. Thomas and his men managed to hold until nightfall, when they made an orderly retreat to Chattanooga. Dubbed "The Rock of Chickamauga," Thomas's heroics ensured that Rosecrans' army was able to successfully retreat back to Chattanooga. In the aftermath of the Battle of Chickamauga, several Confederate generals blamed the number of men lost during what would be the bloodiest battle of the Western Theater on Bragg's incompetence, also criticizing him for refusing to pursue the escaping Union army. General Longstreet later stated to Jefferson Davis, "Nothing but the hand of God can help as long as we have our present commander." The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of Chickamauga comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the battle, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battle. Accounts of the battle by important participants are also included, along with maps of the battle and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the Battle of Chickamauga like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book Storming the Heights written by Matt Spruill and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An outstanding guide meets the needs of the serious students as well as the casual visitor. - Edwin Bearss, former chief historian of the National Park Service In this guide, matt Spruill recounts the story of the November 1863 battle of Chattanooga using official reports and observations by commanding officers in their own words. The book is organized in the format still used by the military on staff rides, allowing the reader to understand how the battle was fought and why leaders made the decisions they did. Unlike other books on the battle of Chattanooga, this work guides the reader through the battlefield, allowing both visitor and armchair traveler to see the battle through the eyes of its participants. Numerous tour stops take the reader through the battles for Chattanooga: Wauhatchie, Lookout mountain, Orchard Knob, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold Gap. With easy-to-follow instructions, extensive tactical maps, eyewitness accounts, and editorial analyses, the reader is transported to the center of the action. Storming the heights offers new insights and covers key ground rarely seen by visitors to Chattanooga. The Author: A retired army colonel, matt Spruill served as a licensed battlefield guide for the national Park Service at Gettysburg Battlefield Military Park. He is the author of A Guide to the Battle of Chickamauga. "
Download or read book The Greatest Civil War Battles written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the battle''s important generals. *Includes several maps of the battle. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Bragg, Longstreet, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "When those fellows get started all hell can''t stop them." - Union corps commander Gordon Granger during the Battle of Missionary Ridge In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Meanwhile, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, took the surrounding heights, including Missionary Ridge to the east and Lookout Mountain to the southwest, allowing them control over the vital rail and river supply lines needed by the Union forces in the city. Bragg planned to lay siege to the city and starve the Union forces into surrendering. Having lost faith in Rosecrans after Chickamauga, Washington delegated Ulysses S. Grant with the task of lifting the siege by placing him in command of nearly the entire theater. Grant replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas, who had saved the army at Chickamauga, and ordered him to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards." Thomas replied, "We will hold the town till we starve." Meanwhile, President Lincoln detached General Hooker and two divisions from the Army of the Potomac and sent them west to reinforce the garrison at Chattanooga. What followed were some of the most remarkable operations of the entire Civil War. Hooker and his reinforcements helped open up a vital supply line known as the "cracker line", effectively ensuring that enough supplies could reach Knoxville. With that, preparations turned to a pitched battle between the two sides, and in a series of actions in late November, Grant sought to lift the siege and drive back Bragg''s Confederate army by attacking their positions on high ground. Although the Chattanooga Campaign was months long and involved several battles, it has become mostly remembered for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, one of the most remarkable and successful charges of the war. As Thomas''s men reached the base of the Missionary Ridge, they found that it had not afforded them protection from the Confederate defenders in their front. As a result, they began making impromptu charges up the hill, in defiance of Grant''s orders, since Grant had only ordered them to take the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge and believed that a frontal assault on that position would be futile and fatal. As the Union soldiers stormed ahead, General Grant caught the advance from a distance and asked General Thomas why he had ordered the attack. Thomas informed Grant that he hadn''t; his army had taken it upon itself to charge up the entire ridge. To the amazement of everyone watching, the Union soldiers scrambled up Missionary Ridge in a series of uncoordinated and disorganized attacks that somehow managed to send the Confederates into a rout, thereby lifting the siege on Chattanooga. While Pickett''s Charge, still the most famous attack of the war, was one unsuccessful charge, the Army of the Cumberland