Book Club: The Chickamauga Campaign—A Mad Irregular Battle:

Sep 20, 2017 at 9:51 PM - Harris: I like it
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:52 PM - Harris: 2nd time reading it
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:52 PM - nitrofd: It is the beginning of the most concise series on the battle when you put all 5 of his books together.
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:53 PM - Jimklag: First time for me, but it's okay. He's not the best writer. Mitch, 5 volumes is not concise.
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:53 PM - nitrofd: On chickamauga lt is
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:54 PM - Jimklag: I really like Peter Cozzens' book.
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:54 PM - Harris: Yes on Cozzens
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:55 PM - nitrofd: Cozies three books on the AOT.
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:55 PM - Pat Young: 5 volumes on Chickamauga and now a short book on Lookout Mountain
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:55 PM - nitrofd: Spellchecker again
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:56 PM - nitrofd: Lookout mountain was for the ECW series which are all short books.
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:56 PM - Harris: I thought Powell's was a three volume set, or are we counting the maps of chick?
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:56 PM - Pat Young: Maps and Failure in the Saddle
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:57 PM - Harris: Ahh ok
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:57 PM - nitrofd: Yes and Failure in the Saddle
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:57 PM - Jimklag: I also liked Steve Woodworth's book too.
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:58 PM - nitrofd: Which one?
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:58 PM - Harris: So where's everyone from? I'm from Michigan
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:58 PM - nitrofd: North central Florida ln GATOR country
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:59 PM - Harris: Wou
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:59 PM - Pat Young: Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns?
Sep 20, 2017 at 9:59 PM - nitrofd: That is one plus he wrote a small book on chickamaugs
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:00 PM - Jimklag: Actually all three - The Chickamauga Campaign, Deep Steady Thunder, and Six Armies In Tennessee
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:00 PM - nitrofd: Spellchecker I will kill
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:01 PM - Pat Young: Chickamauga: A Battlefield Guide (This Hallowed Ground: Guides to Civil War Battlefields)
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:01 PM - Drew: Hi you guys. I just realized I'm in the wrong time zone and an hour late. Rats.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:01 PM - Jimklag: I am from south suburban Chicago.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:01 PM - Jimklag: Hey Drew.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:02 PM - Harris: Ahh not to far, I'm in SW MICHIGAN
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:02 PM - nitrofd: Why didn't you bring some deep dish
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:02 PM - Harris: Hi drew
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:02 PM - Jimklag: I had friends in Niles - gone to Florida.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:02 PM - Pat Young: I read two of Woodworths books on Chick, Cozzens, and the Powell Trilogy
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:03 PM - Drew: Hi Jim. Has anyone read the book chapters besides me?
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:03 PM - Pat Young: For granularity, I like Powell best.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:03 PM - Jimklag: all of us have.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:04 PM - Pat Young: I am not an expert on the battle though. Have only visited the battlefield once
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:05 PM - nitrofd: I have been there abut 15 times
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:05 PM - Harris: Hard to be an expert on Chick...very Confusing to follow
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:05 PM - Jimklag: Chickamauga was my first battlefield. Well not quite. There are sites to see in Atlanta where we lived, but no true battlefield.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:06 PM - nitrofd: Jim Ogden,Dr.Glen Robinson are probably the best experts today on the battle.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:07 PM - nitrofd: My daughter lives in Atlanta so I always hop up there.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:08 PM - Jimklag: Steve Woodworth is at TCU and is a good authority on the battle also. He will answer your e-mails too. At least he answered mine.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:08 PM - Drew: I'm only up to Eli Lilly shelling Chatanoogha, chapt. 3. Bragg is portrayed as knowing he's being played but unable to adjust? Thoughts?
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:09 PM - nitrofd: He is a good authority also but I think his real interest is in The Army of The Tennessee.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:09 PM - Harris: I think after getting kicked out of Tennessee he can't/ won't retreat anymore
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:09 PM - Jimklag: I don't know if he was being played or just a victim of bad intelligence.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:10 PM - nitrofd: Bad intell
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:10 PM - Jimklag: Probably some of both.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:10 PM - Drew: Cavalry has up to now been really poorly deployed, certainly.
 
