Chickamauga stands as the Granite Forest of the West, a counterpoint to Gettysburg. The battlefield lies much more scattered than you find at the Granite Forest of the East. The battlelines here ebbed and flowed during the two main days of battle. One of the largest groupings of granite monuments stands atop Horseshoe Ridge where for five and a half hours, Federal forces staved off total defeat following the catastrophic rupture of their lines along Lafayette Road.

Like on most Civil War battlefields, most of the monuments on Horseshoe Ridge – as well as Chickamauga – remember individual Federal regiments who fought here. The simple reason comes from the devastation and poverty of the south in the decades following the carnage of the war.

The monuments here on Horseshoe Ridge came about in the latter part of the 19^th century as veterans realized age was their enemy. They had gained political power (especially through organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic) and money by this time in their lives. Memory of their gallant deeds was about to be lost into the mists of time, so the movement arose to remember.

LEAD UP TO DRAMATICS ON HORSESHOE RIDGE

Of the different sites on the battlefield at Chickamauga, Horseshoe Ridge certainly stood out dramatically. Today, the drama on Horseshoe Ridge stands out among the many monuments found close at hand. Through errors committed by the Federal Army of the Cumberland, an entire division had pulled out of the Union battleline just as a huge Confederate attack led by James Longstreet punched through the vacant spaces at 1130 in the morning of 20 September 1863. The immediate result led to sweeping half of the Federal army off of the battlefield. It looked grim for the other half.

Major General George Thomas was left in charge of the remaining Union forces at Chickamauga after the midday debacle. He cobbled together units gathered upon Snodgrass Hill to protect the rear of his main line established further east along today’s Battleline Road. More and more, Confederates gathered to the south of Snodgrass Hill anxious to give the coup de grace to the Army of the Cumberland in what could emerge as one of the biggest victories of the war. Stymied in their initial attempts to push the Union forces off Snodgrass Hill, they looked to focus the attention on a seemingly empty ridge coming off Snodgrass Hill to its west – Horseshoe Ridge.

ENTER THE RESERVE CORPS

Just as Gordon Granger’s Reserve Corps showed up on the battlefield, much to the relief of Thomas, he wanted to insert them into the woods immediately east of Snodgrass Hill to connect the men on the hill with his lines to the east. But just then, word came to him of the Confederate move to the west and in response he sent Granger’s men to try and repulse the new threat.

Granger’s men consisted of the division of James Steedman. One brigade led by Brigadier General Walter C. Whitaker and the other by Colonel John C. Mitchell. Granger left his other brigade under Daniel McCook to the north to protect the Federal army hospitals of Thomas XIV Corps by the Cloud House – near where today’s CHI Memorial Hospital stands and to help screen the movements of Steedman’s division as they marched quickly to the south. In the post detailing the movement of the Reserve Corps to Thomas’ aid, I already discussed the animosity and postwar feud between Granger and Steedman with regards to who did what when. In this post, we focus on the monuments on Horseshoe Ridge and the units they remember.

JAMES STEEDMAN AND GORDON GRANGER

THE DIVISION COMMANDER

James Steedman spent a busy day guiding his division onto Horseshoe Ridge. Riding to the center of Whitaker’s brigade, he called on the men to come forward at the double quick and “give them d—d hell.” In the ensuing charge pushing the Confederates back in some disarray, Steedman’s horse was shot out from under him sending the general headfirst onto the rocky ground. Bleeding profusely from cuts on his arms, hands and face, without his hat, he searched for another mount from which to guide his men from. Intense fire at the top of the ridge pushed the 115^th Illinois back down the side they had run up. Still without a horse or hat, Steedman grabbed the regimental flag and ordered the men to go back up.

At this point, Major John C. Smith, a staff officer of Whitaker, came up to Steedman to offer his horse to the general. “General, if you should be killed and I survive you, what disposition do you wish made of your body and effects?” Steedman brushed aside the bad karma while mounting the animal. About to ride away, he said to Smith, “Yes, Major, I have a request to make. If I am killed … see that these damned newspaper reporters spell my name correctly!”

An interesting aside alluded to in the early post, Joseph T. Woods in his book Steedman and His Men at Chickamauga (1876) had this conversation occurring between Granger and Steedman. But the two men were nowhere near each other at this time, Steedman WAS with his division and Granger was still with Thomas.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

A couple of Whitaker’s regiments had excitedly chased the Confederates down the hill running directly into flanking fire which sent them reeling back up from where they came. Steedman had wandered into the area of Mitchell’s brigade by now. Seeing the 121^st Ohio about to make the same mistake, he dashed to their front, grabbing the regimental flag finally managing to stop their advance.

In the first hour of fighting, Steedman’s men had blunted the flanking attack of Bushrod Johnson’s Confederate brigade. But at a cost. The division lost between 500 and 800 men in the first 45 minutes.

Helping to organize his men for more attacks sure to come, he started walking away from the position of the 89^th Ohio laughing, “I have a scratch of a wound and am fireproof for the rest of this fight.” 

And sure enough, two brigades of Major General Thomas C. Hindman came up from the south. Hindman “loaned” the two brigades to Johnson who now had six brigades to send back up through the deep woods of the south flanks of Horseshoe Ridge. There were troops galore, but the slopes they attacked up were the steepest and tallest the Horseshoe had to offer.

