The Battle That Almost Won the War for the Confederacy Happened in This Georgia Forest Near Chattanooga

The Chickamauga Battlefield in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia

Union and Confederate armies clashed on September 18-20, 1863, in the first major battle fought in Georgia during the Civil War. The Battle of Chickamauga ranks as the second bloodiest fight of the war, topped only by Gettysburg.

Over three days of combat, about 34,000 soldiers fell as casualties – 16,000 Union and 18,000 Confederate. Confederate General Braxton Bragg won the field, but this success came at a terrible cost.

Despite pushing Union forces back to Chattanooga, his battered army lacked the strength to reclaim the city.

Here’s the rest of the story.

The Gateway to the Deep South

Chattanooga controlled four crucial railroad lines that fed the Confederacy: the Western & Atlantic, Memphis & Charleston, Nashville & Chattanooga, and East Tennessee & Georgia. These rail links earned Chattanooga its nickname as the “Gateway to the Deep South.”

President Abraham Lincoln knew capturing this transportation hub would cut Confederate supply networks and help end the war faster. In summer 1863, Union General William Rosecrans led his 60,000-man Army of the Cumberland from middle Tennessee toward Chattanooga.

Through smart moves, Rosecrans forced Bragg’s Confederate forces to abandon the city without firing a shot. Bragg pulled his army back to LaFayette, Georgia, about 25 miles south of Chattanooga.

From this spot, he got ready to strike back and try to reclaim the vital city.

Reinforcements Turn the Tide

Confederate leaders rushed troops to help Bragg’s forces. They sent Lieutenant General James Longstreet with about 12,000 soldiers from Virginia to Georgia.

The soldiers traveled over 900 miles by rail, the first big troop movement between distant battlefields in the war. This boost aimed to give Bragg more men than Rosecrans had.

Longstreet’s forces reached Chickamauga Creek on the evening of September 19, changing the battle’s path. With these fresh troops, Confederate forces now had the edge in numbers.

General Bragg split his army into two wings. Longstreet led the left wing while Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, once an Episcopal bishop, commanded the right wing.

The Fatal Gap in Union Lines

At 11:00 AM on September 20, 1863, a misread order spelled disaster for Union forces. General Rosecrans heard that a gap might exist in his battleline.

He ordered Brigadier General Thomas Wood to move his division to fill this supposed opening. Wood knew the order was wrong – no gap existed where Rosecrans thought.

But having been scolded before for not following orders quickly, Wood did as told. His move created an actual division-wide hole in the Union line.

General John Bell Hood led Longstreet’s attack force of eight brigades through this gap. The Confederate charge shattered the Union right flank.

Even Assistant Secretary of War Charles Dana, watching the battle from Rosecrans’s headquarters, fled with the retreating Union commander. The right side of the Union army broke apart as soldiers ran toward Chattanooga.

The Rock of Chickamauga

While chaos swept the Union right, Major General George H. Thomas stood firm on the army’s left flank. Thomas, a West Point graduate (class of 1840) and Virginian who stayed loyal to the Union despite his Southern roots, refused to back down.

He held his ground at Kelly Field and along Horseshoe Ridge. His stubborn defense kept the Confederate victory from becoming a total rout of the Union army.

Thomas’s stand earned him the nickname “Rock of Chickamauga.” Soldiers under Thomas fought with grit.

The 21st Ohio Regiment alone fired about 43,550 rounds of ammunition during their defense of Snodgrass Hill. Thomas held his position until nightfall, allowing the rest of the Union army to pull back safely to Chattanooga.

His actions saved the Army of the Cumberland from being destroyed.

Wilder’s Lightning Brigade

Colonel John T. Wilder led a special Union force that found rare success during the battle. His mounted infantry brigade included the 17th and 72nd Indiana, and 92nd, 98th, and 123rd Illinois Infantry Regiments.

Unlike regular infantry who walked to battle, Wilder’s men rode horses to the battlefield, got off, and fought on foot. The brigade earned its nickname “Lightning Brigade” through speed and firepower.

Wilder’s men carried Spencer repeating rifles, able to fire 14 shots per minute compared to just 3 from standard Civil War muskets. When the government dragged its feet on providing these advanced weapons, Wilder himself got loans for his men to buy them.

This gamble paid off on the battlefield. The Lightning Brigade beat back multiple Confederate attacks on September 19, especially at Viniard Field and Alexander’s Bridge over Chickamauga Creek.

