Existing comment:
The Second Day Begins:
Morning brought repeated attacks on the Union breastworks here
By the morning of September 20, 1863, Gen. Braxton Bragg had organized his Confederate army into two wings -- Longstreet's on the left, and Polk's here on the right. Bragg ordered Polk to attack at dawn. However, the attack was delayed, and the Federals used the first critical hours of daylight to strengthen their log breastworks.
Finally, at 9:30am, Maj. Gen John C. Breckinridge's Confederate Division struck the Union breastworks at this point. Other Confederate units joined them as the attacks spread southward along the monuments here. The pressure of these attacks forced Union commander Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans to move men from his center to stop the attacks here on his left.
About noon, the futile and costly Confederate charges ended, not to be resumed until late afternoon. The Federals stood firm behind their log wall, awaiting the outcome of the fighting still raging to the south of here. |