Stephen D Lee Explains Champion Hill

[tony_gunter]

Something I haven't seen before:

Lee's account is that Barton anchored his left flank on the bridge to protect it. When the Federal blow struck, there was a gap between Barton's right flank and Lee's left flank. Stevenson's Brigade of Logan's Division drove into this gap, separating Barton from Lee. Lee pulled back across the road, Barton, now nearly surrounded, had no path to pull back other than the bridge, so Barton pulled back to the west side of Baker's Creek effectively removing him from the battle.

 

[huskerblitz]

Is this from his biography?

 

[tony_gunter]

Is this from his biography?

It's from a newspaper article around the time they were hosting several monument dedications at the park.

It's just kinda interesting, because most accounts of Champion Hill have Barton lurking somewhere to the south or even participating in the counter-attack, but Barton was essentially eliminated as a fighting force at Champion Hill because he was sitting on the far side of Baker's Creek, and now a company of the 32nd Ohio was manning captured guns that could sweep the bridge if he attempted to recross.

 

[tony_gunter]

Is this from his biography?

This also explains why it wasn't a big deal to peel Stevenson's Brigade off the road near the bridge and march them to the relief of Hovey (although they were quickly returned to their position after Bowen ran out of steam): there were no longer any Confederate troops in that sector.

 

[tony_gunter]

Example 1: Timothy Smith's Inland Campaign book shows Barton withdrawing to the south alongside Lee.

Example 2: American Battlefield Trust map shows Barton withdrawing south and participating in the counter-attack.

 

[tony_gunter]

I checked Bearss, he has Barton drifting away to the west side of the creek, but only after the counterattack.

Edit: correction! He has them retreating across Baker's creek, but much sooner than I believe happened. His map also shows the Federal charge by Stevenson's Brigade splitting Barton in two instead of hitting the gap between Barton and Lee, and shows the other two brigades in Logan's Division pursuing Lee across the road (I think instead they paused waiting for Stevenson to flank Barton).

 

[tony_gunter]

This fills a major gap in my understanding of how the battle lines progressed, because after the initial charge the first hand accounts on the Federal side are pretty static except for Stevenson's Brigade. As far as I can tell, Hovey pushed forward and formed a bit of a salient not really connected to Logan any more. Why didn't Logan push up and join himself to Hovey?

Because Barton (with the addition of 600 men under Wirt Adams) stayed and contested the ground for a while until finally flanked and forced to withdraw to the west. Logan's right flank was busy engaging Barton, and when Lee found he had been cut off from Barton he withdrew across the road and Logan did not follow in order to maintain the integrity of the line.

As a result, Logan's right flank was several hundred yards removed from Hovey and unengaged for a time until the counterattack.