"North Missionary Ridge, 1863" Topic

I have Cozzens' and Sword's books on this battle. Both have OBs but both don't give numbers with those OBs. It's frustrating.

OK, Sherman had about 16,000 troops and Cleburne had about 4,000. Cump Sherman was having a really bad day and only sent maybe a third of his troops up the ridge. Cleburne was reinforced during the fight.

Does anyone have a notion of how many Yanks fought how many Rebs at this part of the fight? The ones Sherman left standing around watching don't count.

Two other things to note: most accounts say Sherman's attack was held up. Not true, it was chased off the ridge giving up hundreds of prisoners. The other thing is the old saw that the ridge wasn't such good defensive ground. It was fine when Cleburne was holding it.

My brother and I walked that ground last fall. It isn't really a "ridge" though it is of course one end of the feature called Missionary Ridge. It is steep and rolling hills, several of them (there is a saddleback connecting two), and in some places has good fields of fire. So Cleburne held the high ground AND had interior lines.

You can probably get numbers for Cleburne's division at Ringgold a few days later.

link

My brother's first novel is about the 6th Texas in Cleburne's division, and includes a fine account of that regiment's actions in that battle, including taking a number of those prisoners. Kindle edition is $3 USD, I believe.

Cleburne didn't put half his men at the base of the ridge. That's what really did in the main line, not the siting of the works on the topographical crest instead of the military crest.

My number problem is that Cleburne was reinforced by a couple brigades from other divisions at Missionary Ridge. And none of my source say just how many troops Sherman sent up the hill.

I walked the field a couple years back on my battlefield & barbecue tour of Tennessee. All the stuff I'd read before that about the faults of the position really don't make it.

It was poor tactics and poor leadership that lost the battle. Lookout Mountain would have been held if Cheatham was in command. He was off sulking because Bragg had messed with his division. His senior brigadier "Mudwall" Jackson was incompetent and a coward to boot. There were six Confederate brigades on Lookout Mountain when it was attacked. Jackson only got three into the fight, one at a time, each going in after the preceding one was thumped.

The poor siting of the trenches on Missionary Ridge? Bragg's army had been there for two months. At the last minute they laid out some works and did it poorly. They had two months to have the chief engineer mark the lines with stakes. Even so, as I said before, Cleburne held his works. The rest of the front had half the men at the foot and half at the top. Many of the troops at the foot were told to fire a bit and head up the ridge. That decision, made by Breckinridge or Hardee (my sources don't agree) is what lost the ridge, not the siting of the works.

I would call the leaders of that Confederate army a criminal conspiracy.

Hmm, thanks for the pointer on the novel. Looks like something for my Kindle.

WHITTLED AWAY is a good read. Phil is a war gamer -- JOHNNY REB in particular -- and has been heavily involved in reenacting for many years. He researched the 6th Texas thoroughly -- his reenacting groups prime impression is one of their companies -- and many of the scenes and episodes in the novel are based on material from primary sources. It is a decidedly a rifleman's and corporal's-eye view of the battles, though.

As to the collapse of Bragg's position on the rest of MR, there is no adequate explanation short of divine intervention. God wanted that outcome, end of story. because if you look at the ridge (I live in Chattanooga) you can see that it is impossible that it was taken away from veteran troops. No way. God is a Yankee.

I think Bragg reorganizing his troops to reduce the influence of the generals in the anti-Bragg faction (instead of marking out proper works) and being unable to feed his men properly – there was a large supply dump the other side of Chickamauga Creek that he couldn't get forward – had a lot to do with it.

Maybe God is a Yankee, but Bragg and a number of his generals were helping out.

Yes, I do agree.

Chattanooga, nice place. And my favorite BBQ joint was Shufford's across the Tennessee. Smart guys who decided to lay in optical fiber cable. Hope it works out for you all.