What if Georgia troops destroyed or blocked Tunnel Hill in the advance of Sherman's Army?

Barrycdog

Major
Joined
Jan 6, 2013
Location
Buford, Georgia
It wasn't till after the Battles for Atlanta, General Sherman left the railroad and lived off the land through the Heart of Georgia. If Tunnel Hill had been blocked as an obstacle, the Federals would have had to move supplies over the mountain and or around it. Johnston could have made better use of tactics to divide Sherman's Army at Adairsville. Hood may not have been surprised by McCook's Cavalry at Kingston. Johnston may have been able to cover the Gravley Plateau in Cassville and placed artillery there.

Had Sherman bypassed Tunnel Hill he might have traveled through Varnell, Dalton, Hurricane,.. pretty mountainous areas. The terrain doesn't taper off till you reach Gordon County and Calhoun. With the roads like the ones at Picketts Mill in Paulding County travel would be extremely difficult.
 
Well one can spare the time in what the Confederate army didn't do in Georgia, and realize that Sherman not only had a superior army, he had superior logistics and a construction corps, the latter entirely forgotten by most after the war.




MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
CHIEF ENGINEER’S OFFICE U. S. MILITARY RAILROADS,
Chattanooga, November 1, 1864.
l3vt. Brig. Gen. D. C. MCCALLUM,
Director and General Manager Military Railroads
of the United States, Washington, D. C.:




The nucleus of the
Construction Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi, which
now numbers some 6,000 men, was one division of the old construction
corps of Virginia, sent here in December last, consisting of a subdi-
vision of track men. This force was at once put to work on the Nash-
ville and Chattanooga Railroad, and repaired the track from Bridge-
port to Chattanooga and assisted to complete the Running Water and
other bridges. Large accessions of men having arrived in January,
three new divisions were organized. One division was sent to the
Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad to assist in relaying the track on
that road, which was in such bad condition that it was unsafe to run
trains over it. Nearly the whole of the remaining force was put upon
the Chattanooga and Knoxville line, and the work of rebuilding and
repairing pushed vigorously until a connection was made north of the
Tennessee River with the uninjured portion of the road.

On this line we have two large bridges, one over the Hiawassee River
at Charleston, and the other over the Tennessee River at London. At
both places trestle bridges were built in the first instance, but afterward
replaced with permanent ones on the Howe truss plan. The trestle
bridge at London was the largest bridge of the kind that has been
built on any U. S. military railroad, being 1,700 feet long and 811 feet
high. The railroad connection being complete between Chattanooga
and Knoxville, and ample preparations made for putting and keeping
the main railroad artery, the ~ ashville and Chattanooga Railroad, in
thorough repair, the work on the Chattanooga and Atlanta road was
commenced. This had been almost completely destroyed as far south
as Ringgold, but we repaired it to a point about one mile south of
that place by the 1st of May, about the date of the commencement of
the Georgia campaign.


...The Chattahoochee bridge is the largest and most
important on the line, being 780 feet long and 90 feet high. It was
built by the First and Third Divisions of bridge-builders in four
days and a half.

...By a judicious disposition of the Con-
struction Corps and an ample supply of men and materials, we were
always ready and prepared to do at any time whatever was required.
In one instance, that of the Resaca bridge over the Oostenaula River,
the work of reconstruction commenced while the old bridge was still
burning, and was somewhat delayed because the iron rods were so hot
that the men could not handle them to remove the wreck.
W. W. WRIGHT,
Chief Engr. Government Railroads, Div. of the Mississippi.




MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
CHIEF ENGINEER’S OFFICE U. S. MILITARY RAILROADS,
Chattanooga, November 1, 1864.
l3vt. Brig. Gen. D. C. MCCALLUM,
Director and General Manager Military Railroads
of the United States, Washington, D. C.:
 
Hopefully our member Richard, master of all things Tunnel Hill, will be along....if not, you might PM him. He'll probably have some good ideas--at least something productive.
 
It has been said that Sherman winning Atlanta may have had an effect on Lincoln winning the election from a Democratic challenger. Timing may have meant everything.

"The Chattahoochee bridge is the largest and most
important on the line, being 780 feet long and 90 feet high. It was
built by the First and Third Divisions of bridge-builders in four
days and a half."

I always thought Sherman crossed the Chattahoochee at Isoms (Heards} ferry and at Johnsons Ferry and Sope Creek. Blocking off the Tunnel would have slowed all that effort. Crossing the Etowah ( The Rubicon of Georgia) I heard was difficult too. I don't doubt that Sherman could have simply bypassed Tunnel Hill but at what cost.
 