made over a dozen charges up Missionary Ridge and ultimately succeeded. The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of Missionary Ridge comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the climactic battle, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battle. Accounts of the fighting by important participants are also included, along with maps and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the Battle of Missionary Ridge like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book The Shipwreck of Their Hopes written by Peter Cozzens and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1996-11 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil War enthusiasts will welcome a new book by Peter Cozzens, author of two highly praised works on Civil War campaigns--No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River and This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga. In The Shipwreck of Their Hopes, Cozzens fully chronicles one of the South's most humiliating defeats. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Download or read book The Greatest Civil War Battles the Battle of Lookout Mountain written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2013-09-08 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the battle's important generals. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Grant, Sherman, Bragg, Longstreet, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Following the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, the army and its shaken commander, General William S. Rosecrans, began digging in around the city and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Meanwhile, the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg, took the surrounding heights, including Missionary Ridge to the east and Lookout Mountain to the southwest, allowing them control over the vital rail and river supply lines needed by the Union forces in the city. Bragg planned to lay siege to the city and starve the Union forces into surrendering. Having lost faith in Rosecrans after Chickamauga, Washington delegated Ulysses S. Grant with the task of lifting the siege by placing him in command of nearly the entire theater. Grant replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas, who had saved the army at Chickamauga, and ordered him to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards." Thomas replied, "We will hold the town till we starve." Meanwhile, President Lincoln detached General Hooker and two divisions from the Army of the Potomac and sent them west to reinforce the garrison at Chattanooga. What followed were some of the most remarkable operations of the entire Civil War. Hooker and his reinforcements helped open up a vital supply line known as the "cracker line", effectively ensuring that enough supplies could reach Knoxville. With that, preparations turned to a pitched battle between the two sides, and in a series of actions in late November, Grant sought to lift the siege and drive back Bragg's Confederate army by attacking their positions on high ground. Although the Chattanooga Campaign is mostly remembered for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, that climactic battle was preceded by the Battle of Lookout Mountain, which witnessed some of the most unique fighting of the war. Also known as the "Battle Above the Clouds", on November 24, 1863, the Union and Confederate soldiers fought each other on mountainous terrain in heavy fog that obscured the battle lines throughout the battle, leading one soldier to call it "undoubtedly the roughest battle field of the war." By mid-afternoon, the heavy clouds had actually made the field dark, and with Confederate and Union commanders literally in the dark, Union soldiers under the command of Fighting Joe Hooker seized the summit of Lookout Mountain on their own initiative and compelled the Confederates to withdraw from what had seemed a daunting and impregnable defensive line. The Union victory at Lookout Mountain would completely alter the dispositions of the two armies and change Grant's battle plan, all of which inadvertently helped produce the Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day. The successes at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge would save the day for Grant, and his victory in the Chattanooga Campaign is considered the last good chance the South had in the West during the Civil War. The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of Lookout Mountain comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the crucial battle, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battle. Accounts of the fighting by important participants are also included, along with maps and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the Battle of Lookout Mountain like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book Vicksburg and Chattanooga written by Jack H. Lepa and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-09-24 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few Civil War events produced more important strategic results for the Union than the taking of Vicksburg and Chattanooga. Along with the Federal triumph at Gettysburg, these gains were decisive in bringing about final Union victory. Ulysses S. Grant was the man in charge of the Federal forces. His solid competence and willingness to take calculated risks enabled him to overcome the twin challenges of difficult terrain and heroic Confederate resistance at Vicksburg, and to prevail against seemingly unassailable enemy positions at Chattanooga. This book is the story of the courage and determination that accompanied the triumphs and blunders of both sides.
