Piper Schuller – Chickamauga – Generals – Weapons With over 20 percent of the Confederate forces killed or wounded, 16,000 Union casualties, and 18,000 Confederate casualties, the Battle of Chickamauga was known as the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War, closely following the Battle of Gettysburg. The Union and the Confederacy were fighting for the two railroad lines that ran through Chattanooga, Tennessee. On September 19th and 20th, 1863, the Battle of Chickamauga was fought in the counties of Catoosa and Walker, Georgia.
Chickamauga got many different nicknames after the battle, including “death-knell” and “the river of death”. It was called “death-knell” and “the river of death” due to the fact that their were an immense number of casualties totaling up to more than 34,000 people. It was also called these terms, because its thick woods and swampy lands, made this a very deadly battle to fight in. All in all, this battle had a lot of casualties, two major generals on each side of the battle, and a lot of new advanced weapons that cause many deaths and injuries. The Battle of Chickamauga started because of the Tullahoma campaign.
The Tullahoma Campaign-the Union campaign that protected agricultural land for the Union, and was a major turning point in the war-was a huge success for the Union. After it was in place, General William S. Rosecrans, of the Union, switched his offensive, now intending to force the Confederates out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Rosecrans split his army of 65,000 into three parts, and had all three go in different directions to Chattanooga. Later, Rosecrans combined his forces and took over Chattanooga, forcing General Braxton Bragg’s army, of 60,000, to head South. Rosecrans troops followed.
Bragg, intending to run into one of Rosecrans forces, defeat them, then move on, started heading North. As his army marched North, they came into contact with several Union troops, and on September 19th the fighting began near Chickamauga Creek. Bragg’s troops struck them, but did not break the Union line. Bragg continued his assault on the Union the next day, and was finally starting to defeat them. Rosecrans was told that he had a hole in his line, so he tried to fill it. He sent troops in order to fill in the gap, but instead of helping, it hurt him. One third of his troops, including him were forced off of the field.
General George H. Thomas took over for Rosecrans and their forces held until after dark, giving Thomas the nickname “the Rock of Chickamauga”. The Union, couldn’t however hold, and Thomas lead them off the field, leaving the victory to the Confederates. The Union went back to Chattanooga, while the Confederates occupied the surrounding heights. Both, the Confederate and the Union, suffered extreme casualties; over 34,000 deaths out of 120,000 troops total. This Confederate victory was the biggest confederate victory in the Western Theater. The main general for the Union in the Battle of Chickamauga was General William S.
Rosecrans. Rosecrans directed his troops to follow after the confederate troops after they were forced out of Chattanooga. He was in charge of the Union for almost the entire battle, until one third of his troops, including him, were forced off of the field. After he was forced off of the field, General George H. Thomas took his place. General Thomas kept the troops in battle until after dark on September 20th. No one believed that the Union would be able to stay on the field as long as they did. So in light of the fact that he fought extremely hard and held his place on the field, he was icknamed “the Rock of Chickamauga”.
He held strong at Horseshoe Ridge and was later known to be one of the finest generals in the Union Army. The main general for the Confederacy was General Braxton Bragg. General Bragg’s army was forced out of Chattanooga by General Rosecrans. He then started heading South, but quickly changed and started heading North when he realized that he could run into one of the UNion forces and defeat them. He headed North and ran into the Union and they quickly engaged in battle at Horseshoe Ridge near Chickamauga Creek.
He held his forces and started attacking and soon put a gap in the Union Line. Another general for the Confederates, was Lieutenant General James Longstreet. General Longstreet did not play a major part in the battle, but he was still a key part to the Confederates victory. He drove one third of the Union army off of the field, including General Rosecran. This led the Confederates to a smooth victory, and helped them take control of the field. There were many different weapons that played extremely important roles during this battle. The first were Spencer Repeating Rifles.
These guns were capable of firing up to 20 pounds per minute, which was more than two times the speed of normal weapons. These guns were extremely fatal and made a huge difference in this battle. The next weapon used in this battle was swords and sabers. These weapons were far less advanced than guns, but still killed and injured many people. Some popular types of these weapons were the Model 1832 Foot Artillery Sword, Model 1832 Dragoon Saber, and the Model 1840 Light Artillery Saber. All of these swords and sabers were extremely sharp and useful during the battle. Another weapon used in the Battle of chickamauga, was the Minie Ball.
The Minie Ball was a kind of bullet that was used in many different battle sin the civil war. It was specifically designed to expand while traveling through the rifle barrel so that it can spin and cause more damage, and add to its velocity and range. This bullet was another reason for the extreme amount of casualties in this battle/war. It was an extremely deadly, yet useful weapon to both sides of this battle. A very popular weapon during the Civil War was the cannon. Although the cannon was very popularly used in a lot of civil war battles, it was barely used in the Battle of Chickamauga at all.
This was because, their were a lot of trees and other barriers in the way, making it hard for people to aim the cannons and shoot them without hitting a target that was not meant to be hit. Cannons were only used during this battle when absolutely necessary, and when their were no obstacles in the path to get in the way of the cannon fire. As you can see, the Battle of Chickamauga was an extremely important battle in the Civil War. This battle is known as the second bloodiest battle of the Civil war and it has different nicknames, because of its mass casualties.
There were also two very important generals on each side fighting for both the Union, and the Confederacy. And lastly, there were a lot of different types of advanced weapons used in this battle that resulted in the extreme amount of casualties on both sides. The battle of Chickamauga was the most costly in the Western Theater. All in all, the second bloodiest battle in the civil war, also known as the Battle of Chickamauga, was an extremely important battle fought on September 19th and 20th near Chickamauga Creek in Horseshoe Ridge.