The ground was so steep that the Confederate troops had to slowly scramble up the hill. When they reached the crest, a close at hand round of gunfire and artillery blasts shuddered their ranks. Johnson was frustrated at the repulse, especially of the performance of Hindman’s two brigades led by Zachary Deas and Arthur Manigault. Truth told, Hindman’s troops had already marched and fought a long day before arriving at Horseshoe Ridge.

RALLYING HIS MEN

Steedman seemed everywhere among the men of his division.  Riding or walking up behind a regiment, he would grab one of the regimental flags from the color guard, drawing everyone’s attention as he rallied or steadied the men. At the battle’s end, such stories gained recall from almost every one of the ten regiments of the division. Those stories would get bigger during the postwar years with regimental reunions.

Finally, a little after 5pm, with his regiments in chaos from repulsing attacks and launching their own counterattacks and with ammunition almost out, Steedman’s division gave up their positions. Some units had orders to retreat while others simply gave way on their own. Steedman and his brigade commanders tried to halt the retreat, but by 6 pm, most Federals had left Horseshoe Ridge.

GRANGER IN COMMAND

Thomas had been called away to deal with problems arising to the east in Kelly Field. Colonel Moses B. Walker, originally commanding the 31st Ohio but this afternoon, he was serving on the staff of division commander Brigadier General John Brannan commanding various units on Hills One, Two and Three immediately east of Steedman’s men. Walker found Thomas at about 6 pm. Thomas sent him back to Snodgrass Hill and Horseshoe Ridge with orders to begin a general retreat towards Rossville. Two Indianan regiments who still had ammunition went back with Walker to help cover the retreat.

Which brings us to Gordon Granger’s afternoon. He last met up with Steedman at about 4 pm.  Maybe that is why a command pyramid of cannonballs sits up on Horseshoe Ridge in the middle of Whitaker’s regimental monuments. He spent most of the afternoon with Thomas at the Snodgrass House. One of his faults, Granger liked to play with cannons. He was directing Captain William Aleshire and his 18^th Ohio battery into position when the horse of one of his staff members, Captain William Russell, rode up, saddle empty covered in blood. Realizing what happened, he forgot the guns ordering his escort to find and retrieve Russell’s body. After they returned, Granger cried to Thomas, “He was the best soldier I ever knew!”

thomas departs

With Thomas departure for Kelly Field at 4 pm, Granger had command of the Snodgrass-Horseshoe position. Granger had encouraged Thomas to hold on as long as he could, but without ammunition that simply wasn’t an option as day began to change to dark. He tried to encourage retreating units on the ridge to get back into the fight “use the cold steel” but by 7:00 pm, those who could withdraw had left the scene.

Interestingly, among the monuments here on Horseshoe Ridge, there is a pyramid of cannon balls purportedly standing where Granger’s headquarters stood. Since he spent most of his time over at Snodgrass Hill, it seems more likely, Steedman set up shop here. Though even that was not absolutely true since he spent most of his afternoon running about keeping all of his regiments in line.

BRIGADE OF WALTER WHITAKER

whitaker and his men in action

Walter C. Whitaker by the time of Chickamauga was a seasoned veteran, though he started the war as a veteran of the 6^th Kentucky Volunteers during the Mexican War.  A lawyer and politician, Whitaker became colonel of his old regiment at the end of 1861.  At Stones River, his regiment, part of Colonel William B. Hazen’s brigade defended the Round Forest.

Whitaker’s six regiments – 2,695 men – came up onto the ridge as the first of Steedman’s force. They came to the crest three regiments abreast – 96^th Illinois-115^th Illinois-22^nd Michigan from west to east – the 40^th Ohio and 89^th Ohio in a second line and the 84^th Indiana in reserve.  Whitaker’s brigade received the full attention of the two Tennessean brigades – brigade of Colonel John S. Fulton and Gregg’s Brigade, now under Colonel Cyrus Sugg – of Bushrod Johnson’s division as they reached the crest. 

The Confederate attack fell apart as Mitchell’s brigade came up forming on the right of Whitaker.  Mitchell’s men overlapped the Confederate left. Their flanking fire forced Johnson’s men back down the hill. Whitaker and all but one of his staff quickly went down wounded serving as mounted targets for the Tennesseans only sixty yards away.

The 22^nd Michigan on the left, ran into the flank of the 10^th Mississippi who were fighting against the 21^st Ohio on Hill 3 to the east. Quickly routing the Mississippians, the regiments of Johnson soon followed them back down the southern slopes of Horseshoe Ridge in turn. Seeing the Confederates on the run, Colonel Thomas Champion of the 96^th Illinois charged forward running into Confederate cannon fire at close range. The 40^th Ohio pulled up and took their place on the crest.

second try

Thirty minutes later, Johnsons brigades gave it another try with two brigades of Hindman’s division on loan – Deas and Manigault. The steep terrain where Hindman’s men went up disrupted the timing of their attacks. Reinforced with double-canister Federal artillery, the Alabamians reached the crest but then stopped after exchanging volleys during the thirty-minute fight. It was Hindman’s third attack of the day. Like the others, the division suffered heavy casualties.

end of day

Finally, just after 5 pm, the Confederates came again but slower and in loose order so as not to give such a large dense target. To meet this, Steedman’s division, with ammunition out or almost gone, and unit organization seriously disrupted by the ebb and flow of three hours of battle on Horseshoe Ridge, gave way withdrawing to the north with only monuments today to note their struggles.

