The Confederates blasted through the few remaining defenders and were quickly behind the shattered Union line. At 11:30 AM, Longstreet ordered the charge, unwittingly striking the exact spot Wood had just vacated. James Longstreet was ready, with eight brigades, 11,000 men, arranged in five columns. Now, Wood, who knew the order to be a mistake, but perhaps being spiteful after Rosecrans’ scolding about following orders immediately and without question, pulled his troops out of line and marched to the north, creating a gaping hole in the middle of the Union line. Earlier that morning, Rosecrans had given Wood a very public tongue lashing. Without verifying for himself, Rosecrans ordered General Thomas Wood‘s division to leave their position at the front to fill the non-existent hole. The heavy woods hid a Federal division from view, causing one of Rosecrans’ staff officers to report that there was a gap in the Union line. However, the terrain, and staff bungling, proved disastrous.
On the morning of September 20th, his line battered by repeated Confederate assaults, Rosecrans furiously shifted men to where they were needed most. That evening, tens of thousands of reinforcements, from the North and the South, reached the field, preparing for an even larger battle the following day. On the 19th, the armies slaughtered each other until dusk, with no one getting an advantage. The armies constantly shifted positions as they crashed into each other, but the commanding officers could see little of the fighting or actual positions of their men. The densely wooded, briar-tangled terrain hid troop movements, causing chaos and confusion as soldiers suddenly found themselves in vicious, close quarters combat with unseen and unexpected enemy units. The creek was surrounded by vast acres of swampy, impenetrable thickets.
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That fighting soon erupted into full scale battle.Ĭhickamauga Creek was deep, tree-lined, and bordered by rocky banks. After a fierce melee, McCook’s badly outnumbered force was ordered by Granger to withdraw back to Rossville, harassed by Confederates the entire way. Henry Davidson’s 1st Georgia of Forrest’s Cavalry Corps charged up to save the bridge.
The Ohioans were ordered to burn it, to prevent Confederate troop movement. At dawn, they discovered Reed’s Bridge, which was thought to have been destroyed on the 18th, was still standing. Daniel McCook‘s brigade advanced to Jay’s Mill in search of water. The fighting on the 19th started by accident, when, at 2 AM, pickets from Col. On September 18, 1863, advance Cavalry units of the two armies skirmished briskly at Reed’s Bridge and Alexander’s Bridge, over West Chickamauga Creek, but the fighting was contained in a small area.
It was the worst Union defeat in the Western Theater, and only the Battle of Gettysburg resulted in more casualties.īy September 1863, the Union Army of the Cumberland, under the command of General William Rosecrans, was ready to deliver the death blow to the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Braxton Bragg. The Battle of Chickamauga lasted for three days, Sept.18-20, 1863.
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