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The Two Armies
Two of the most eccentric commanders of the Civil War opposed each other in the campaign for Chattanooga. Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans worked late hours, bored his subordinates as a tireless talker, and kept his own personal Catholic priest on his staff. Confederate General Braxton Bragg had a fiery temper, an affinity for casting blame, and a supporter in Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Both Rosecrans and Bragg had graduated from West Point, and both had finished fifth in their respective classes. There the similarities ended. Rosecrans, 44, had never lost a battle to the Confederates. The 46-year-old Bragg had never won.
Army of the Cumberland:
Rosecrans' perceptions were acute and often intuitively clear. His fertility was great. He lacked poise... and there was the fatal defect... to be swept away by excitement and to lose all efficient control of himself and of others in ... crises."
-- Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox, USA
Named after the river that drains much of Middle Tennessee, the Union Army of the Cumberland was established late in October 1862, with Maj. Gen. William Starke Rosecrans in command. Its area of responsibility included all of Tennessee east of the Tennessee River, as well as northern Alabama and northern Georgia. Its first victory, the Battle of Stones River (December 31, 1862 - January 2, 1863), secured control of Nashville and much of Middle Tennessee for the Union.
The men, mostly from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kentucky, adored their leader. "Old Rosy" inspired trust, confidence, and loyalty -- his army was largely free from the internal machination and discord that hampered his opponent. "If there was a characteristic of our army in which we felt pride," wrote a Union officer, "it was in the fact that we never had an dissensions or cross purposes to distract the harmonious execution of the orders of our commanding officers."
Army of Tennessee:
General Bragg as a military man... is wanting in imagination... [W]hen he meets the unexpected, it overwhelms hmim because he has not been able to foresee, and then he will lean upon the advice of a drunmer boy.
-- Maj. Gen. Simon Buckner, CSA
Named after the state of Tennessee, the main Confederate force operating in the western theater was a hard-luck army. At Shiloh, a first-day victory turned to second-day defeat. At Perryville, a tactical win ended in withdrawal. At Murfreesboro, a hopeful new year opened with another defeat. For these men mostly from Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, "three losses -- no wins" defined their army of the heartland.
Its embattled and embittered leader, Gen. Braxton Bragg, was resented for his harsh discipline, branded as an incompetent by some of his subordinates, and vilified by his soldiers, the press, and the Southern populace for his defeats and retreats. "Bragg is not fit for a general," observed one despondent Confederate. "I think he will do us more damage than the enemy." Bragg's disrespectful lieutenants openly rebelled and conspired for his ouster. Yet Confederate President Jefferson Davis, with few viable options for replacement, retained him in command. |