Actually, the first day of the Battle for Chickmauga was September 18. Skirmishes broke out where the Confederate advance units ran into Federal cavalry guarding fords and bridges along the river. The Southern troops forced their respective crossings while the Northern cavalry continued to dog them with skirmishers as the day ended. On September 19, the battle began in earnest.
I will be using David Powell's indispensable The Maps of Chickamauga as my sole source for this narrative. I'm so fond of this volume that I would rank it even above his trilogy itself. While it does not have the same level of detail it possesses a thorough, terrific factual account of events along with outstanding maps by cartographer and fellow wargamer David A. Friedrichs. My account here is by no means a complete one. It merely highlights the areas I explored on this trip to the battlefield.
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A battlefield interpretation marker near the site of Jay's Mill. The action on September 19 started here.
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This tour's action begins about 7:30 AM on the 19th with Colonel John T. Croxton's Federal brigade advancing into a Confederate cavalry regiment in the woods near Jay's Mill. General Nathan Bedford Forrest urgently requested infantry reinforcements for his cavalry. Within an hour the brigade of Colonel Claudius Wilson formed a line of battle and Forrest ordered it forward. It drove Croxton, who probably thought he was just facing cavalry, back though the thick woods past Winfrey Field.
In what was to be a regular occurrence in this battle, at 10 AM Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner's brigade caught Wilson's open left flank and drove two regiments back across Winfrey Field. But an hour later Scribner was routed by General Edward C. Walthall who attacked across Winfrey Field. While Scribner was making a stand in the woods against Walthall, he was attacked in the right flank by regiments of Colonel Daniel C. Goven's largely Arkansas brigade. Scribner's line disintegrated.
But this was only the beginning. Walthall and Govan united themselves and routed two more brigades of General Absalom Baird's division, sending the Yankees running away into the woods by 11:15 AM. The Rebels pursued closely. By this time Croxton's Union brigade had reformed and changed position. At about 11:30 AM he hit Govan's left flank in the woods north of the field, sending them rushing back into and across the field.
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Winfrey Field facing west along Brotherton Road. This field was contested all day on the 19th with possession changing hands back and forth. The Confederates controlled it at the end of the day.
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Winfrey Field facing south. The marker locates the position of the 38th Indiana Regiment between 10 AM and 11 AM on the 19th. The regiment was part of a Federal counterattack that drove two Rebel regiments from the field at that time.
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Most of the battlefield is wooded. This is a view between Winfrey and Brock fields. It is typical of the terrain that was fought over. In September 1863 these trees still had their autumn leaves on them, erasing the leafless visibility you see here.
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About 12:15 PM General Benjamin Cheatham had formed his division near the field. He sent two brigades forward, driving Croxton back and into the woods north of Brock Field. Now the battle shifted away from Winfrey to Brock field. Cheatham faced the Federal divisions of General John N. Palmer and General Richard W. Johnson. He carried the attack across Brock Field to the edge of the woods, where the Union troops halted the advance. Cheatham threw more men into the fight, attempting to flank Palmer but this was checked. The Confederates withdrew to the southern edge of Brock Field.
About 2:30 PM Johnson advanced through the northern part of Brock Field. He managed to drive the Rebels back. Simultaneously to this, the Southern division of General Alexander Stewart entered the fray in the woods heading southwest from Brock Field. This attack only served to drawn Union troops to the area. No breakthrough was achieved as Stewart aptly rotated brigades in continuous assaults. The Federals held the western woodline of Winfrey Field and the northern woodline of Brock Field. West of there Stewart's attack lost its steam but Rebels were filling the woods.
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Brock Field facing south.
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The 41st Ohio regiment marker in Brock Field. This regiment was heavily engaged here in the early afternoon of the 19th. It was driven out of the field and then counterattacked to regain a position on the far treeline in this photo. Typically, units defending in the open fields did not hold their lines. Attacks across the fields were ordered but fields were only controlled from the opposite treelines which maximized the unit's field of fire while offering the defensive protection of being in the woods. Later in the afternoon, this unit ended up back at (and fighting over) Brotherton Field.
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Brock Field facing north.
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At about this same time, Colonel Hans Heg, a native Norwegian immigrant, probed the woods with his brigade just north of Viniard Field. No shots had been fired yet here but both sides could easily hear the gunfire and shouts of the battle to their northeast. It was getting louder and coming their way. Heg ran into the Rebel line and halted with each side exchanging occasional shots through the trees.
