Tag Archives: Army of the Tennessee

KENNESAW MOUNTAIN – A MORNING DASH IN GEORGIA

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Cannon sits in an emplacement atop Big Kennesaw Mountain.
Cannon sits in an emplacement atop Big Kennesaw Mountain.

Kennesaw Mountain saw the third time during the American Civil War in which William T. Sherman employed a direct assault upon entrenched Confederate positions.  The attack failed as much as his previous two attempts.  All through the Atlanta campaign, Sherman had gotten around the Confederate positions set out by Joseph E. Johnston through flanking maneuvers.  Sherman wrote to Washington, “The whole country is one vast fort, and Johnston must have at least 50 miles (80 km) of connected trenches with abatis and finished batteries. We gain ground daily, fighting all the time. … Our lines are now in close contact and the fighting incessant, with a good deal of artillery. As fast as we gain one position the enemy has another all ready. … Kennesaw … is the key to the whole country.”  For the key, Sherman decided to open it with a direct frontal assault.

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RESACA – FLANKING THE DEVIL OUT OF HELL, PHASE ONE

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James Walker's painting of the Battle of Resaca from the viewpoint of General Butterfield's perspective.
James Walker’s painting of the Battle of Resaca from the viewpoint of General Butterfield’s perspective.

Of the many battles of the American Civil War, Resaca remains one of those little-known today.  The battle accounted for the second highest casualty number during the entire Atlanta Campaign – May-September 1864.  The 5,500 number, only surpassed by the Battle of Atlanta – 20 July, rated significantly higher than Kennesaw Mountain, the only Federally protected site of the entire campaign.  Resaca was the only time in the entire campaign, also, where the full complement of Federal and Confederate units faced off and took part in the fighting during the campaign.

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ROCKY FACE START ON THE WAY TO ATLANTA

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Looking down the west slopes of Rocky Race Mountain at Dug Gap.
Looking down the west slopes of Rocky Face Mountain at Dug Gap.

1863 saw decisions made in the West and East, decisions eventually proving decisive though at the time, an end to the war still lay deep ahead, hidden in the fogbank of the future.  Federal armies in Virginia started the new year approximately where they had the previous year.  In the West, the Mississippi River returned to Federal control with the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson.  Further east, near Chattanooga on the Tennessee-Georgia border, the Confederate Army of Tennessee hung on after their serious setback on Missionary Ridge negated their victory earlier at Chickamauga.  Under General Joseph E. Johnston’s new command, the Confederates dug in atop nearby Rocky Face Mountain barring the way for the soon-to-come Federal push towards Atlanta.

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TUNNEL HILL – MAGIC OF SHERMAN; GONE FOR A DAY

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The small Pennsylvania Reservation at the bottom of Tunnel Hill with monuments and tablets telling the story of Sherman and his repulse 25 November 1863.
The small Pennsylvania Reservation at the bottom of Tunnel Hill with monuments and tablets telling the story of Sherman and his repulse 25 November 1863.

The Chattanooga section of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park consists of several disparate sections separated by over a century of urbanity.  Two of the lesser-known parts of the park lie at the northern end of Missionary Ridge – the Sherman and the Pennsylvania Reservations.  These two reserves remember the heavy fighting of 25 November 1863 on Tunnel Hill.  Tunnel Hill, so-called for the railroad tunnel for the Chattanooga & Cleveland Railroad.  Here, the better part of the Army of the Tennessee, led by Major General William Sherman, with additional troops provided by the division of Jefferson C. Davis and the Federal 11th Corps hit the northern flank of Braxton Bragg’s Missionary Ridge position.  The goal was to gain Tunnel Hill and roll up Bragg’s position from that end.

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