Civil War History - The South & Western TheatersCheck this forum for all South and Western Theater Questions. Included are the Western, Pacific, Trans-Mississippi, & Lower Seaboard and Gulf Approach Theaters.
Your last post presents one of the greatest mysteries of the entire war. The inaction of Gen. Braxton Bragg to follow-up with a pursuit attack on 20 Sept., 1863. Was it "P.G.T." (Gen. Beauregard?) who was responsible for this 'call-off'? I thought it was Gen. Braxton Bragg but don't know for certain. Would you please enlighten a 'dummy'(me) on the subject?
This lack of pursuit would have certainly caused me (also) to walk-in Gen. Bragg's Hd. Qtrs. tent and request an Independent Command. Also, I can understand the anger N.B.F. must have felt. Gen. Forrest must have been pretty well 'let down' when his expert advise was not taken. This was THE lost opportunity of the Army of Tennessee and of the war in the West, IMO.
Thank You kindly for posting this, Pvt. Gauss!
Ole & Shane,
Thanks greatly for the info/book suggestions & pardon my very belated respose. The CWT Board is large and I sometime lose my own posts! (bad, huh!) Sorry, fellows..
Alabaman, I think the real reason for the sluggishness of the CS Army after the battle was the sheer shock at the carnage. In a lot of ways it was a far more brutal battle than either Shiloh or Stones River and it was a different one too. In both of those battles the Union line held w/ massed artillery being the backbone. The line was pushed back, dramatically at times, but it held.
Here you have a situation that Bragg just couldn't fathom from his experiance facing the AoC. THe Army was broken and largely routed from the field, it's commander no longer in control of it. All that he was left facing was a rearguard, but good God look at what that rearguard accomplished. I think he knew that if THomas had been supported or reinforced the battle might have changed again. Add to that the casualties his army had suffered; was he wondering "My God the casualties... did I just win this battle?" Bragg is rarely one thought of as a man who cared for his troops but I think this battle shows he did have some compassion for them. Also of note neith Longstreet or Bragg were used to a campaign of battles as both Sherman and Grant had used at Vicksburg and introduced on a grand scale in the Spring. Bragg was used to a big set piece battle where one side was clearly the victor; and to him I don't think he was convinced that he was truly the victor. I don't think he quite believed that the AoC was largely broken and routed from the field. I think he half expected to see another strong line between him and Chatanooga. THere were just too many unexpected things for him to handle.
Does anyone know off hand who said, referencing THomas & Snodgrass hill, "They don't break worth a ****!" I remembering reading the quote but don't have a clue where or even who said it. I think Longstreets men learned that Western men were a whole different breed, both Union & CS. On at least one occasion they were badly outmarched by some of Cleburnes men... and they did it because that was how they were used to marching.
I think Forrest was used to being misused and ignored... and when Bragg took that Brigade away from him; that was the last straw.
Can anyone who has more knowledge of Forrest than I confirm that he thought Wheeler a "cowardly weasel." In my reading of the subject I have little doubt that he didn't have much time for the man but... I just don't know.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
Forrest, for whatever motivation, spent many hours, days and months with Wheeler in 1864 along the Tennessee River. Must have not been too much animosity, if any, between the two at that stage of the war? I think the role of P.T. Beauregard in all the period between Chickamauga and war's end has been slighted a bit in our discussion. He was running the Western campaign, such as it was. He was the 'brains' behind Hood. Beauregard must have been linked directly to Davis, but I don't know that for a fact.
I read some where that forrest refused to fight under wheeler ever again// and Wheeler made sure that he did because he respected him ..
ZCant recall where i read it though..
as for the other points on chickamuga.. Following path of deas brigade from start to finish the covered several miles If I remember correct it was 4 or so miles to do that and fight most if not all of the way had to be pure hell.. them rebs where just wore out plus the area was not as open as it is today the woods where very dense.. and just like in the wilderness fires started and killed some of the wounded
Bragg biggest problem was that he didnt believe in himself..For what ever reason even though he won the battle being that it didnt go according to his plans he thought all was lost... in a wa6y he was correct he phushed the union army back into fortified chattanooga behind the very works that the confedrates built .
regards, ste4ven
__________________ Steven Noel Cone Living Historian and Battlefield Preservationest
"Silver Spring Mess" ; "Citizens of the Bonnie Blue" ; "46th Tn Inf. Co. K"
He stood in his saddle while riding which made him in the range of your height deviations. Yes Bedford was tall, High foreheaded, muscular, and at least if not over six feet.
His actual height , to the inch, I don`t rember in any of the bio`s I`ve read.
Larry , your gunna make me re-read aren`t ya????
Though he was often described as Tall.
Gauss
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