At 3 PM, just as Heg was being supported on his right with General William P. Carlin's brigade, Heg was pressed more heavily by General Evander M. Law's division. Law and General Bushrod Johnson were attacking in unison and soon outflanked Heg' left. He and Carlin retreated to protect their flanks. Colonel Sydney M. Barnes came to their assistance attacking across Viniard Field about 3:45 PM.
Meanwhile, lead elements of Law's division marched headlong out of the woods and into a second field called Brock, which adjoined Viniard. (The official battlefield park map lists this open space as Glenn Field but all of Powell's material refers to it as Brock Field.) Colonel Charles G. Harker's Union brigade formed up facing north and hit Law's leading brigades in their left flank, forcing a rapid retreat out of Brock Field back to the comparative safety of the woods.
There they reformed and Law unleashed his entire division about 4:30 PM. Heg was wounded in this attack and would die the next day. His and Carlin's brigades were no match for the onrush of the Texas brigade commanded by General Jerome B. Robertson. In turn, Robertson's troops were checked by the withering fire of Colonel John T. Wilder's Spencer rifles and artillery.
Robertson requested reinforcement and Colonel Henry L. Benning's Georgia brigade was sent across Brock Field. But, once again, Wilder's fire was terrific. Also by now the Federal infantry had rallied and was reinforced by the arrival General Philip Sheridan's division. Benning's men retreated to a dry creek bed (called "the ditch" at the time) which they used as a makeshift entrenchment to escape the growing amount of gunfire.
About 5:30 PM the brigades of Colonel Luther P. Bradley and Colonel George P. Buell were ordered forward across Brock Field. This Northern attack overwhelmed both Benning's and Robertson's forces and sent them hurrying back into the woods. The Union pursuit was short lived and by 6 PM the Yankees took up their final positions of the day on the western wooded edge of the fields of Viniard and Brock (Glenn). The Rebels remained in the opposite woods and reorganized.
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Colonel Hans Heg was killed here near the edge of the second Brock (Glenn) Field on the afternoon of the 19th.
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Brock/Glenn Field facing south. Heavy fighting took place here between 4 PM and 5:30 PM on the 19th.
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Brock/Glenn Field facing north. The markers in the distance are Union ones.
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This creek was dry on the afternoon of September 19, 1863. It was used by Southern troops as an entrenchment when they were driven back by a hail of fire from the repeating rifles of Colonel John T. Wilder's cavalry brigade.
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Viniard Field facing east, along the park's main road. Union markers indicate the extent of the Yankee counterattack positions late in the afternoon of the 19th.
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While this wild back and forth was going on another part of the battle erupted in and around Brotherton Field. Stewart's division had by 3:45 PM worked its way through the woods and emerged near the field. Part of his division collided with and routed the right flank of General Joseph J. Reynolds's division in the woods south of Brotherton Field. Initially, the Union troops in the field were routed as well. And Stewart's troops rushed across the field into the woods unopposed.
But they overextended themselves. The timely arrival of General William B. Hazen's brigade (see the Hazen Monument at Murfreesboro here) formed a line along Dyer Road on the north side of Brotherton Field and hit Stewart's men in their right flank, forcing a hasty retreat. Harker's brigade struck northward into the retreating Confederate's left flank creating further confusion.
By 5 PM Stewart's division was taking fire from Hazen and Harker on its center and left, and from Palmer's division on its right. Brotherton Field was abandoned to the Yankees and the Southerners reformed in the woods as dusk fell. Palmer's attack was not pursued as he had to reorient part of his command to the first Brock Field in response to a late attack back toward Winfrey. His men commanded Brock Field at the end of the day.
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Brotherton Cabin sits roughly in the center of the battlefield.
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Brotherton Field facing north. There was heavy fighting here with the field changing hands back and forth in the mid to late afternoon of the 19th. These markers indicate the rallying positions of the Federal line here. The 41st Ohio (see marker in Brock Field above) ended up fighting here late in day. The Federals held the field at the end of the day.
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The action around Winfrey Field and Brock Field hit a lull while Stewart's fighting took place. But General Patrick Cleburne's crack division completed a hasty march and formed up about 7 PM all around Winfrey Field. He launched the final attack of the first day. This is what diverted Palmer's attention away from Stewart and back toward the east.
Cleburne hit Johnson and Baird as the sun began to set. Cleburne's men charged across Winfrey Field and through the woods to the north and south of the field. Johnson's division was routed as one his brigade's was caught in its right flank. The 77th Pennsylvania Infantry regiment was surrounded and captured at this time. Baird's division could not hold its line once Johnson gave way and also retreated.