THE MONUMENTS OF HORSESHOE RIDGE

96^th ILLINOIS

Colonel Thomas E. Champion 419 men led the regiment – made of men from the northeastern and northwesternmost counties in Illinois – fighting on the right side of the brigade front atop the ridge. Losses amounted to almost 50% over the three hours – heaviest losses of all regiments in the Reserve Corps (45 killed, 130 wounded, 40 captured). The initial attack of the 96^th ran into problems when Colonel Champion ordered the men to pursue the Tennesseans after they blunted the first attack on the ridgeline. In pursuit, the regiment ran straight into the cannons supporting the Confederate attack below. Also, without support on the flanks, they were met with a withering fire decimating the ranks of the Illinoisans.

Regrouping, the 96^th became separated by the advance of Mitchell’s brigade moving up to parry the 3 pm renewed Confederate assault by the Alabamian brigades of Deas and Manigault. The main body of the 96^th continued maintaining the right end of Whitaker’s brigade while two companies of the 96^th ended up on the far right of Mitchell’s line, the right end of the Federals atop Horseshoe Ridge. As the battle finally wound down after 5 pm with the Federal withdrawal from the ridge due to lack of ammunition, the two parts of the regiment reunited.

POST-CHICKAMAUGA

The regiment would go on to participate in the Battle of Lookout Mountain where another monument to the regiment is in the woods above the Craven House to the immediate south. They had a grandstand seat atop the mountain for the next day’s battle for Missionary Ridge. During the Atlanta Campaign, the 96^th went south fighting at Resaca and Bald Knob – a prelude battle in the lead up to Kennesaw Mountain – where Colonel Champion suffered a severe wound to his face. 

The colonel returned to the regiment after the fall of Atlanta in September 1864. His wound had healed but Champion was in poor health, “he looked many years older than when he left the front in June” reported the regiments historian. He left the regiment a month later only to return for a visit the following spring. His wounds eventually shortened his life. Taking up a new law practice in Knoxville following the end of the war, he died of tuberculosis in 1873 at the age of 47.

As with all Illinois monuments, the 96th is remembered identically to other Illinois regiments both here on Horseshoe Ridge and the rest of the battlefield.

Beyond the monuments here on Horseshoe Ridge, the 96th has another on Lookout Mountain.

115^th ILLINOIS

Nest among the monuments of Horseshoe Ridge is that of the 115th Illinois. Jesse H. Moore was the original organizer and colonel of the 115^th Illinois made up of men from central Illinois. Chickamauga was to be the first major fight the regiment took place in. They lined up in the center of Whitaker’s brigade front on Horseshoe Ridge. Moore’s men worked to serve as the guide on for the two flanking regiments – 96^th Illinois to the right and 22^nd Michigan to the left – but both of those regiments got carried away when they first knocked back the first Confederate attack on Horseshoe Ridge. 

Both of those regiments took off to the right or left before they unraveled running into more Confederates who had finished retreating.  Left alone at the crest of the hill, Moore pulled his troops – which had unraveled a bit themselves from the hard march and fight – back to form up with Whitaker’s second line.

Moore, a minister before the war, became a congressman serving from 1869 until 1873. Serving as US consul in Callao, Peru from 1881 until his death in July 1883.

411 men (24 killed, 137 wounded, 6 captured)

84TH INDIANA

Among the monuments of Horseshoe Ridge, that of the 84th Indiana stands unique with its soldier at rest topping. The 84^th Indiana originally became raised from east central Indiana.  Chickamauga was the regiment’s first major battle. The regiment was led by Colonel Nelson Trusler here. Forming the right side of Whitaker’s reserve line, the 84^th formed on two hills with a ravine in between.  With a breach noted in the front line, Trusler rushed his men into the ravine where they met fire from three sides. In fifteen minutes, the regiment lost almost a third of its strength in casualties. They pulled back but continued to fight until dark. The regiment continued the rest of the war fighting with the Army of the Cumberland through the Atlanta Campaign and on to the Nashville Campaign.

Trusler resigned near the end of October after Chickamauga because of ill health. In the post war years, he became the Secretary of State for Indiana from 1865 until 1869.

1,574 men (20 killed, 87 wounded, 11 captured)

22^nd MICHIGAN

Raised from counties to the north and east of Detroit, the 22^nd Michigan mustered into service at Pontiac. The original colonel was the former Michigan governor, Moses Wisner. Wisner died of typhoid fever as the regiment began its deployment into Kentucky in September 1862. Next up was Colonel Heber Le Favour. He joined the war in 1861 serving as a captain in the 5^th Michigan. Le Favour suffered a wound during the Battle of Williamsburg during the Peninsula Campaign. Recovering, he became the lieutenant colonel for the 22^nd at the age of 24. 

The 22^nd formed up on the left of Steedman’s line on the ridge. Le Favour was given command of both the 22^nd and the 89^th Ohio as they detached from the main body of Whitaker’s brigade. Lieutenant Colonel William Sanbourn took command of the regiment. Coming up the hill about 2:30 pm, they charged up the hill with Sanbourn falling seriously wounded. Major Henry Dean commanded for the rest of the day.

The regiment fought off several charges during the afternoon until around 5:00 pm, the last of their 80 rounds of ammunition finally gone. An hour later, the Federal line began unraveling without ammunition. As they began to pull off, the 22^nd along with the 21^st Ohio and the 89^th Ohio got orders to go back up the hill by Whitaker “to hold the ground at all hazards …stand firm and use the cold steel”. Without ammunition or reinforcements and with darkness setting in, the regiments became surrounded and most forced to surrender.

