Chickamauga: Artillery in the Puckerbrush

The dense forests around Chickamauga proved to be a nightmare for artillerists. Although there were several farms in the area with cleared fields, the old-growth forest that dominated the landscape made it hard for cannoneers to find an open place to deploy or a clear field of fire.

Still, when the artillery did get into the fight, it made a big difference. One Federal officer said he had “never seen artillery do so fearful execution in so short a time.”

These guns mark the final position of Capt. W. W. Carnes’ ill-fated Tennesee Battery, which came to grief on September 19 in the see-saw fighting around Brock Field.

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Text adapted from material in Lee White’s Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale: The Battle of Chickamauga, part of the Emerging Civil War Series.