Michael Hendrick Fitch

“ As he rode beside General Baird, attended by the two staff corps, there was no indication that he was conscious of his high position. His modesty was always conspicuous. No one in the long line of troops stretching for miles [82] behind could see in this unpretentious officer the true hero of the coming conflict, who would be known in the future as the “Rock of Chickamauga.” After Negley’s division was left in position near Crawfish, there remained in the marching column the three divisions of Baird, Brannan, and Reynolds. ”

“ Many of these volunteers enlisted directly from the public schools, which they were attending. They had been taught the history of their country; how its independence from the tyranny of a foreign power had been gained by the valor and patriotism of Washington and his volunteers, that by the discipline and perseverance of the revolutionary soldiers the sovereignty of a foreign king had been transferred to the citizens of their native land; that a new foe was now trying to dismember the nation, and that the corner stone of the Union was the principle, that all power is derived from the people. ”

“ The War between the States saw no more stubborn fighting than raged on September 19th and [xii] 20th around the old Cherokee stronghold of Chickamauga. Two months later, occurred the three days’ battle around the hill city of Chattanooga. In all these events, the citizen soldiers of Wisconsin played a conspicuous part, which is herein described by a participant and student of these famous contests. In these battles the reputations of officers were made and unmade, and from them emerged the great generals who were to carry the Union arms to complete victory—Thomas, Sherman, Sheridan, and Grant. ”

“ The great fact is, not that the Union armies outnumbered the Confederate forces, but that the Union itself was restored. The war was merciless; all wars are. Mercy, pity, and the extension of the hand of helpfulness came after the war was over, not while it was going on. Each side did all it could to fight and win its battles. The North had the larger number of citizens from which to draw, and of course, availed itself of that advantage. The [39] South would have put larger armies into the field if it could have done so; it did use every available man, however, and fought its best. ”

“ All these crossings of the plateau were made without resistance by the enemy, although there were small Confederate cavalry outlooks here and there, which fell back when the Union troops appeared. It seemed as if Bragg desired to have the Union Army advance as far as possible from its base of supplies into the mountain gorges and over a long and difficult line of communications. That course would afford him a better chance, as his army being reinforced would be in better condition to successfully attack and destroy the Union Army. ”

“ The Union cavalry did not properly cooperate with the other arms of the Union forces. Forrest, with his large Confederate cavalry force, was close to the right of the Confederate Army, and did fine service; the force was equal to the infantry in number. Forrest should have been opposed by a division of the Union cavalry. Only one cavalry brigade was needed at Crawfish Springs; the other cavalry brigade together with Wilder’s mounted infantry which closed up on the right of McCook, should have given better service at a time when it was most needed. ”

“ What was absolutely necessary was the restoration of rail transportation from Stevenson to Chattanooga, and not exclusively the protection of the railroad from the north to Bridgeport. Sufficient reinforcements were also needed in order to enable the Union Army to attack and destroy or drive back the enemy, who was in too close proximity for safety; and therefore the first thing to be considered, after the Union troops were properly fortified, was to plan means by which the cooperation of these eastern reinforcements could be made available. ”

“ A large part of this disparity in numbers was offset by the extraordinarily strong position of the Confederate forces, and the fact that the Union Army was the aggressor. Could Bragg have commanded the resources that Grant did, he would have gladly availed himself of them in order to outnumber the Union Army; no false notions of chivalry prevented either army from availing itself of any great advantage in battle, which is habitually taken where war is waged. ”

“ Now returning by the way of Chattanooga, where Buell had marched on his way back to Louisville, they again came to this section of the country where the inhabitants mostly sympathized with the South. They were surprised and shocked in 1862 when the hated Yankees invaded their towns and farms. The Confederate authorities told them, that another invasion would never occur, that they could plant their crops and pursue their business without fear. Therefore, when their country was again overrun by the Union Army in 1863, their confidence in the Confederate generals was quite shaken. ”