Download or read book The Greatest Civil War Battles the Battle of Chickamauga written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2013-08-23 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the battle's important generals. *Includes several maps of the battle. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Bragg, Rosecrans, Longstreet, George H. Thomas, D.H. Hill, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "I know Mr. Davis thinks he can do a great many things other men would hesitate to attempt. For instance, he tried to do what God failed to do. He tried to make a soldier of Braxton Bragg." - General Joseph E. Johnston Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War and its biggest battles, particularly Gettysburg, Antietam, and Shiloh, all of which involved Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant. But the second biggest battle of the entire war mostly gets overlooked among casual readers, despite the fact it represented the last great chance for the Confederates to salvage the Western theater. In mid-September, the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans had taken Chattanooga, but rather than be pushed out of the action, Army of Tennessee commander Braxton Bragg decided to stop with his 60,000 men and prepare a counterattack south of Chattanooga at a creek named Chickamauga. To bolster his fire-power, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent 12,000 additional troops under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet, whose corps had just recently fought at Gettysburg in July. On the morning of September 19, 1863, Bragg's men assaulted the Union line, which was established in a wooded area thick with underbrush along the river. That day and the morning of the next, Bragg continue to pummel Union forces, with the battle devolving from an organized succession of uncoordinated assaults into what one Union soldier described as "a mad, irregular battle." Late that second morning, Rosecrans was misinformed that a gap was forming in his front line, so he responded by moving several units forward to shore it up. What Rosecrans didn't realize, however, was that in doing so he accidentally created a quarter-mile gap in the Union line, directly in the path of Longstreet's men. Described by one of Rosecrans' own men as "an angry flood," Longstreet's attack was successful in driving one-third of the Union Army off the field, with Rosecrans himself running all the way to Chattanooga, where he was later found weeping and seeking solace from a staff priest. As the Confederate assault continued, George H. Thomas led the Union left wing against heavy Confederate attack even after nearly half of the Union army abandoned their defenses and retreated from the battlefield, racing toward Chattanooga. Thomas rallied the remaining parts of the army and formed a defensive stand on Horseshoe Ridge, with more units spontaneously rallying to the new defensive line. Thomas and his men managed to hold until nightfall, when they made an orderly retreat to Chattanooga. Dubbed "The Rock of Chickamauga", Thomas's heroics ensured that Rosecrans' army was able to successfully retreat back to Chattanooga. In the aftermath of the Battle of Chickamauga, several Confederate generals blamed the number of men lost during what would be the bloodiest battle of the Western Theater on Bragg's incompetence, also criticizing him for refusing to pursue the escaping Union army. General Longstreet later stated to Jefferson Davis, "Nothing but the hand of God can help as long as we have our present commander." The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of Chickamauga comprehensively covers the campaign and the events that led up to the battle, the fighting itself, and the aftermath of the battle. Accounts of the battle by important participants are also included, along with maps of the battle and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the Battle of Chickamauga like you never have before, in no time at all.
Download or read book Gateway to the Confederacy written by Evan C. Jones and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2014-05-12 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of ten new essays from some of our finest Civil War historians working today, Gateway to the Confederacy offers a reexamination of the campaigns fought to gain possession of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Each essay addresses how Americans have misconstrued the legacy of these struggles and why scholars feel it necessary to reconsider one of the most critical turning points of the American Civil War. The first academic analysis that delineates all three Civil War campaigns fought from 1862 to 1863 for control of Chattanooga -- the trans-portation hub of the Confederacy and gateway to the Deep South -- this book deals not only with military operations but also with the campaigns' origins and consequences. The essays also explore the far-reaching social and political implications of the battles and bring into sharp focus their impact on postwar literature and commemoration. Several chapters revise the traditional portraits of both famous and con-troversial figures including Ambrose Bierce and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Others investigate some of the more salient moments of these cam-paigns such as the circumstances that allowed for the Confederate breakthrough assault at Chickamauga. Gateway to the Confederacy reassesses these pivotal battles, long in need of reappraisal, and breaks new ground as each scholar re-shapes a particular aspect of this momentous part of the Civil War. CONTRIBUTORS Russell S. Bonds Stephen Cushman Caroline E. Janney Evan C. Jones David A. Powell Gerald J. Prokopowicz William Glenn Robertson Wiley Sword Craig L. Symonds
Download or read book Mountains Touched with Fire written by Wiley Sword and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 1997-04-15 with total page 842 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Award-Winning Historian Dramatically Re-Creates a Turning Point of the Civil War It was one of the most startling events of the civil war, the "hour of destiny" for the Union. Faced with the prospect of catastrophic defeat, the North's greatest generals--Ulysses Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Thomas, and Phil Sheridan--were commanding a battle for the besieged city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Suddenly, as an aghast Grant and Thomas watched, the beleaguered federal troops began a headlong, climactic, seemingly suicidal charge up the face of a six-hundred-foot-high mountain ridge overlooking the city, under ferocious fire from the Confederate infantry that held the ridge. The siege of Chattanooga and its stuffing turnabout form the core of Wiley Sword's lively narrative. Dozens of previously unpublished photographs, maps, and excepts from private journals, and letters enhance this vivid account. Written with novelistic flair and a historian's authority, Mountains Touched with Fire captures every side of this crucial Civil War battle whose aftermath sealed the fate of the South.
