This study investigates the history of the Confederate Army of Tennessee from formation under command of Braxton Bragg through the eve of Chickamauga. The specific question to be answered is whether the Army of Tennessee was presented opportunities to destroy the Union Army of the Cumberland prior to Chickamauga, and if so why they were not taken advantage of. Answering this question requires an examination of the history of the Army of Tennessee prior to September 1863, with emphasis on Braxton Bragg’s personality and abilities. Between September 9th and 10th 1863 Bragg had a concrete opportunity to destroy a large part of the Army of the Cumberland in McLemore’s Cove, and over succeeding days he identified other favorable situations that might have led to successful attacks on isolated Union Corps. He was, however, unable to orchestrate a successful strike against the separated Federal units. A key contributor to the failures was the poor Confederate command climate that had developed in the Army of Tennessee over the preceding year. Bragg’s Corps commanders and some Division commanders lacked confidence in Bragg’s abilities. This led them to hesitate when prompt obedience was called for. Bragg himself grew frustrated by his inability to compel heartfelt cooperation from his principal subordinates and became unwilling to take a bold risk when opportunity appeared.

This thesis is a historical analysis of Major General James Negley and his division during the Battle of Chickamauga. An examination of Negley, his actions, his major subordinate commanders, and the regiments of the division was conducted to provide a base with which to evaluate the principals during the Chickamauga Campaign of 1863. On 19 September, the division fought well as, and served to arrest a Confederate penetration of the Federal lines. The division was piecemealed into the fight on 20 September by brigade, and regiments. Negley ended up commanding fifty Federal artillery pieces on Snodgrass Hill and withdrew them to support the Union collapse upon Chattanooga. Negley was relieved after the battle, and charged with removing the artillery prematurely. He was acquitted of all charges during a subsequent court of inquiry; however, he never received another command. The relief of Negley tarnished an otherwise solid performance by the division during the two day battle. This study analyzes Negley and his division during the Battle of Chickamauga and draws conclusions using the battle command competencies as a framework: seeing the enemy, seeing the terrain, knowing yourself, visualizing the battle, and seeing into the future.

One of the critical variables in the successful completion of a military campaign is the functioning of an army’s command and control system. In the American Civil War, a commander’s primary command and control tool was his staff. Large Civil War armies like the Army of Tennessee required significant numbers of staff personnel. Staffs existed at each level of command from regiment through the army level. Staff officers had responsibility in three broad areas: personnel and logistical support to the army, military administration, and command and control. This thesis analyzes the roles, functional organization, and performance of the staff of the Army of Tennessee and its subordinate corps during the Chickamauga campaign, 16 August-22 September 1863. Primary sources for staff personnel include the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, and the Compiled Service Records of staff officers. Staff performance is evaluated in terms of doctrine and practices as embodied in regulations and military literature of the day. This thesis concludes that, while staff performance was adequate in administration and logistical support, the performance of the command and control system was inadequate. The staff’s failure in this area had a significant negative impact on the performance of the army as a whole.

From mid-August to mid-September 1863, Union major general William S. Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland maneuvered from Tennessee to north Georgia in a bid to rout Confederate general Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee and blaze the way for further Union advances. Meanwhile, Confederate reinforcements bolstered the numbers of the Army of Tennessee, and by the time the two armies met at the Battle of Chickamauga, in northern Georgia, the Confederates had gained numerical superiority. Although the Confederacy won its only major victory west of the Appalachians, it failed to achieve the truly decisive results many high-ranking Confederates expected. In The Chickamauga Campaign,Steven E. Woodworth assembles eight thought-provoking new essays from an impressive group of authors to offer new insight into the complex reasons for this substantial, yet ultimately barren, Confederate victory. This broad collection covers every angle of the campaign, from its prelude to its denouement, from the points of view of key players of all ranks on both sides. In addition to analyzing the actions taken by Union leaders Thomas L. Crittenden, Alexander McCook, and James S. Negley, and Confederate commanders Braxton Bragg, Patrick Cleburne, Daniel Harvey Hill, Thomas C. Hindman, James Longstreet, and Alexander P. Stewart, the book probes the campaign’s impact on morale in the North and South, and concludes with an essay on the campaign’s place in Civil War memory. The final essay pays particular attention to Union veteran Henry Van Ness Boynton, the founder and developer of Chickamauga and Chattanooga State Military Park, whose achievements helped shape how the campaign would be remembered. This second volume in the Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland seriesprovides a profound understanding of the campaign’s details as well as its significance to Civil War history. Contributors: John R. Lundberg Alexander Mendoza David Powell Ethan S. Rafuse William G. Robertson Timothy B. Smith Lee White Steven E. Woodworth