THE COSTS

With 455 men to start the day, 32 died, 96 wounded and 261 became prisoners or went missing – 85% casualty rate, the highest of any regiment at Chickamauga. There was only one officer, and 93 men present at roll call the next day. The battle was the last for the regiment serving on duties behind the armies for the rest of the war.

Le Favour ended up in Libby Prison in Richmond while his troops went to Andersonville.  Later exchanged, Le Favour returned to command the Reserve Brigade to which the survivors of the 22^nd belonged during the Atlanta Campaign. He gained a brevet promotion to brigadier general at the end of the war. Originally from Rhode Island, Le Favour returned to his home state and was in the leather industry when he died at only 40 in a carriage accident in Pawtucket.

Among the monuments of Horseshoe Ridge, this one and that of the 121st Ohio have bas bronze reliefs giving some idea of the close order battle occurring atop the ridge.

DRUMMER BOY OF CHICKAMAUGA

One of the survivors was John Clem who originally signed up as an “unofficial” drummer boy earlier in 1863 at the tender age of only 11. At the time of the battle, Clem turned 12. He rode on one of the ammunition caissons with a musket slimmed down for his size. At the end of the day, the colonel of the 3^rd Tennessee, Calvin H. Walker, cornered the young boy and asked for his surrender. Clem refused and shot the colonel. He then ran away through the woods to get back to Union units. Walker survived his incident with Clem only to die at Kolb Farm the next year.

the drummer boy after the river of death

A few days after the battle, Clem, riding in a wagon train, became captured by the Confederates. After only three days he exchanged. The story of Clem got back to army commander William S, Rosecrans who passed it on to the press. Thus, Clem became the “Drummer Boy of Chickamauga”. Stories added with time including one where Clem’s drum was destroyed at Shiloh giving him another nickname “Johnny Shiloh” inspiring the song The Drummer Boy of Shiloh.

The following summer, the now-lieutenant colonel Dean requested Clem’s release from duty so he could gain an education. He graduated from high school in 1870. Nominated to West Point, he failed several entrance exams, but President Grant appointed him as a second lieutenant anyway. Clem went on to serve as a quartermaster in the army for 43 years retiring with the rank of major general, the last Civil War veteran to actively serve in the military. Dying in 1937, Clem lies at Arlington.

455 men (36 killed, 89 wounded, 247 captured)

40^th OHIO

The 40^th Ohio hailed from central and west-central Ohio. Chickamauga was the regiment’s first serious taste of combat.

Lieutenant Colonel William Jones, commanding the 40^th, was found hiding behind a tree. Bound, he was marched over to Steedman who relieved him with Major Thomas Acton taking command. The regiment, regardless of their commander’s actions, fought long and hard atop the ridge that day.

Jacob E. Taylor was the colonel of the 40^th but not present at Chickamauga. He returned to lead the unit at Chattanooga – Acton died in fighting on Lookout Mountain at the Craven’s House – and on into the Atlanta campaign. 

A bronze plaque found on South Crest Drive on Missionary Ridge just north of Rossville Gap remembers their efforts at Missionary Ridge.

Among the Ohio monuments here on Horseshoe Ridge, the 40th uses a description of events instead of an artistic engraving.

517 men (18 killed, 94 wounded, 11 captured)

89TH OHIO

Caleb H. Carlton was a West Point graduate from the class of 1859.  His first assignment was with the 4^th Infantry Regiment in Oregon and California. He next is found in Washington, DC, on provost duty.  With the 4^th US he saw action in the Peninsular Campaign, Second Manassas and Antietam – as a captain after June 1862 – within the Army of the Potomac. With help from his friend Brigadier General George Crook with whom he served in the West, he became the colonel of the 89^th Ohio.

As with most of the Reserve Corps, Chickamauga was the regiment’s first major battle.

Carlton gained his parole in March 1864 and rejoined his regiment in time to serve through the Atlanta Campaign. Following Atlanta’s fall, Carlton became the commander at Chattanooga where he stayed until May 1865. He stayed with the army for another 32 years going to 13 different frontier posts. Eventually he gained command of the 8^th US Cavalry in January 1892. Promoted to brigadier general in June 1897, Carlton retired after 43 years of service. 

He eventually died in Cleveland, Ohio in 1923 buried in Lake View Cemetery. As commander of the 8^th, he began the practice of playing the Star Spangled Banner before events asking those in attendance to rise and pay respects – the song was not yet the national anthem.

Ohio monuments usually feature a buckeye at some point and here at Horseshoe Ridge, the buckeye is featured prominently.

589 men (23 killed, 64 wounded, 140 captured)

18^th OHIO LIGHT ARTILLERY

The 18^th Ohio Light Artillery battery organized in September 1862 under the command of Captain Charles C. Aleshire. Chickamauga would be the battery’s first real taste of combat.

Coming up with Whitaker’s brigade, they found themselves unlimbering at Snodgrass Hill to provide more punch to the Federal artillery there. General Granger made himself available to help aim and fire the guns. Not enough room for all of his guns, he sent the section under command of Lieutenant Albert S. Bierce to join Steedman’s division as they made their way to the right of the ridge. Bierce found that there was not room enough to deploy his guns on the crest and the fighting at that point was too close for the cannons to distinguish between friend and foe, so he turned his guns around and returned to the rest of the battery on Snodgrass Hill.

