oldfart
Older than dirt
I am loath to re-fight the Civil War with folks who think that if they wave a rebel flag long enough, the South will win this time around! But it is 150 years, the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and I remember the Centennial clearly. Then the day by day news of the Civil War was published a hundred years later and it got pretty interesting. I would like to start that timeline again for anyone interested. So I will start with this initial post and update every week or so. Feel free to join in, but if you want to add a counter-history (“what would have happened if….) please label it as such.
We have already passed the Gettysburg campaign and the fall of Vicksburg. Lost in the news of Gettysburg, where Lee’s second invasion of the North was turned back and Vicksburg, where the Mississippi River was secured, few noticed a third pivotal event in a 24 hour period. Rosecrans Army of the Cumberland completed on July 3, 1863 a brilliant operation called the Tullahoma Campaign that began June 24 against the Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General Braxton Bragg, clearing the Confederates from Middle Tennessee and threatening Chattanooga. This would threaten the interruption of the South’s rail network that connected East and West and open the door to Atlanta. Bragg soon evacuated Chattanooga and is replaced by Joe Johnston.
Lee is returned to Virginia and Grant has set Sherman to lever Joe Johnston out of Jackson. This sets the stage for the next campaign.
From time to time Lee has utilized railroads to shift troops in large bodies between theaters of war. Now in early September 1863 he plans to do so again. His best corps and best corps commander, Longstreet, will be sent west to join the Army of the Tennessee commanded by Joe Johnston. Reinforced by Longstreet, who will plan and lead the attack, Johnson hopes to smash Rosecrans and retake Chattanooga.
The stage is set for a meeting on Chicamauga Creek.
We have already passed the Gettysburg campaign and the fall of Vicksburg. Lost in the news of Gettysburg, where Lee’s second invasion of the North was turned back and Vicksburg, where the Mississippi River was secured, few noticed a third pivotal event in a 24 hour period. Rosecrans Army of the Cumberland completed on July 3, 1863 a brilliant operation called the Tullahoma Campaign that began June 24 against the Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General Braxton Bragg, clearing the Confederates from Middle Tennessee and threatening Chattanooga. This would threaten the interruption of the South’s rail network that connected East and West and open the door to Atlanta. Bragg soon evacuated Chattanooga and is replaced by Joe Johnston.
Lee is returned to Virginia and Grant has set Sherman to lever Joe Johnston out of Jackson. This sets the stage for the next campaign.
From time to time Lee has utilized railroads to shift troops in large bodies between theaters of war. Now in early September 1863 he plans to do so again. His best corps and best corps commander, Longstreet, will be sent west to join the Army of the Tennessee commanded by Joe Johnston. Reinforced by Longstreet, who will plan and lead the attack, Johnson hopes to smash Rosecrans and retake Chattanooga.
The stage is set for a meeting on Chicamauga Creek.
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