Battle of Chickamauga: Union Regulars Desperate Stand » HistoryNet - From the World's Largest History Magazine Publisher

In the cold, clear predawn of September 19, 1863, the last of some 1,500 men of the Regular brigade filed into position near the Kelly farm in northwest Georgia, 13 miles south of Chattanooga in the valley of West Chickamauga Creek.

Comprising five infantry battalions and a battery, the brigade was the largest body of U.S. Regulars west of the Appalachian Mountains. Although some of the officers and sergeants were veterans of the prewar army, most of the troops had no previous military experience. The soldiers accepted the stern ways of the Regulars because their state regiments had no vacancies or were slow to be mustered into state service. The battalions themselves were ‘New Army’ outfits formed in the 1861 expansion of the standing army.

The Regulars comprised the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, XIV Corps, of the 57,000-man Army of the Cumberland. The army had been fighting in the Western theater of the Civil War since 1861 to prevent the Southern occupation of Kentucky and to dislodge the Confederates from Tennessee. During June and July 1863, army commander Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans had maneuvered the Confederates out of central Tennessee in the brilliant and nearly bloodless Tullahoma campaign. In August 1863, the Cumberlanders advanced to give battle over the prize city of Chattanooga, a rail hub linking Virginia to Georgia and situated at a gap in the Appalachian Mountains that was the gateway to the lower South. Possession of the city would deprive the Confederacy of a vital conduit for foodstuffs and military stores and give the Federals access to central Georgia.

The Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by the bilious General Braxton Bragg, opposed Rosecrans’ army. Bragg’s combination of physical debilities and personal deficiencies, plus the touchiness and insubordination of his subordinate commanders, threatened to fracture the chain of command. His army had already been driven out of Kentucky and Tennessee. This dearth of success, plus Bragg’s harsh views on discipline, hardly endeared him to his 71,000 soldiers.

On August 16, Rosecrans moved south from Tullahoma. To confuse Bragg, Rosecrans divided his four army corps, moving the XXI Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Thomas Crittenden, north of Chattanooga to threaten Bragg’s right flank, while the XIV and XX corps traveled in an arc south of the city through northeastern Alabama and into Georgia. A reserve corps under Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger followed to reinforce the army. By September 8, Rosecrans had forced Bragg to evacuate Chattanooga.

Seeking to further damage the Confederate army, Rosecrans began a risky pursuit, during which he failed to keep his corps in supporting distance of one another. Twice the Confederates missed a chance to destroy the widely separated Union columns, and reports of the Rebels’ proximity made Rosecrans realize that Bragg had ceased to retreat and had concentrated his army to give battle. At that point, Crittenden’s XXI Corps was in contact with Confederate forces on the banks of West Chickamauga Creek, near Lee and Gordon’s Mill. Major General George Thomas’ XIV Corps was six miles southwest at Pond Springs, and Maj. Gen. Alexander McCook’s XX Corps was 10 miles away, on south Missionary Ridge. During the next six days both armies began to concentrate in the area north of La Fayette, Ga.

Brigadier General John King’s Regular brigade, under the divisional command of Brig. Gen. Absalom Baird, was among the many brigades that left their bivouacs early on the morning of September 18 and plodded northeastward as the army consolidated. Both Thomas and McCook were moving toward Crittenden to ward off what Rosecrans correctly perceived as a threat to his left flank and main supply route through Chattanooga.

Bragg had determined to fight to protect his supply train and artillery park. He hoped to cut off the Union army from Chattanooga and drive the Northerners back across the Tennessee River.

The Regulars and the rest of the Union army had no idea what the terrain was like on the battlefield. From their new position in the Kelly farm field on the La Fayette Road, King’s men could see little ahead of them, and their officers had no chance to perform reconnaissance.

The terrain was thickly wooded all the way to Chickamauga Creek. In fact, Thomas described it in his official report as ‘original forest timber, interspersed with undergrowth and in many places so dense it was difficult to see 50 paces ahead.’ Visibility would be worse during the battle, with gun smoke hanging at ground level in opaque clouds. Unit commanders were unable to see both ends of their line of battle, and the artillery had a difficult time functioning. While the trees provided concealment, when hit by shellfire their wood and bark burst into hundreds of lethal fragments. Sparks from rifles and cannons would also ignite the underbrush, causing fires that immolated the wounded.

Small farms dotted the area, and their names–Kelly, Poe, Brotherton and Snodgrass–came to be associated with some of the bloodiest fighting in America. Chickamauga Creek flowed along the east side of the battlefield. Studded with fords, it was easy to cross, but the few poor roads that traversed the battlefield made the massing of troops difficult and their movement slow.

The battlefield was bisected by the La Fayette Road, which provided good north and south movement. The road was not only connected to the fords on the Chickamauga, but was also the principal artery running to Chattanooga via the Rossville Gap, about eight miles from the battlefield. If the Rebels cut that road, the Union army would be cut off from Chattanooga.

The western boundary of the battlefield was Missionary Ridge, a huge mass of rock running 30 miles southwest from the Tennessee River. Only two gaps in the ridge, McFarland’s and Rossville, allowed passage from the battlefield to Chattanooga. If they were captured, the Army of the Cumberland would be pinned against the ridge and crushed.

While Rosecrans consolidated his army, Bragg planned a holding attack around Lee and Gordon’s Mill by one of his army corps. Three others would cross the Chickamauga north of the mill via Thedford’s Ford, Alexander’s Bridge and Reed’s Bridge, sweeping west and south to seize the La Fayette Road and cut the Yankees off from Rossville Gap.

While the armies moved, Union cavalry stood watch on Chickamauga Creek around Reed’s Bridge, and a small clash occurred in the vicinity on September 18. The next day, Saturday, September 19, Colonel Daniel McCook engaged some troops of Confederate Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s division. McCook believed a Rebel brigade was alone west of the stream. Burning to attack, he noticed dust clouds rising off the La Fayette Road around 6 a.m. The troops raising the dust were at the head of Baird’s division, moving into position at the Kelly farm. McCook rode to find Thomas and informed him of his estimate of the situation. Thomas could not resist the temptation to capture the Confederate brigade; he agreed to supply infantry for the operation.

As Baird’s division moved into line of battle, the third of Thomas’ divisions, commanded by Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan, moved past their rear and fell in north of Baird. King’s Regulars, on the left of Baird’s line, were soon ordered to move east in search of the enemy. About three-quarters of a mile into the dense forest, Brannan’s men initially found Rebel cavalry, swiftly reinforced by the infantry brigades of Colonel Claudius C. Wilson and Brig. Gen. Matthew D. Ector.

The sounds of battle soon alerted Thomas to the fighting, and he ordered Baird to move forward and reinforce Brannan. Baird’s three brigades plunged into the dense forest, King’s brigade on the left, the brigade of Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner on the right and the brigade of Brig. Gen. John Starkweather trailing, also on the right.

As the Regulars moved forward, each battalion detached a company of skirmishers who formed a line 375 yards wide, about 250 yards ahead of the main body. Left to right, the first in line was the 1st Battalion, 19th U.S. Infantry, commanded by Major S.K. Dawson. Next was the 1st Battalion, 16th U.S. Infantry, its 308 men led by one of the few West Pointers of the brigade, Major Sidney Coolidge. On the right was the 300-man 1st Battalion, 18th U.S. Infantry, Captain G.W. Smith commanding.