95 men 6x 3” rifles (9 wounded)

BRIGADE OF JOHN G. MITCHELL

At the young age of 24, John Grant Mitchell had risen through the ranks beginning the war in early 1861 as a private in the Ohio Reserves. Next, he signed up with the three-month 3^rd Ohio Regiment as a lieutenant. He moved up to captain when re-enlisting into the three-year reorganized regiment. Going on in the fall of 1862 to help raise the 113^th Ohio, Mitchell became the regiment’s lieutenant colonel. The following spring, he became the colonel leading the regiment during the Tullahoma Campaign. And in September, he took command of Steedman’s 2^nd Brigade.

Mitchell’s 1,124 men took their positions on Horseshoe Ridge on the right of Whitaker’s brigade. They were the farthest right brigade on the ridge.

After the battle, Mitchell’s brigade would continue to figure prominently in the fighting – Knoxville, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church and especially Kennesaw Mountain where the brigade attacked in column fashion just to the right of Dan McCook’s brigade at The Angle.  Mitchell’s old regiment, the 113^th Illinois lost over a hundred men in the battle. The regiment followed Thomas back to Nashville and finished the war in the Carolinas, Mitchell, a 26-year-old brigadier general.

John Mitchell returned to his law practice in Columbus, Ohio marrying a niece of Rutherford B. Hayes. His papers today found in the library of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center.

78TH ILLINOIS

The regiment hailed from central west Illinois centered around Quincy. Like most of the Reserve Corps, Chickamauga was the regiment’s first real test of combat.

William H. Benneson was the first colonel of the regiment. A prewar lawyer, Benneson served as a part-time colonel – part-time on duty and part-time absent. Not liked within the regiment, the other officers of the regiment forced Benneson to resign at the first of September 1863 and here, Lieutenant Colonel Carter Van Vleck, another lawyer, led the men into battle.

Van Vleck and several other officers were among the casualties on 20 September. The regiment ended the day under the command of Captain George T. Green.

The 78th, along with the 121st Ohio, formed Whitaker’s second line as they marched up onto the ridge. They formed a secure line after the frontline came back from pushing too far in front. Steedman, himself, helped steady the regiment.

The regiment continued to fight through the following campaigns of the war as a component of the Army of the Tennessee. Their next test would be in a supporting role at Tunnel Hill with Sherman. They followed Sherman for the rest of the war – Atlanta, March to the Sea, the Carolinas. At Kennesaw, still part of Mitchell’s Brigade, they were in the column attacking the south side of The Angle in the same charge where Dan McCook and Charles Harker lost their lives nearby. Van Vleck lost his life shortly after from a mortal wound at Atlanta in October.

His letters to his wife have recently been compiled and made into a book.

553 men (17 killed, 74 wounded, 55 captured)

98TH OHIO

This regiment came from Columbus and central eastern Ohio organizing in Steubenville on the Ohio River. Their first combat test occurred at Perryville. After participating in the Tullahoma Campaign, Chickamauga proved their next taste of serious combat.  

The 98^th went through five different commanders during their fight here at Horseshoe Ridge.

Captain Moses J. Urguhart began the day in charge but soon fell wounded. His successor, Captain Armstron J. Thomas and Captain William C. Lochary both died.  

The regiment would march with Sherman for the rest of the war through Georgia and the Carolinas.

Among the Ohio monuments here on Horseshoe Ridge and elsewhere, this monument is a bit unique in not featuring a buckeye.

181 men (7 killed, 38 wounded, 18 captured)

113^th OHIO

This was John Mitchell’s original regiment which he helped raise becoming its lieutenant colonel. The original colonel resigned in the spring of 1863 with Mitchell promoted now to colonel. After leading the men through Tullahoma, he gained brigade command in early September 1863, in time to lead here at Chickamauga. This left Lieutenant Colonel Darius B. Warner in command of the 113^th Ohio.

On reaching the crest of Horseshoe Ridge, the regiment became badly disrupted by men of the 96^th Illinois running through their ranks after their unsuccessful charge down the south side of the ridge. Only with difficulty, Warner and his other officers rallied the 113^th as they made their way back up to the crest once more.

Warner ended the war with a brevet promotion to brigadier general, but only after losing his right arm at Kennesaw Mountain. He moved the family to New Brunswick as he worked in a lumber business with his brother. His daughter Agnes became a nurse. With the advent of World War 1, she worked first with French and later Canadian soldiers. A book explains the story of her work in France.

353 men (26 killed, 90 wounded, 40 captured)

121ST OHIO

The 121^st Ohio came from central Ohio just north of Columbus.  They first fought at Perryville. At Chickamauga, they were led by Lieutenant Colonel Henry B. Banning. Banning had previous experience leading the 87^th Ohio in its three months of existence during the summer of 1862. He gained brevet ranks of brigadier and major general at the end of the war in honor of his wartime service.

 A lawyer before the war, he returned to law and politics after, serving in the State House of Representatives in 1866 and 1867 before serving in the US Congress from 1873 until 1879. Dying at the end of 1881, he lies at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati not far from his brother-in-law, another Union general, Byron Kirby.

Atop Horseshoe Ridge, the regiment posted itself on the far right of the Federal line – though after awhile a couple companies of the 96^th Illinois would find their way to support both Battery M and the north side of the 121^st.

After Chickamauga, the 121^st would continue to fight through various campaigns and battles. They were again tested at Kennesaw Mountain when they were the second in line of a column of four regiments attacking the south side of The Angle unsuccessfully.