Each side lost a brigade commander in this attack. General Preston Smith was killed as he led the attack on the 77th Pennsylvania. At almost the exact same time, in the northwest corner of Winfrey Field, Colonel Philemon Baldwin was shot while leading a counterattack that drove back two Rebel regiments. The Federals could not advance as they were being flanked on both sides by that time and Baird ordered his men to fall back.
This was a part of the battlefield I had not visited before and I covered it extensively by car and foot. I stood at the Smith and Baldwin monuments. I walked both Brock and Winfrey fields. Both are surrounded by heavy woods. Walking into the trees you may come across a marker or small monument. It was easy to see why fighting in the woods was like being blinded to all around you. And why the fields were usually only defended from the edge of the woods. Every position attempting to hold in the open ground was soon chased from the field by the other side.
The Rebels pursued until darkness fell. By that time Cleburne claimed all of Winfrey Field and the surrounding area. Johnson and Baird reformed their line as they linked up with Palmer's division, which controlled Brock Field. But later that night all three of these Federal divisions were pulled back west toward Kelly Field along the LaFayette Road as General George Thomas consolidated his lines.
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General Preston Smith of General Patrick Cleburne's division was killed here while leading an attack late on the 19th.
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The 77th Pennsylvania regiment was surrounded and captured here by Cleburne's division at the end of the day.
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Colonel Philemon Baldwin was killed at this location near the same time as General Preston. He was commanding the defense of his line of which the 1st Ohio Regiment was part. You can see the Baldwin marker in the shadows along the treeline just past this marker.
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The Maps of Chickamauga is a must-have for anyone wanting to understand the battle. This shows Cleburne's attack near Winfrey Field. The positions where Smith and Baldwin were killed is indicated on the map. I walked all around this area to familiarize myself with this part of the battle, which was new to me on this trip.
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A second map shows the success of Cleburne's attack and the position where the 77th Pennsylvania was captured. This was the final fighting of the first day and took place about 8 PM.
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During the night, the Confederates took control of the first Brock Field as well. Viniard Field and the second Brock (Glenn) Field were unclaimed by either side as everyone's attention temporarily shifted north of there. The first day had been a confused tangle of isolated attacks and counterattacks, mostly by brigades instead of entire supporting divisions (as the Confederates launched the second day at the breakthrough area). The confusion of the day carried forward into the night.
General Braxton Bragg was livid. Nothing about his plans for the day had been executed. General Leonidas Polk had been entrusted to start the battle but instead it started by accident, with the Yankees probing into the Rebels. Polk's attacks had been uncoordinated, almost random. Bragg was already thinking that some commanders in his ranks were insubordinate. And yet, because of the chaos of battle, he would have to rely upon Polk to start the battle the next day. There was no time to untangle and move troops around in the dark.
Law's division attacked on the 19th practically straight from disembarking a train from Virginia. General James Longstreet arrived on the field that night from the command of General Robert E. Lee. Bragg left it to Longstreet to find his command in the dark (Bragg didn't know exactly where most of his army was anyway) with the simple orders of attacking after Polk started things off on the 20th. At dawn the next day Longstreet started arranging his troops for a unified assault into and around Brotherton Field. General John Bell Hood was on hand to temporarily command Longstreet's former corps as Bragg gave Longstreet command over the lower half of his army.
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A battlefield park marker indicating the positions at the end of the first day. This is located along Brotherton Road near Brock and Winfrey fields.
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Bragg had decided to
divide his command into two wings. Polk would be his right hand,
Longstreet his left. But, whereas Longstreet was up most of the night
and maintained excellent control of the left wing despite the fact that
he did not know much of it nor anything about the battlefield itself,
Polk failed Bragg. Polk simply passed along written orders for General D. H. Hill to start the attack in the morning and then he went to bed.
Hill was busy moving Cleburne's division in the dark and couriers could
not locate him. Hill never received his orders and so did not know Polk
wanted everything to start with him. This, of course, had a cascading
effect on the Army of Tennessee.
Thomas huddled around Kelly
Field and believed his force was in great jeopardy, possibly facing the
bulk of the Southern army. Unlike Bragg who only briefed his
lieutenants individually, General William Rosecrans ordered all major
commanders together for a nighttime conference. Even so, the conference
did not lead to a clear understanding of the first day's confused
(called “irregular” at the time) fighting. Rosecrans would send Thomas troops from his center and right flank the next morning. They would be sent
from multiple commands. This ultimately disrupted the command integrity
of the Union side. Moreover, it weakened the very area Longstreet had
been ordered to attack the next day. On the morning of September 20,
some mistaken assumptions led to a fatal error.
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