Existing comment:
The Campaign After Chickamauga:
September 21- November 27, 1863:
The Confederate victory of Chickamauga was incomplete. The Union army had been driven from the battlefield -- but not destroyed. It had escaped and re-occupied Chattanooga, the original objective. Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest had urged an aggressive pursuit on September 21, but Braxton delayed. "Every hour was worth a thousand men," Forrest complained, as he watched the Federal army fortifying the town.
Chickamauga is as fatal a name in our history as Bull Run... Our soldiers turned and fled. It was wholesale panic.
-- US Assistant Secretary of War, Charles A. Dana, September 20, 1863
Despite Forrest's personal entreaties, Bragg sensed no urgency, arguing his army was exhausted, disorganized, and lacking supplied and horses. As the frustrated Forrest saw opportunities pass, he bellowed with disgust, "What does [Bragg] fight battles for?"
Two weeks later, Bragg's subordinates demanded his removal. "I am convinced that nothing but the hand of God can save us or help us as long as we have our present commander," wrote a dejected James Longstreet. But Confederate President Jefferson Davis refused. Two months after Chickamauga, Bragg lost the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and Chattanooga belonged to the Federals.
Whatever may have been accomplished heretofore, it is now certain that the fruits of victory of the Chickamauga [battle] have now escaped our grasp.
-- [???] Letter from Polk to Jefferson Davis, October 4, 1863 |