235 men (12 killed, 73 wounded, 7 captured)

BATTERY M 1ST ILLINOIS LIGHT ARTILLERY

Battery M organized in Chicago in August 1862.  Tullahoma was their first campaign with Chickamauga their first major battle. On the march south from McAfee Church, Granger had the guns roll out briefly when Confederate artillery fire started zeroing in on them during their march.

They managed to get their guns out to the right side of Mitchell’s brigade around 3 pm to provide the brigade with further stopping power. Two sections moved slightly to the rear to safeguard the flank on the extreme right. These men in time received support from a couple of companies of the 96^th Illinois when that regiment became split up. The other section of guns moved to directly support Mitchell’s infantry. Their six guns brought a lot of needed support on the far right. They were commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Burton an original member of the battery.

112 men 4x Napoleon cannons 2x 3” rifles (2 killed, 11 wounded)

CONFEDERATE MEMORIALS

Horseshoe Ridge – as well as Chickamauga in general – is somewhat unique in that you will find several monuments dedicated to the Confederate forces and not just Federal units. That said, most of those monuments are simple stones etched with a unit’s name. In honor of the regiments of Bushrod Johnson’s division from the Tennessean brigades of Colonel John Fulton’s and Colonel Cyrus Sugg’s – substituting for the wounded General John Gregg – there are several marker stones noting the highwater mark of the various regiments involved. There is a tall monument raised by the State of Tennessee in honor of all the Tennessean infantrymen who fought up here.  Also, here stands another monument in memory of the 25^th Tennessee Infantry Regiment.

You notice the closeness of Federal and Confederate monuments here on Horseshoe Ridge. That is the way the fight progressed with close at hand volleys ripping through the woods atop the crest of the ridge here. Cannons note the placement of the batteries which managed to make their way through the trees. The Confederate guns of Dent’s Alabama battery found in between the monuments of Mitchell’s and Whitaker’s brigades represent guns brought up at the close of battle when the Federals finally were forced off the ridge.

REBELS ON THE RIDGE

There were three main Confederate attacks on Horseshoe Ridge. First off was the initial push by Johnson’s division up the ridge trying to get around the Federals of John Brannon established on the three little hill complex west above the Snodgrass Cabin. They ran directly into Steedman’s division with their attack floundering. Thirty minutes later, Johnson found more regiments borrowing them from Thomas Hindman’s division. The brigades of Zachary Deas and Arthur Manigault tried again to push the Federals off the top with similar results. The last attack was made in a slower manner using tactics to spread the men out more, not presenting compact lines thus spreading the “target” out over a wider area. This, combined with the lack of ammunition on the Federal side, finally decided the conflict after about three hours of combat.

DIVISION COMMANDER – BUSHROD JOHNSON

The Confederate leader organizing most of the attacks on Horseshoe Ridge, Bushrod Johnson, features as an interesting Southern leader. A Northerner and Quaker by birth, he moved south with his uncle to work on the Underground Railroad. Graduating from West Point in 1840, he fought in both the Seminole and Mexican Wars. Accused of selling contraband goods, he was forced to resign from the army in October 1847. Johnson became a teacher and later superintendent at Western Military Institute in Georgetown, Kentucky. That school soon shut down, but Johnson helped merge the school with the University of Nashville teaching mathematics and engineering from 1851 to 1861. At the same time, he was active in the militia in both Kentucky and Tennessee, reaching the rank of colonel.

With the war, Johnson followed his students into service with the Confederacy becoming a colonel in the engineers. Assigned to construct Fort Donelson, as a now-brigadier general, led forces on a successful assault against Federal forces besieging the fort. Without follow up, however, the fort surrendered. Johnson was able to walk out of the fort through a gap in the Union lines.

Becoming a brigade commander, at Shiloh, he suffered a concussion. He recovered to lead at both Perryville and Stones River. As a divisional commander under James Longstreet, his division spearheaded the attack striking the gap in the Federal center created by the mix-up in Federal orders. Chickamauga was Johnson’s best day during the Civil War pushing his men forward in the follow-up attacks here on Horseshoe Ridge.

POST-CHICKAMAUGA

After Chickamauga, he reverted to brigade command staying with Longstreet as they moved on to Knoxville next before Longstreet returned to Virginia. Johnson became a permanent division commander in Lee’s army at Petersburg – his division was on the receiving end at the Crater. His division routed at Sailor’s Creek led to his dismissal by Lee a few days before Appomattox.

Johnson returned to teaching after the war becoming co-chancellor of the University of Nashville. Retiring in 1875, he moved to a farm in southwest Illinois with his mentally challenged son dying five years later. Buried in Miles Station, Illinois, his remains were exhumed in 1975 and moved to Nashville where he was reburied next to his wife. The person responsible for reburial – an amateur historian – also is responsible for the erction of the small monument remembering the Quaker General on Brotherton Road.

CONFEDERATE BRIGADE COMMANDERS ON THE HORSESHOE

Arthur Manigault

Growing up in a well-off family in Charleston, South Carolina, Arthur Manigault served in the Mexican War as a first lieutenant in the Palmetto Regiment. Following that war, he was a businessman in Charleston until 1856, when he inherited a rice plantation.

With the war, he participated in the Battle of Fort Sumter. As colonel of the 10^th South Carolina Infantry, he was ordered west in April 1862 to become part of the Army of Mississippi. Too late for Shiloh, he and his unit did take part in the subsequent Siege of Corinth. With the Army of Tennessee, he served under Braxton Bragg seeing action at Stones River and here at Chickamauga.

