VALLEY OFTHE SHADOW

Overconfident and overextended, the Union Army
of the Cumberland advanced into the deep woods
of northwest Georgia. Waiting Confederates did not
intend for them to leave. At Chickamauga Creek,
the two sides collided.

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By Mike Haskew

In the dimly lit log cabin of the Widow Glenn, the military map wasspread. Worried Union officers of the Army of the Cumberland crowdedaround as Major General William S. Rosecrans, their haggard commander,asked for an assessment of the situation facing his troops on the night ofSeptember 19, 1863. Sunday morning would certainly bring with it a renewalof the savage fighting that had swirled along the banks of ChickamaugaCreek most of that day.

The Union army had been hard-pressed along an extended battle line, buthad refused to break under the pressure of repeated assaults from GeneralBraxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee. The XIV Corps of Maj. Gen.George H. Thomas had borne the brunt of some of the fiercest fighting.Bone tired from his day’s work, Thomas settled back in a chair and napped.As was his practice, Rosecrans in turn asked each officer for his advice onthe fight to come. Each time his name was mentioned, Thomas roused longenough to say, “I would strengthen the left,” before falling back asleep.

Though Rosecrans’ army had been bloodied, its line was still unbroken,and the decision was made to renew the battle on the 20th on essentiallythe same ground the troops now occupied. Thomas would be reinforced andcharged with holding the left, which crossed the LaFayette Road, the vitallink to strategically important Chattanooga, Tenn., 10 miles to the north.Major General Alexander McCook’s XX Corps would close up on Thomas’ right,while Thomas Crittenden’s XXI Corps would be held in reserve. During thenight, the ringing of axes told waiting Confederates their enemy wasdesperately strengthening his positions.

The Army of the Cumberland had fought bravely, and there was cause foroptimism among the Union commanders. Since coming out of winter quarters,Rosecrans had brilliantly maneuvered Bragg and his army out of Tennesseeand captured Chattanooga, virtually without firing a shot. In his momentof supreme success, however, Rosecrans made one error: he mistook Bragg’sorderly withdrawal for headlong retreat and rashly divided his force intothree wings. As these separate forces moved blindly through mountainpasses into the north Georgia countryside in pursuit of a “beaten” foe,each was too distant to lend support to the others in the event of an enemyattack. With the Federal troops spread over a 40-mile-wide front inunfamiliar terrain, Bragg halted his forces at LaFayette, Ga., 25 milessouth of Chattanooga.

Bragg realized the magnitude of his opportunity to deal with each wing ofthe Union army in detail and win a stunning victory for the Confederacy.He ordered his subordinates to launch attacks on the scattered Federalunits, but they were slow–even uncooperative–in responding. Therelationships between Bragg and his lieutenants had seriously deterioratedafter questionable retreats from Perryville, Ky., and Murfreesboro, Tenn.Bragg’s corps and division commanders felt almost to a man that he hadsquandered victories by his inept handling of troops. The lack ofcooperation in the higher echelons of Bragg’s army contributed greatly tothe squandering of a chance for one of the most lopsided victories of thewar.

In the nick of time, and with substantial help from his enemy, Rosecranscollected his troops in the vicinity of Lee and Gordon’s Mill along thebanks of a sluggish little stream the Cherokee Indians had named”Chickamauga” after the savage tribe that had lived there many yearsearlier. Now, two great armies would prove once again that “River ofDeath” was an accurate translation. In the vicious but indecisive fightingof September 19, both Rosecrans and Bragg committed more and more troops toa struggle which began as little more than a skirmish near one of the crudebridges that crossed the creek. Though little was accomplished the firstday, the stage was set for a second day of reckoning.

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