Today marks the 150th
anniversary of the final day of the American Civil War Battle of Chickamauga.
That means that 150 years ago this afternoon, the fighting along a string of
hills now known as Horseshoe Ridge turned into a maelstrom of iron and lead. The
hillsides became packed with dead and injured and the ground was slick with
their blood.
The weaponry of the day, both handheld
and artillery, threw a lot of sparks. Small fires dotted the Ridge and some of
the wounded on both sides must have suffered burns.
What did it sound like? It must have
been the standard battlefield mix: The occasional deep boom of artillery, the
never-ending rattle of small arms fire, the infrequent cheers of Union soldiers
as a Confederate group retreated down the hillsides or the haunting Rebel yell
as a fresh attack by southerners began. There were shouted orders from officers
and the moans of the injured.
By late afternoon, neither commander
was in the field. The commander of the Federal Army of the Cumberland, William
Rosecrans, fled earlier in the day after witnessing a Confederate breakthrough.
Confederate boss Braxton Bragg, the leader of the Confederate Army of
Tennessee, believing his side was
losing, was in his headquarters, a mile or so away.
The Federals smartly spent the
previous night cutting down trees and building defenses at the edge of the
Ridge. The Confederates spent the night listening to the trees falling,
understanding the meaning of the noise.
Horseshoe Ridge was on the Federal
right and the Confederate left. And at about noon General James Longstreet, the
right wing commander for the Confederates, decided to commit his final reserves
to the effort to remove the Federals from their perch on the Ridge.
Longstreet’s wing first attacked the
Ridge about 1:15 p.m. when a group of South Carolinians chased retreating
Federals in that direction. The defense was spirited and some of that spirit
was elevated by the use of repeating rifles by most of the soldiers in the 21st
Ohio regiment. Repeating rifles were new at that time. Those used by the 21st
Ohio were not supplied by the Army. Rather, the rifles were donated to the
regiment by private backers.
Longstreet’s reserves consisted of a
division led by Brigadier General Robert Preston. That division included three
brigades commanded by Brigadier General Archibald Gracie, Colonel Jon Kelly and
Colonel Robert Trigg.
Gracie’s Brigade consisted of Hilliard’s
Legion, an Alabama outfit, plus the 43rd Alabama Infantry Regiment
and the 63rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment.
By the time Gracie’s Brigade reached
the Ridge, roughly 4:30 p.m., it was defended by a conglomerate of Federal
regiments including (from their right) the 35th Ohio, 2nd
Minnesota, 87th Indiana, 9th Ohio, 19th
Illinois, 11th Michigan and parts of the 58th Indiana, 17th
Ohio and 31st Ohio.
Gracie attacked Hills 2 and 1. Federal
artillery to Gracie’s far right pounded the attackers and the rifle fire from
the top of the Ridge was deadly. Gracie’s initial attack was stalled. But after
some shifting of his forces, Gracie eventually drove the defenders away from
the crests of Hills 2 and 1 of Horseshoe Ridge.
Now using the fortifications built by
the Federals to repel them, Gracie’s men exchanged long range rifle fire with
the Union men. A few of Gracie’s men went over the fortifications, possibly in
search of food from the Snodgrass farm. After an hour, Gracie’s men started
running out of ammunition, a frustrating development. Believing a relief
regiment was on its way, Gracie gave the order for his men to pull back from
the top hills they had charged up 90 minutes earlier.
Some of Gracie’s men, members of the
43rd and the Legion, stayed the night up on the crest. The Unionists
did not return. They were out of bullets, too.
One of Gracie’s men is an ancestor of
your loyal blogger. Wounded in the ankle during the rush up the side of the
Ridge, he never again walked normally. Still, he survived and lived a long
life. Good thing, that. Otherwise, you would not be reading this blog.
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