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:11 PM - nitrofd: He was also very indesicive.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:11 PM - Jimklag: Heck. Before Rosecrans crossed, Wheeler only had 500 men covering 90 miles of river.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:12 PM - nitrofd: Forrest was too far away and Wheeler did nothing
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:12 PM - Harris: Yeah I was struck by that passage in the book
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:12 PM - Harris: Very strung out
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:13 PM - Harris: Sorry gang, gotta go. I look forward to next week
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:14 PM - nitrofd: Enjoyed your presence
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:14 PM - Jimklag: Rosecrans seems to have handled his end of things well. Bragg didn't.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:14 PM - Pat Young: I think that the functioning of the army had become very painful to Bragg
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:14 PM - Jimklag: See ya Harris.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:15 PM - Pat Young: Hess wrote that he should hav e left the army months earlier
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:15 PM - nitrofd: June to sept.10th was Rosecrans shinning moment
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:15 PM - Jimklag: I'm thinking his but was getting painful in that saddle.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:16 PM - Pat Young: Rosecrans was a decent general who had one very bad day
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:16 PM - Pat Young: In terms of organization, logistics, etc, Tullahoma went as well as could have been hoped
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:16 PM - Jimklag: Spoiler alert - He had one bad couple hours.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:17 PM - Pat Young: More than a couple of hours
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:17 PM - Pat Young: But that is for volume 2
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:17 PM - nitrofd: He is a tough character to really understand
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:17 PM - Drew: We're way ahead of our reading assignment but I think Rosecrans had more than just a bad day.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:18 PM - Pat Young: Spoiler Alert, a large part of Volume 3 is an essay by Frank Varney
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:18 PM - Jimklag: Back to chapters one & two. Rosecrans was indeed hard to fathom.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:19 PM - Pat Young: How so?
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:20 PM - Jimklag: Just an odd duck. Lots of idiosyncracies.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:20 PM - nitrofd: For him everything had to be 100% perfect,that's why it took so long to move on Bragg even with all the threats from Stanton
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:21 PM - Jimklag: Remind you a little of Buell and Little Mac?
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:22 PM - Drew: Rosecrans was probably overconfident. He knew he had a larger force and where the Confederate supply lines were.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:22 PM - nitrofd: Just like Lil mac,but Rosey was more realistic
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:23 PM - Jimklag: His objective was Rome, GA. to cut the A&W and force Bragg to retreat.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:24 PM - Drew: The Union Army to this point had a pretty good record of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:24 PM - Jimklag: Not in the western theater.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:24 PM - Pat Young: Folks are getting ahead of the chapters, but are blaming him for Longstreet's arrival?
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:25 PM - Pat Young: Without Longstreet, Rosy had good reason for confidence
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:26 PM - Pat Young: I have to get going
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:26 PM - Pat Young: Nice to be here for opening night
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:26 PM - nitrofd: Thanks pat
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:26 PM - Jimklag: Longstreet is mentioned in chapter 2. But only mentioned.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:27 PM - Jimklag: Take it easy Pat.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:28 PM - Drew: Rosy apparently didn't consider the possibility of a reinforced Confederate AoT. Whoops.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:29 PM - Drew: Seriously, relax. It's early in the book yet.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:30 PM - nitrofd: The first two chapters really deal with the structure of both armies.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:31 PM - Drew: That's right Nitro(,
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:31 PM - Jimklag: Like I said earlier. I had read many times about the dysfunction in the AoP officer corps, but had no idea how bad it really was.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:31 PM - Drew: And the politics of the Armies
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:31 PM - Jimklag: AoT. sorry
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:31 PM - nitrofd: I was wondering about that
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:32 PM - Jimklag: Seems like Garfield is going to be fun to follow.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:32 PM - nitrofd: Also include Dana
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:33 PM - Jimklag: Yes Dana too.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:37 PM - Jimklag: On the other side, Leonidas Polk and Wharton
 
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:39 PM - nitrofd: If you want to know the structure of the AOT you have Stanley Horn's book and the two volumes by Thomas Connelly and one book that is really good is Jefferson Davis and his Generals,,,IIRC it is written by Woodworth.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:40 PM - Drew: Well, it's early yet in the book. I'll keep reading and will try and be on time next Wednesday. You all keep at it.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:40 PM - nitrofd: Polk is a whole horse of another color
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:40 PM - Jimklag: I have Horn's book. Been a long time though.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:40 PM - nitrofd: Today it is a bit dated but still for a long time it was a bible
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:41 PM - Jimklag: Apparently we are down to three of us.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:41 PM - nitrofd: Great minds think alike
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:42 PM - Jimklag: I still don't like the maps. Not enough detail.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:43 PM - nitrofd: That is kinda hard to say since each is for a small area at a specific time
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:45 PM - Jimklag: There aren't enough road names; no state lines; all the streams aren't labeled.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:45 PM - nitrofd: The maps in the 4 issues of Blue and Grey are pretty good also.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:46 PM - Jimklag: B&G always had good maps. Can you tell I'm a map junkie?
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:47 PM - nitrofd: If all that info was listed it would really clutter up the page since it is on a small format.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:48 PM - nitrofd: I got the map from Trailsend.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:48 PM - Jimklag: I can't remember which map, but I looked at one this morning that had 12 roads on only two were labeled.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:50 PM - nitrofd: Hit the wrong key.I think it's from them.it is a very large map covering the entire area and it marks every monument and marker in the park,IIRC there are 1308 of them
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:51 PM - Jimklag: Yeah. I'very got a good park map. Got it in 2007 I think.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:51 PM - nitrofd: When you look at later in the day when he covers a lot of area there are too many minor roads or trails and creeks to mark
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:52 PM - Jimklag: Got one of those Trailhead Graphics driving tour kits too if I ever go back.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:53 PM - nitrofd: It just takes too many days to do Chickamauga right.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:54 PM - Jimklag: It's just the two of us now amigo. Let's call it a night.
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:54 PM - nitrofd: Bedtime
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:54 PM - nitrofd: Talk to you tommorrow
Sep 20, 2017 at 10:54 PM - Jimklag: See ya
 
I am happy to announce the Book Club for CivilWarTalk. This idea came up in a recent thread and I thought it was something that could really catch on. I am glad to say there is enough interest in this Book Club that we are going ahead with it.

From the poll results our first book is going to be:

View attachment 157796

The Chickamauga Campaign—A Mad Irregular Battle: From the Crossing of Tennessee River Through the Second Day, August 22 - September 19, 1863 by David Powell

The plan is to read 2 Chapters per week and have a weekly discussion each Wednesday evening. This discussion will be in the Chat Room and will take place at 9pm ET. Our first meeting is going to be September 20th.

Chickamauga: A Mad Irregular Battle by David Powell
Wednesday 9 PM ET in the Chat Room
First meeting: September 20th


Link to Chat room: https://civilwartalk.com/taigachat/

I recommend you bookmark this page to be able to find it easily.

Glad to have you in the Book Club and look forward to seeing you in the Chat!
Thanks! What a great idea! I look forward to participating!
 
So you want us to continue without you this Wednesday? Just trying to be clear here. @shermans_march
 
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