“ Brannan reported what action he had taken, and that Reynolds had approved it. Rosecrans gave his approval instantly; but the fatal order had been issued to Wood some minutes before, and consequently his division was moving out, just as the eight brigades made the attack. Longstreet had massed these brigades opposite the Union centre. They were formed in three lines, lapped over the right of Brannan and the left of Davis—whose division was on the right of Wood—and moved close to the gap; they widened the awful space left by Wood; the attack struck Wood’s rear brigade (Buell’s) and shattered it. ”

“ Wilder—with four guns of Lilly’s battery—appeared suddenly before Chattanooga, threw some shells into the city, sunk the steamer “Paint Rock,” lying at the city landing, then ascending the river, feigned to examine the crossings, making frequent inquiry as to their difficulty and the character of the country. ”

“ General Thomas’s dispositions to protect his left showed military genius of the highest order, and General Baird greatly assisted him in this matter. This was only one instance, however, of General Thomas’s many equally meritorious tactics in this great battle. He rose to the highest point in the estimation of both officers and men.
Both days’ fighting illustrates the fact that when [150] troops are outflanked or attacked in the rear, however brave they may be in other positions relative to the enemy, they will as a rule go to pieces. ”

“ Crook’s loss was only 14 killed and 97 wounded. Wheeler’s raid and the Union pursuit, are specimens of the kind of warfare which cavalry are expected to make, showing the terrible destruction of men and horses, the untiring marches, and watchfulness necessary in a field so extensive and difficult as that of the department of Cumberland. It would have been much more economical and effective, if the War Department had previously protected the railway with sufficient infantry, as it now intended to do, than to protect it by an ordinary force of cavalry. ”

“ Thomas’s command were able—after the arrival of General Gordon Granger’s troops—to stop the enemy’s further successes. It is evident that the fighting spirit was gone from Bragg’s army since, although they discovered the falling back, they did not approach Rossville Gap on the 21st with a considerable force, nor seriously interfere in the backward movement to Chattanooga, not even trying to capture a wagon, mule, or horse, although its great cavalry leader, Forrest and his troopers, were in force close to Rossville Gap. It was more paralyzed than the Union Army. ”

“ General Thomas in command, was now in permanent possession of Chattanooga. The Confederate Army took up its winter quarters at Dalton, Georgia, on the railway twenty-eight miles southeast of Chattanooga, across two mountain ranges. The assignment of General Grant as commander of the Division of the Mississippi—giving him command of all the forces, operating in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi—which so greatly contributed to the victories in the battles around Chattanooga, insured also the permanent holding of that city. ”

“ The undergrowth of the woods was so dense in most places, that opposed sides could not perceive each other until they were within a few yards, except by the firing. It was unfortunate that Rosecrans was not present with Thomas, when the latter’s corps crossed the Lafayette road. Before an attack was made, the Twenty-first Corps, being the nearest one to the Fourteenth, should have been formed on the right of the Fourteenth, both in a compact line, and with a brigade for each division in reserve ”

“ Negley’s division, which had been posted near Crawfish Springs the night before, was then the only Union division which did not partake in the battle at first, but arrived in accordance with orders [88] on the field about 4:30 p. m. He was ordered to the place, from which Van Cleve had been driven, in order to attack; he drove the enemy steadily, while Thomas was driving him on the Confederate right; these movements continued until night.
It can readily be perceived that the battle of the 19th was more or less a haphazard fight, neither side being aware of the position of the other. ”

“ In [81] fact, the whole region from Missionary Ridge, on the left of the marching column as far as Rossville Gap (four miles to the northwest) to the Chickamauga on the east, was densely wooded and covered with heavy undergrowth. A few small farms scattered through this woodland were tilled by the obscurest of backwoodsmen, who lived in small log cabins or small frame buildings. Their names would never have been known, even in Chattanooga nine miles away, had it not been for the accidental fighting there of the greatest battle of the west. ”

“ The Confederate right overlapped the Union left and had the Union right been as compactly drawn towards its left as it should have been, the Confederate left would also [99] have overlapped that flank. The Confederate Army facing the Union forces on the morning of the 20th was made up of eleven divisions of infantry, and two of cavalry. General Rosecrans had no cavalry on his left, and Wheeler’s Confederate cavalry was at first on the east side of the Chickamauga and afterwards on the west side, watching Mitchell’s Union horsemen near Crawfish Springs. ”