Becoming a brigadier general in the spring of 1863, he was wounded at Resaca and at Franklin. The second wound ended the war for Manigault. Following the war, he went back to his rice plantation also becoming Adjutant and Inspector General of South Carolina from 1880 until his death in 1886.

ZACHARIAH DEAS

Another South Carolinian by birth, Zachariah Deas moved with his family to Mobile, Alabama when he was 14. After serving in the army during the Mexican War, he became a successful cotton broker. With the war, he became an aide to General Joseph Johnston at the Battle of First Manassas. Next, he helped raise the 22^nd Alabama becoming its colonel. At Shiloh, after his brigade commander Adley Gladden died, he assumed brigade command. Wounded on day two, he returned to duty to command an Alabamian brigade in the Army of Tennessee.

Commanding his brigade, they took part in the battles of Perryville and Stones River. Here at Chickamauga, Deas’ brigade became part of the division of Major General Thomas Hindman, a division belonging to Lieutenant General James Longstreet. On 20 September, the brigade was part of Longstreet’s successful mid-day assault on the Federal center. His men routed the division of Philip Sheridan as they were moving north to try and reinforce.

After the war, Deas returned to the cotton business owning a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He died in New York City in 1882 and is buried in the Bronx.

JOHN S. FULTON

Colonel John S. Fulton had been a lawyer in Tennessee before the war. He was one of five brothers in positions of responsibility during the Civil War. Enlisted as a private in the 44^th Tennessee Infantry in December 1861, his first battle experience was at Shiloh where he served as a sharpshooter. His leadership skills noted by his men, he became the colonel of his regiment soon after the battle. 

He saw his first battle as a colonel at Perryville. Later, at Stones River, Fulton was wounded in the left hand, he dismounted unable to manage his horse. Giving his horse to a groom, he ordered the horse to be taken to the rear, but the horse escaped running over to the Federal lines. Captured and remounted, the horse eventually escaped returning to the 44^th Tennessee lines. Finding Fulton, the horse stopped trembling. The colonel rode him for the rest of the day.

After the battle here at Chickamauga, Fulton stayed with Longstreet’s command dying in an attack on Federal works at Drury’s Bluff 16 May 1864.

CYRUS a. SUGG

Colonel Cyrus A. Sugg joined the 50^th Tennessee as a captain in 1862.  Placed at Fort Donelson, he refused to seek escape but surrendered with his men.  Eventually exchanged, Sugg was wounded here at Chickamauga four times while leading his men. He suffered a mortal wound during the Battle of Missionary Ridge lasting a month afterwards.

Sugg had taken over brigade command for John Gregg who suffered a serious wound during the battle, himself, on 19 September. Gregg would command the Texas Brigade the next year during the Overland Campaign in Virginia falling leading a counterattack on the Charles City Road near Richmond.

JAMES PATTON ANDERSON

Another Tennessean by birth, James Patton Anderson‘s family moved to Mississippi in 1839, and Anderson was able to become a lawyer at the age of 21. By the time of the Mexican War, he was serving as the colonel of the local county’s militia.  He raised a company for the Mexican War but never saw action.

Going into politics after war, he became a leading secessionist but suffering from recurrent bouts of malaria he picked up during his Mexican adventure, he gained an appointment as marshal to the Washington Territory from fellow-Mississippian Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. The cooler climate helped to restore his health. After two years, Anderson gained election as the territorial delegate to Congress. With the Civil War approaching, he turned down the opportunity to become territorial governor of Washington in 1857 and moved to Florida prospering as a sugar and cotton planter.

He became prominent in the General Convention formed in Montgomery, Alabama to create a new Confederate Government. Afterwards, he became the colonel of the 1^st Florida Infantry. Serving under Braxton Bragg at Pensacola, he soon gained promotion to brigadier general commanding a brigade in Bragg’s force sent north to join Albert Sidney Johnston’s force before the battle of Shiloh. He figured strongly in several attacks on the first day and his men figured strongly in the second day, too.

ANDERSON POST-SHILOH

After figuring again at Perryville and Stones River, at Chickamauga his brigade fought in the division of Thomas Hindman. Participating in Longstreet’s 20 September midday attack they played a strong role in the succeeding breakthrough. Anderson discovered the body of Brigadier General William H. Lytle whom he knew from the Democratic Convention of 1860. Moving on, his Mississippian brigade figured in attacks on the Federal positions on the west side of the Snodgrass Hills. While they were engaging the Federals of John M. Brannan, the left side of Steedman’s division showed up on the scene flanking Anderson’s regiments and sending them back down the hill from where they started.

Due to Bragg’s perception of Hindman’s passivity while commanding his division a few days earlier at McLemore’s Cove, he was relieved, and Anderson became division commander.  He was commander on Missionary Ridge when the Confederate center was routed.

In the spring of 1864, Anderson was sent to command the District of Florida.  He returned to the Army of Tennessee in time to command his old division again at Ezra Church. Shot through the jaw at Jonesboro, the thought the wound was mortal by he slowly regained his strength. Still weak, he rejoined the Army of Tennessee near Bentonville, North Carolina.

Failing to sign the presidential pardon at the end of the war, he could not re-enter the law profession and became an insurance agent. His war wounds continued to bother his health leading to his death in 1872.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS ON HARSESHOE RIDGE

TENNESSEE

Tennessee was the last state to join the Confederacy. There were large swaths of the state remaining loyal to the Union. Up to 25% of the soldiers serving from Tennessee joined on the Federal side. Four monuments were erected by the state in 1898. Three represented the Confederate soldiers of the state in the form of an artilleryman, an infantryman and a cavalryman while one represented the lone Tennessean Federal cavalry regiment fighting at Chickamauga. 

