Chickamauga and Beyond
150 years ago today was Day 3 of Chickamauga. Breckinridge’s attack made it nip-and-tuck, but the situation got even more critical when command confusion opened a gap in the Federal line – a gap the Confederates exploited. Hard fighting and leadership by George Thomas retrieved the situation.
At the end of today, the three bloodiest battles of the war had all occurred within 150 days of each other – a concentrated bloodletting not seen in American military history again until the 20th Century.
The photograph above is the Somme American Cemetery outside Bony, France, holding American graves from both World Wars.
Rosecrans should have taken care that his order was properly conveyed, but Wood is not innocent here; he was within easy riding distance of the man who issued the order….