“ The wagons and horses could scarcely traverse the ground, which was quite swampy. Fortunately the enemy’s forces suffered likewise. What was trial and hardship to one of the armies—on account of the weather—was equally detrimental to the other side. That [46] army which could overcome quickly and victoriously the climatic conditions, had the best chances to win in the martial contest. In forming a line at Manchester to resist an attack, the Fourteenth Corps occupied the centre, with one division in reserve, the Twentieth Corps on the right and the Twenty-first on the left. ”

“ All these troops on the right—from Reynolds’s right to Sheridan’s the extreme right of the Union Army—were very thinly drawn out, and did no good in the day’s fight, with the exception of one full brigade of Wood’s, namely, Harker’s, one regiment of Buell’s brigade, and a few regiments from other divisions, which will be mentioned further on. The troops had done excellent service the day before; but future events will show that they seemed [95] to be paralyzed, by not having been well fortified and compactly placed the night before. ”

“ Thomas was to cooperate by moving his troops to his left, so that he could join with Sherman’s right, when the latter should push the Confederate forces back to the tunnel. The combined forces should then advance against the enemy, with the object in view of sweeping the Confederate Army into the south Chickamauga Creek, which runs on the opposite side of Missionary Ridge. General Hooker was to hold Lookout Valley with Geary’s division and the two brigades of Whittaker and Grose, and Howard’s corps was to be in readiness to act with either Sherman or Thomas, as circumstances should dictate. ”

“ During the whole of the Chattanooga campaign his strategy was of the first order; but at both Stone’s River and Chickamauga, the right of his line was too attenuated; in both engagements, disaster occurred to this part of his troops.
The chief of staff to Rosecrans was General James A. Garfield, who was then thirty-one years [14] old, brainy and very energetic. Although not a graduate of West Point, he was possessed of decided military instincts. Before the war he was an instructor in, and later president of, Hiram College, Ohio; and later was a member of the Ohio Senate. ”

“ His age was the same as that of his corps commander, General McCook, and they graduated in the same class at West Point.
Generals Absalom Baird, John M. Brannan, Jefferson C. Davis, Thomas J. Wood, R. W. Johnson, and David S. Stanley were all officers of the old regular army, soldiers by profession, whose minds were not distracted from their duties in the field by politics or academic proclivities. They were brave and always at the front, working for success with military spirit. All of them served faithfully until the close of the war. ”

“ Hooker says, “No troops ever rendered more brilliant service. The name of their valiant commander is Colonel Orlando Smith of the Seventy-third Ohio Infantry. * * * For almost three hours, without assistance Geary repelled the repeated attacks of vastly superior numbers, and in the end drove them ingloriously from the field.” Thus the Lookout Valley was secured, and new communications were opened. The loss to General Hooker’s command was 416. Longstreet practically conceded that the Union commander had succeeded in opening this new line of communication, but spoke lightly of it. ”

“ Love of home is greater than love of country; unless the state or nation can protect the homes from invasion and [11] desecration, there is little incentive for its volunteers to fight for the abstract principles of patriotism. ”

“ Two forts had been partially completed by the enemy; these were finished and occupied by both artillery and infantry. The army was drawn in close around the city; the point of Lookout Mountain and its slopes beyond Chattanooga Creek were left to the enemy. This gave the Confederate Army command of the river, the rail and wagon [156] roads (parallel with the river) , between Chattanooga, Bridgeport, and Stevenson. The only other practicable road to the bases of supplies was over Walden’s Ridge on the north side of the river, a distance of 60 miles by wagon ”

“ Thomas, finding himself cut off from Rosecrans and the right, at once brought his seven divisions into position for independent fighting. Refusing both his right and left, his line assumed the form of a horse-shoe posted along the slope and crest of a partly wooded ridge. He was soon joined by Granger from Rossville, with the brigade of McCook and division of Steedman, and with these forces firmly [145] maintained the fight till after dark. Our troops were as immovable as the rocks they stood on. ”