"This comprehensively researched, well-written book represents the definitive account of Robert E. Lee's triumph over Union leader John Pope in the summer of 1862. . . . Lee's strategic skills, and the capabilities of his principal subordinates James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson, brought the Confederates onto the field of Second Manassas at the right places and times against a Union army that knew how to fight, but not yet how to win."?Publishers Weekly "The deepest, most comprehensive, and most definitive work on this Civil War campaign, by the unchallenged authority."?James I. Robertson Jr., author of Stonewall Jackson

Winner of the Laney Book Prize from the Austin Civil War Round Table: “The post-battle coverage is simply unprecedented among prior Chickamauga studies.” —James A. Hessler, award-winning author of Sickles at Gettysburg This third and concluding volume of the magisterial Chickamauga Campaign trilogy, a comprehensive examination of one of the most important and complex military operations of the Civil War, examines the immediate aftermath of the battle with unprecedented clarity and detail. The narrative opens at dawn on Monday, September 21, 1863, with Union commander William S. Rosecrans in Chattanooga and most of the rest of his Federal army in Rossville, Georgia. Confederate commander Braxton Bragg has won the signal victory of his career, but has yet to fully grasp that fact or the fruits of his success. Unfortunately for the South, the three grueling days of combat broke down the Army of Tennessee and a vigorous pursuit was nearly impossible. In addition to carefully examining the decisions made by each army commander and the consequences, Powell sets forth the dreadful costs of the fighting in terms of the human suffering involved. Barren Victory concludes with the most detailed Chickamauga orders of battle (including unit strengths and losses) ever compiled, and a comprehensive bibliography more than a decade in the making. Includes illustrations

During the Chickamauga Campaign, General Stanley's two Union cavalry divisions battled Forrest's and Wheeler's cavalry corps in some of the most difficult terrain for mounted operations. The Federal troopers, commanded by Crook and McCook, guarded the flanks of the advance on Chattanooga, secured the crossing of the Tennessee River, then pushed into enemy territory. The battle exploded on September 18 as Col. Minty and Col. Wilder held off a determined attack by Confederate infantry. The fighting along Chickamauga Creek included notable actions at Glass Mill and Cooper's Gap. Union cavalry dogged Wheeler's forces throughout Tennessee. The Union troopers fought under conditions so dusty they could hardly see, leading the infantry through the second costliest battle of the war.

This book investigates the history of the Confederate Army of Tennessee from formation under command of Braxton Bragg through the eve of the Battle of Chickamauga. The specific question to be answered is whether the Army of Tennessee had opportunities to destroy the Union Army of the Cumberland before the battle of Chickamauga, and if so why they were not taken advantage of. Answering this question requires an examination of the history of the Army of Tennessee prior to September 1863, with emphasis on Bragg's personality and abilities. This book provides a basic overview of the actions of the Army of Tennessee prior to Chickamauga, discusses command problems that developed between Bragg and many of his important Generals, and assesses how those problems contributed to the battlefield results.

The hard-fighting 11th Michigan Volunteer Infantry was recruited from sparsely settled southwest Michigan shortly after the Civil War broke out. Mainly composed of young farmers and tradesmen, the regiment rapidly evolved into one of the Army of the Cumberland's elite combat units, tenaciously fighting its way through some of the war's bloodiest engagements. This book--featuring a complete unit roster--chronicles the regiment through the words of the veterans, tracing their development from a rabble of idealists into a fine-tuned fighting machine that executed successful bayonet charges against superior numbers. The narrative continues into the postwar period, discussing the ex-soldiers' careers through Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Photographs, maps, illustrations and a statistical analysis round out the work.