Existing comment:
The Armies Engage
The Battle of Chickamauga opens here at the site of Jays Sawmill
The Battle of Chickamauga began here on September 19, 1863, in the field adjacent to Jays Sawmill. The mill is no longer standing.
At Dawn, Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas ordered two brigades to move eastward to this location to capture a supposedly isolated Confederate brigade. At 7:30 AM the Union units collided with the Confederate Calvary of Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest positioned along the edge of the field.
Forrest, surprised by the federals, ordered his Calvary to attack, delaying the Union advance until help arrived. Then, as Confederate infantry moved into support Forrest, additional Union units joined the fight. A major battle had begun.
Col. John Croxton, one of the Union commanders sent to capture the "isolated" brigade, now faced four or five brigades. Amid the confusion, Croxton dispatched a note to General Thomas asking facetiously which is the Confederate brigades in his front he was supposed to capture.
In the first action of the Battle of Chickamauga, the Confederate cavalry of Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest charged the advancing Union infantry of Croxton's Brigade. The Federals were positioned in the woods in front of you, advancing in this direction.
Nathan Bedford Forrest, the celebrated Confederate general, commanded the cavalry who opened the Battle of Chickamauga here. |