Download or read book The Chickamauga Campaign written by David Powell and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2014-06-19 with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chickamauga, according to soldier rumor, is a Cherokee word meaning ñRiver of Death.î It certainly lived up to that grim sobriquet in September 1863 when the Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee waged bloody combat along the banks of West Chickamauga Creek. Long considered a two-day affair, award-winning author David Powell embraces a fresh approach that explores Chickamauga as a three-day battle, with September 18 being key to understanding how the fighting developed the next morning. The second largest battle of the Civil War produced 35,000 casualties and one of the last, clear-cut Confederate tactical victoriesa triumph that for a short time reversed a series of Rebel defeats and reinvigorated the hope for Southern independence. At issue was Chattanooga, the important ñgateway to the Southî and logistical springboard into Georgia. Despite its size, importance, and fascinating cast of characters, this epic Western Theater battle has received but scant attention. Powell masterfully rectifies this oversight with The Chickamauga CampaignA Mad Irregular Battle: From the Crossing of the Tennessee River Through the Second Day, August 22 _ September 19, 1863. The first of three installments spanning the entire campaign, A Mad Irregular Battle includes the Tullahoma Campaign in June, which set the stage for Chickamauga, and continues through the second day of fighting on September 19. The second installment finishes the battle from dawn on September 20 and carries both armies through the retreat into Chattanooga and the beginning of the siege. The third and last book of the series includes appendices and essays exploring specific questions about the battle in substantially greater detail. PowellÍs magnificent study fully explores the battle from all perspectives and is based upon fifteen years of intensive study and research that has uncovered nearly 2,000 primary sources from generals to private, all stitched together to relate the remarkable story that was Chickamauga. Here, finally, readers will absorb the thoughts and deeds of hundreds of the battleÍs veterans, many of whom they have never heard of or read about. In addition to archival sources, newspapers, and other firsthand accounts, Powell grounds his conclusions in years of personal study of the terrain itself and regularly leads tours of the battlefield. His prose is as clear and elegant as it is authoritative and definitive. The Chickamauga CampaignA Mad Irregular Battle is PowellÍs magnum opus, a tour-de-force rich in analysis brimming with heretofore untold stories. It will surely be a classic must-have battle study for every serious student of the Civil War.
Download or read book The Biggest Civil War Battles of 1863 written by Charles River Editors and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-02-05 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures. *Includes accounts of the battles by important generals who fought them. *Includes bibliographies for further reading. The Civil War was the deadliest conflict in American history, and had the two sides realized it would take 4 years and inflict over a million casualties, it might not have been fought. Since it did, however, historians and history buffs alike have been studying and analyzing the biggest battles ever since. Naturally, Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. Since the war's start over 150 years ago, the battles have been subjected to endless debate among historians and the generals themselves. Of the 4 years, 1863 marked the year in which the Union truly turned the tide of the war. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had given the Confederacy hopes by turning away McClellan's Peninsula Campaign and winning decisive battles at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg. In May 1863, he did it again at Chancellorsville, thwarting the Army of the Potomac and setting the stage for his invasion of Pennsylvania. After the South had lost the war, the importance of Gettysburg as one of the "high tide" marks of the Confederacy became apparent to everyone, making the battle all the more important in the years after it had been fought. While former Confederate generals cast about for scapegoats, with various officers pointing fingers at Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and James Stuart, historians and avid Civil War fans became obsessed with studying and analyzing all the command decisions and army movements during the entire campaign. At the start of 1863, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had been frustrating the Union in the Eastern theater for several months, but the situation in the West was completely different. The Confederates had lost control of several important states throughout 1862, and after New Orleans was taken by the Union, the North controlled almost all of the Mississippi River, which Confederate general James Longstreet called "the lungs of the Confederacy." By taking control of that vital river, the North would virtually cut the Confederacy in two, putting the South in a dire situation. The only domino left to fall was the stronghold of Vicksburg, and both sides knew it. Ulysses S. Grant's successful siege of Vicksburg ended the day after the Battle of Gettysburg, giving the Union two vital turning points in the war. At Chickamauga, the Union averted disaster when George H. Thomas prevented the destruction of the Army of the Cumberland, which would have certainly blunted the momentum Grant and Meade had secured in previous months at Vicksburg and Gettysburg. In fact, it might have completely changed the balance of power in the theater. After the Confederates squandered a golden opportunity to destroy a Union army in the field at Chickamauga, they lay siege to Chattanooga, only to have Grant and Sherman bring men, keep a line of supply open, and then lift the siege with the stunning battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. After the campaign, one Confederate soldier fatefully predicted, "This...is the death-knell of the Confederacy." The Biggest Civil War Battles of 1863 comprehensively covers the major campaigns of 1863, the battles, and the aftermath of the battles. Accounts of the battles by important participants are also included, along with maps of the battle and pictures of important people, places, and events. You will learn about the the biggest battles of 1863 like you never have before.