Check Out Dave Powell’s Chickamauga Blog

chickamauga-blogAs you might know, ECW’s Dave Powell has a well-respected blog of his own, Chickamauga Blog. The main focus of the blog, as you might imagine, covers the events and characters associated with the September 1863 battle of Chickamauga. However, the blog also recounts Dave’s personal adventures as a Civil War historian, too.

If you don’t read along, you should. Dave is one of the most insightful historians we know, and you’re bound to learn something new about the war by reading his stuff.

A couple recent highlights:

His Sept. 7 post “A Pursuit: Two Views“:

Braxton Bragg’s many critics, in the years that followed Chickamauga, would argue that his failure to follow up his victory with a pursuit ultimately doomed the Confederacy. Lafayette McLaws denied this. After all, McLaws argued he knew there was a pursuit – he commanded it.

On September 22nd, McLaws, Nathan Bedford Forrest (and some Yankees) had an encounter just outside Chattanooga. What transpired between the two men? Here are two very different views on the matter….

His Aug. 16 post “Bragg vs. Longstreet“:

Sometime on the morning of September 21, Braxton Bragg and James Longstreet had their first post-victory meeting. Bragg conferred with Longstreet twice before: near midnight on the 19th, when Longstreet reached Bragg’s headquarters after an circuitous journey from the Catoosa Platform; and about mid-afternoon on September 20, after Longstreet’s breaking of the Union line at Brotherton cabin, but while the fight for Horseshoe Ridge still raged.

In that first meeting, Bragg outlined his plans after a day of frustration, probably hoping that Longstreet could change the dynamic. In the second, Bragg seemed entirely pessimistic, borne down by the failures on the Confederate Right, while Longstreet was ebullient, energized by his tremendous success. The contrasting attitudes of this last meeting could not help but weigh on Longstreet’s mind.

They met again when Bragg rode up to Longstreet’s headquarters, now somewhere near the Dyer House, at about 8:00 a.m. This proved to be a fateful encounter.

With volume three now out of his monumental study of the battle—Barren Victory—Dave has been getting a lot of attention. Chickamauga Blog is a great opportunity to get more familiar with his work if you aren’t already!



3 Responses to Check Out Dave Powell’s Chickamauga Blog

  1. Thanks for alerting readers to this excellent blog. Dave’s posts are always packed with worthwhile substance.

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