Tag Archives: Braxton Bragg

CHICKAMAUGA – STORIES TOLD IN GRANITE ON THE RIVER OF DEATH

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Monument to the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment and the Field Headquarters of General William Rosecrans 20 September 1863 at Chickamauga.
Monument to the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment and the Field Headquarters of General William Rosecrans 20 September 1863 at Chickamauga.

The second deadliest battle of the American Civil War, Chickamauga is nowhere near as well-known as other battles such as Gettysburg, Antietam, or Vicksburg.  The first two were fought by the Army of the Potomac, the main Federal army fighting in the eastern theater of the war centered on Virginia.  If this army had been destroyed, the Federal cause would have been defeated.  Neither Gettysburg nor Antietam were large-scale Federal victories.  They both were emphatic ending notes to the two invasions of the Northern States in 1862 and 1863 by General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.  Vicksburg meant the Confederate States were split into two as Federal control over the Mississippi came into being.

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STONES RIVER – “BRAGG’S A GOOD DOG, BUT HOLD FAST’S A BETTER!”

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Graves of men of Hazen's Brigade killed at the Battle of Stones River.
Graves of men from the 41st Ohio Infantry of Hazen’s Brigade killed at the Battle of Stones River.

A three-day affair to end 1862 and begin the new year, the Battle of Stones River – also known as the Battle of Murfreesboro – resulted in the highest percentage of casualties of any major battle of the American Civil War.  32.7% of the 78,400 who fought died, became wounded or went missing or captured after the battle’s end.  Four brigadier generals died either outright or from mortal wounds from the battle – two on each side.  Braxton Bragg’s newly renamed Army of Tennessee moved first on the morning of 31 December rolling through the Federal lines.  But true to his nature, Bragg would find a way to turn victory into a tactical defeat.  Much of Tennessee remained under Federal control as 1863 began.

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