The Bloodiest Two Days

The Battle of Chickamauga spread across about 6 square miles of land, much of it thick with trees. Dense forests and brush limited sight to just a few yards in many spots.

The rough terrain confused both sides. Some units got lost in the woods and accidentally shot at their own troops. Soldiers often fought hand-to-hand in the tangled brush.

The fierce fighting continued through nightfall on September 19, with temperatures dropping sharply after dark. Wounded soldiers suffered in the cold night air.

Some hurt men faced an even worse fate as fires broke out in parts of the battlefield. Those too badly wounded to move died in the flames.

The battle’s toll was crushing: 34,000 casualties in just two days of fighting. Ten Confederate generals were killed or wounded, severely thinning the Southern officer ranks.

A Pyrrhic Victory

Despite winning at Chickamauga, General Bragg failed to reach his main goal of retaking Chattanooga. The Confederate Army of Tennessee, though victorious, had lost too many men to press forward.

Bragg chose to take the high ground around Chattanooga – Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge – putting the city under siege. This choice gave Union forces time to regroup and bring in more troops.

In November 1863, just two months after Chickamauga, Union armies under Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederate forces at the Battle of Chattanooga. The Union win secured federal control of Chattanooga for the rest of the war.

A Confederate soldier later wrote that this defeat was “the death-knell of the Confederacy,” seeing it as a turning point. The region’s railroad network that had made Chattanooga so valuable now served Union armies as they got ready for the Atlanta Campaign the following year.

America’s First National Military Park

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park became the nation’s first preserved battlefield when Congress established it in 1890. The effort to save the site began in 1888 when Union generals Ferdinand Van Derveer and Henry Van Ness Boynton revisited the battlefield.

Unlike earlier efforts at Gettysburg and Antietam, they wanted to mark both Union and Confederate positions. Former enemies worked together on this project.

Union and Confederate veterans joined forces to identify unit positions and plan the park’s layout. The veterans formed the Chickamauga Memorial Association in 1889, welcoming both Northern and Southern soldiers who had fought there.

Their teamwork showed how the nation was healing twenty-five years after the war. The park opened officially in 1895 with thousands of veterans from both sides attending.

This groundbreaking effort created a model for future battlefield parks across the country.

Wilder Tower Monument

The tallest structure on the battlefield today is the 85-foot limestone Wilder Tower, with 136 steps in its spiral staircase. Work began in 1892 but stopped in 1893 when a bank failed, losing $1,200 of monument funds (worth about $42,000 today).

The project stalled until Indianapolis businessman Arthur McKain gave $1,200 in 1897, allowing work to start again. The tower was formally opened on September 20, 1899, exactly 36 years after the second day of battle.

Veterans of Wilder’s Lightning Brigade came to the ceremony, honoring their former leader and fallen friends. The monument stands where Widow Eliza Glenn’s house once stood, which served as General Rosecrans’s headquarters during part of the battle.

Glenn was just 23 years old when armies fought across her land. Wilder Tower was the first monument built on the battlefield, showing the importance of the Lightning Brigade’s actions during the fight.

Monuments Across the Battlefield

Today, more than 1,400 monuments and markers cover the landscape of Chickamauga Battlefield, keeping alive the memory of those who fought there. The park holds over 650 cast iron tablets describing troop movements and unit positions.

Blue tablets mark Union positions while red tablets show Confederate positions, helping visitors understand how the battle unfolded. Monuments for Union regiments typically feature an eagle symbol, while Confederate monuments often display the Southern cross.

These design touches reflected the divided nation these soldiers fought for. A large group of monuments stands at Snodgrass Hill, marking where Thomas made his famous last stand.

Visiting Chickamauga Battlefield

The battlefield is located at 3370 Lafayette Road in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, about 10 miles south of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Start your visit at the visitor center to watch the 26-minute film about the battle and browse the museum exhibits. Rangers offer guided programs during peak season, and you can pick up a free driving tour map that covers the 7-mile battlefield loop.

Admission is free, but donations are welcome.

Read More from This Brand:

• This Georgia Prison Camp Became “The Deadliest Ground of the Civil War” Without a Single Shot Fired
• This Georgia Barrier Island Has America’s Tallest Lighthouse and a Long-Lost Nuclear Weapon Somewhere Offshore
• Union Soldiers Still Reportedly Haunt This Georgia Battlefield Where They Suffered a Crushing Defeat