The monuments are scattered about – the CSA cavalry monument is north on Old Lafayette Road just off Lafayette Road across from the large First Baptist Church of Fort Oglethorpe.  The USA cavalry monument is in amidst the group of Federal cavalry monuments near Wilder’s tower.  The CSA artillery monument is found at the intersection of Reed’s and Forrest Roads 400 yards east of the main visitor center on the north edge of the park.

Here, on Horseshoe Ridge, among the many monuments stands the Tennessee Infantry monument. The monument remembers the hard-fought battle fought on 20 September by the brigades of John Fulton and Cyrus Sugg. Fulton’s brigade began the battle with 878 men losing some 397 casualties while Sugg’s brigade started with 1,419 men losing 590 casualties.

25TH TENNESSEE

There are many unit marker stones present to note the location of the various Tennessee regiments.  Among the many monuments here on Horseshoe Ridge, there is one lone Tennessee Confederate infantry regimental monument – 1898 – is found here on the west end of Horseshoe Ridge commemorating the 25^th Tennessee. The regiment was raised from four counties located to the east of Nashville. Already, at Stones River, the regiment lost 36% of its 336 men while at Chickamauga, the loses totaled 39% of 145 men – the regiment started in January 1862 with 683 soldiers present. A unit marker stone stands just in front of the monument on the north side.

The 25th Tennessee was led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bogardus Snowden. He became one of the richest men in Tennessee after the war. His wealth explains the ability to create the monument here.

DAVID COLEMAN AND THE 39TH NORTH CAROLINA

Nearby to the west on the far west side of the ridge battle, among the Horseshoe Ridge monuments is another lone regimental monument, a simple large stone remembering the efforts of the 39^th North Carolina, a part of McNair’s Brigade – brigade command devolving to Colonel David Coleman (incidentally, he was the colonel of the 39^th) after Brigadier General Evander McNair was wounded in the north part of Dyer Field not far from where John Hood went down.

The brigade, under Coleman, were involved in the last, slow, methodical attack on the far-right end of the Federal line. This monument represents one of the last positions taken up as day slid into night. There is another monument to the regiment standing in Glenn Field where the regiment successfully attacked the day before.  Unsupported, they were soon forced to retreat.

coleman

David Coleman attended the University of North Carolina before entering the US Naval Academy graduating and resigning to take up law in 1850. A state senator before the war and Coleman was of the few secessionists from the western part of the state. With the war, he was assigned to command a ship but delays in fitting out the ship led Coleman to joining the army, first as a battalion commander which evolved into the 39^th Regiment as more men joined up. The regiment went on to figure in many more battles during the rest of the war. He was a brigade commander at the Battle of Nashville. Following the war, he returned to law.

There is one more North Carolina regimental monument block – the 58^th North Carolina – located among the monuments just on the other side of Horseshoe Ridge just below the south crest of Snodgrass Hill #1.

CONFEDERATE ARTILLERY – DENT’S ALABAMA BATTERY

The other Confederate “monument on Horseshoe Ridge two battery monuments. One, in the middle of the monuments to Whitaker’s brigade, sports two guns and plaque commemorating Dent’s Alabama Battery. The battery was organized in Pensacola, Florida in late 1861, but manned mostly by men from Alabama. They originally had four 12-pounder Napoleon cannons and under Captain Robertson, the battery saw its first action at Shiloh. After that battle, two more Napoleons were added by the time of Stones River. Robertson, now a major by the time of Chickamauga, was commanding a battalion of reserve artillery and the battery was commanded by Captain Stouten Hubert Dent.

Dent was a native of Maryland, but practiced law in Eufaula, Alabama before the war. Originally, he enlisted in the Eufaula Rifles becoming the adjutant of the 1^st Alabama Infantry in 1861. In April 1862, he shifted over to Robertson’s Battery with the name change after he took command. Following the war, Dent returned to practice law in Eufaula. The battery continued to fight with the Army of Tennessee through the Battle of Nashville after which the remaining men went to man coastal defenses at Mobile.

YORK’S GEORGIA BATTERY

York’s Georgia Battery is remembered at the other end of the Horseshoe Ridge line closer to the Tennessee Infantry monument. There are seven marking monuments for this battery beyond this one on Horseshoe Ridge here at Chickamauga. They got around.

The battery went through a few commanders. Officially, the name was Company E 9^th Georgia Artillery, but at Chickamauga, it was known as “York’s Battery” named for an earlier commander Billington York. At Chickamauga, Lieutenant William Sprague Everett was in command. 

Everett was born and raised in western New York. In 1857, at 18 years of age, he went south to Atlanta becoming first a traveling book salesman before settling down as a clerk in the city. His two brothers joined Federal units during the war, but Everett was by the start of the war a Southerner. Joining the 9^th Georgia battalion of artillery at the beginning of 1862, he started out as a sergeant, though he was soon elected a second lieutenant. He would finish the war as a captain.

Both Everett and Dent spent the afternoon of 20 September trying to push a cannon here and there up the steep wooded slopes of the ridge. The guns and plaques for both batteries denote their final positions as they tried to speed the Yankees on their retreat to Rossville.

Fulton’s brigade – 878 present/397 casualties Gregg’s brigade – 1419 present/590 casualties.