Battle of Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 18 to September 20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in south-central Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. The battle was the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
The battle was fought between the Union Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans and the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg, and was named for the (now South) Chickamauga Creek, which flows into the Tennessee River about 3.5 miles (5.6km) northeast of downtown Chattanooga. Chickamauga was a local Indian word meaning "Stagnant River" or, less accurately, "River of Death," usage that may have begun after the battle.
Considered a Confederate victory for halting the Union advance, the Battle of Chickamauga was a costly one. It claimed an estimated 34,624 casualties (16,170 for the Union; 18,454 for the Confederates).
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In the summer of 1863, Rosecrans began an offensive, generally known as the Tullahoma Campaign, after the Confederate headquarters. Union forces gradually forced Bragg to fall back into northern Georgia, abandoning the important railroad hub of Chattanooga. However, reinforced by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps from the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of Tennessee was able to inflict a significant defeat on Rosecrans at Chickamauga in September 1863, advancing to besiege Chattanooga. The Army of the Cumberland was, however, reinforced by the troops of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee, along with two corps from the Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, which combined with the Army of the Cumberland to inflict a significant defeat on Bragg at the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, forcing Bragg to abandon the siege of Chattanooga and withdraw again into northern Georgia.
Shortly thereafter, Bragg was dismissed and replaced as commander of the army by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who was much better liked by both troops and high level subordinates than the sour Bragg. In the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, Johnston faced the combined Northern armies of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, whose orders were to destroy the Army of Tennessee, with the capture of Atlanta as the secondary objective. Johnston, who felt the continued existence of his army was more important than protecting territory, tended to avoid battle with Sherman, executing a skillful withdrawal, which caused impatience among the Confederate leadership in Richmond, particularly Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had never gotten on well with Johnston. Following Sherman's outflanking of Johnston at the Chattahoochee River, forcing Johnston back on Atlanta itself, Johnston was replaced by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood.
Hood's tenure as commander proved disastrous. After several unsuccessful attempts to force Sherman's withdrawal from Atlanta, the city fell to Union troops on September 2, 1864. Instead of continuing to parry against Sherman's forces, Hood now turned west and headed back north into Tennessee, allowing Sherman to turn south unopposed for the March to the Sea. In the meantime, Hood was faced in Tennessee by the army's old enemy, the Army of the Cumberland, under Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, as well as the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. John Schofield. On November 30, 1864, Hood attacked Schofield's smaller army at the Battle of Franklin, losing almost a quarter of his troops, but continued to advance north into central Tennessee, where he attempted to besiege Nashville. On December 15, Thomas's troops launched their attack, completely routing the Confederates in the most decisive tactical engagement of the war. The Federals pursued the retreating Army of Tennessee, which left stragglers, cannon, and small arms its wake. When the army stopped its retreat in Tupelo just before the new year, barely half of the men remained who had set out at the beginning of the campaign.
Thereafter, the Army of Tennessee ceased to be an effective fighting force, although its remnants were sent to the Carolinas to provide some opposition to Sherman's continuing advance in that area. The army surrendered to Sherman on April 26, 1865.
On September 21, Rosecrans's army withdrew to the city of Chattanooga while the Confederates occupied the surrounding heights and laid siege upon the Union forces. Unable to break the siege, Rosecrans was relieved of his command of the Army of the Cumberland on October 19. It took the relief forces of Maj. Gens. Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman and the Battle of Chattanooga that November to break Bragg's grip on the city.
Considered a Confederate victory for halting the Union advance, the Battle of Chickamauga was a costly one. It claimed an estimated 34,624 casualties (16,170 for the Union; 18,454 for the Confederates).