As noted by the above posters, the best way to block Tunnel Hill, was to retain possession of Chattanooga. Once that was lost, it was all up to what the Engineers could or could not do and as the historical record shows, there was very little Sherman's engineers could not do.
 
It wasn't till after the Battles for Atlanta, General Sherman left the railroad and lived off the land through the Heart of Georgia. If Tunnel Hill had been blocked as an obstacle, the Federals would have had to move supplies over the mountain and or around it. Johnston could have made better use of tactics to divide Sherman's Army at Adairsville. Hood may not have been surprised by McCook's Cavalry at Kingston. Johnston may have been able to cover the Gravley Plateau in Cassville and placed artillery there.

Had Sherman bypassed Tunnel Hill he might have traveled through Varnell, Dalton, Hurricane,.. pretty mountainous areas. The terrain doesn't taper off till you reach Gordon County and Calhoun. With the roads like the ones at Picketts Mill in Paulding County travel would be extremely difficult.

Joe Wheeler was supposed to destroy or block the Tunnel before pulling out; he didn't. Joe Johnston had been in that place three months or so -- he had plenty of time to make plans and preparations, but somehow didn't.

There was an alternative RR route around the mountain, even if the Tunnel was closed: Sherman would have just relied on that, but it would have added time to the trip and chocked traffic on the route. It might have been painful to Sherman for a while, but he could have gone on with his campaign and eventually his engineers would have re-opened the Tunnel.

Tim
 
"The nucleus of the Construction Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi was one division of the old construction corps of Virginia" So there was an eastern army construction corps?
 
I was reading awhile back about how Wheeler assured Hood that the rail line for Sherman was out of action for at least 2 weeks. About an hour later they heard Sherman's supply train go through the very spot Wheeler had destroyed. Sherman's engineers worked wonders for him.
 
I was reading awhile back about how Wheeler assured Hood that the rail line for Sherman was out of action for at least 2 weeks. About an hour later they heard Sherman's supply train go through the very spot Wheeler had destroyed. Sherman's engineers worked wonders for him.

Hmm, that story goes the other way. It was Kilpatrick who told Sherman that Hood's RR line was broken and would take ten days to repair -- and trains were already beginning to arrive in Atlanta when Kilpatrick's message got to Sherman. Kilpatrick's raid struck Jonesboro on August 19th and Lovejoy's Station on the 20th; Kilpatrick returned to Union lines on the 22nd. Wheeler had left on his raid north into Tennessee on Sherman's RR before that.

Tim
 
Hmm, that story goes the other way. It was Kilpatrick who told Sherman that Hood's RR line was broken and would take ten days to repair -- and trains were already beginning to arrive in Atlanta when Kilpatrick's message got to Sherman. Kilpatrick's raid struck Jonesboro on August 19th and Lovejoy's Station on the 20th; Kilpatrick returned to Union lines on the 22nd. Wheeler had left on his raid north into Tennessee on Sherman's RR before that.

Tim

I need to look that up....pretty sure the context was of Confederate exasperation over Sherman rebuilding the railroad lines.

update: I've gone looking for that Wheeler-Hood thing and can't find it. Could have sworn thats the way it was but it was quite awhile ago and I've had a few Beam n Cokes since then. So you could be right. I did see it say many times that on the advance on Atlanta, Sherman's Army repaired the railroads as soon as Wheeler tore them up.
 
Joe Wheeler was supposed to destroy or block the Tunnel before pulling out; he didn't. Joe Johnston had been in that place three months or so -- he had plenty of time to make plans and preparations, but somehow didn't.

There was an alternative RR route around the mountain, even if the Tunnel was closed: Sherman would have just relied on that, but it would have added time to the trip and chocked traffic on the route. It might have been painful to Sherman for a while, but he could have gone on with his campaign and eventually his engineers would have re-opened the Tunnel.

Tim
I found this while searching online.

?Despite enjoying good cover - fighting mostly dismounted from behind rocks and trees - Wheelers men were forced steadily south.They abandoned Tunnel Hill so precipately that they failed to make good on their commanders promise that he would deny the enemy access to the 1,500 foot long tunnel by blowing up. The error constituted, according to modern histrians, " a major short coming ofr Fighting Joes Civil War Career."
A Soldier to the Last: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler in Blue And Gray

By Edward G. Longacre
 
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