Hearts Touched by Fire

by Harold Holzer

  Stewart had recaptured the battery lost by Cheatham’s division, twelve pieces of Federal artillery, over two hundred prisoners, and several hundred rifles. Hood and Bushrod Johnson had met with a similar success at first, but, of course, three divisions could not stand the combined attack of six.

  On our extreme left a good deal of demonstrating had been done by the Federals on the 17th and 18th; infantry had been crossed over at Owen’s Ford, and threats made at Glass’s Mill. On the 19th I ordered an attack at the latter place. Slocomb’s battery had a bloody artillery duel with one on the west of the river, and, under cover of the artillery fire, Helm’s brigade of Breckinridge’s division was crossed over, and attacked Negley’s infantry and drove it off. Riding over the ground with Breckinridge, I counted eleven dead horses at the Federal battery, and a number of dead infantrymen that had not been removed. The clouds of dust rolling down the valley revealed the precipitate retirement of the foe, not on account of our pressure upon him, but on account of the urgency of the order to hurry to their left. This was the time to have relieved the strain upon our right by attacking the Federal right at Lee and Gordon’s. My veteran corps, under its heroic division commanders, Breckinridge and Cleburne, would have flanked the enemy out of his fortifications at this point, and would by their brilliant onset have confounded Rosecrans in his purpose of massing upon his left; but Bragg had other plans.13

  At 3 P.M. I received an order to report to the commander-in-chief at Tedford’s Ford, to set Cleburne’s division in motion to the same point, and to relieve Hindman at Gordon’s with Breckinridge’s division. Cleburne had six miles to march over a road much obstructed with wagons, artillery, and details of soldiers. He got into position on the extreme right after sundown. Thomas had, in the meanwhile, moved Brannan from his left to his right, and was retiring Baird and R. W. Johnson to a better position, when Cleburne, with Cheatham upon his left, moved upon them “in the gloaming” in magnificent style, capturing three pieces of artillery, a number of caissons, two stand of colors, and three hundred prisoners. The contest was obstinate, for a time, on our left, where log breastworks were encountered; and here that fine soldier, Brigadier-General Preston Smith, of Cheatham’s division, lost his life. Discovering that our right extended beyond the enemy, I threw two batteries in advance of our fighting line and almost abreast of that of the enemy. These caused a hasty abandonment of the breastworks and a falling back of some half a mile. This ended the contest for the day.

  General Rosecrans made a very natural mistake about our overwhelming numbers. But it was a big mistake. The South, from patriotic pride, still kept up its old military organizations, for how could it merge together divisions and brigades around which clustered such glorious memories? But the waste of war had reduced them to mere skeleton divisions and brigades. My corps at Chickamauga was but little more than one-third of the size of my division at Yorktown, and so it was through the whole Southern army. Captain W. M. Polk, from data furnished him by General Marcus J. Wright, has given an estimate of the numbers in the respective corps and divisions of the two armies; he concludes that the Federals had 45,855 and the Confederates 33,897 in the battle of the 19th.

  I witnessed some of the heaviest fighting on the afternoon of the 19th, and never saw so little straggling from the field. I saw but one deserter from Hood’s ranks, and not one from Cleburne’s. The divisions of Hindman, Breckinridge, and Preston had not been put into the fight, and two brigades of McLaws’s (Kershaw’s and Humphreys’s) were expected next day. Rosecrans had put in all but two of his brigades. The outlook seemed hopeful for the Confederates. Longstreet arrived at 11 P.M. on the 19th.14

  Soon after, General Bragg called together some of his officers and ventured upon that hazardous experiment, a change of organization in face of the enemy. He divided his army into two wings; he gave to Polk the right wing, consisting of the corps of Hill and Walker, and the division of Cheatham,—comprising in all 18,794 infantry and artillery, with 3500 cavalry under Forrest; to Longstreet he gave the left wing, consisting of the corps of Buckner and Hood, and the division of Hindman,—22,849 infantry and artillery, with 4000 cavalry under Wheeler. That night Bragg announced his purpose of adhering to his plan of the 19th for the 20th, viz., successive attacks from right to left, and he gave his wing commanders orders to begin at daylight. I left Cleburne, after his fight, at 11 P.M., and rode with Captains Coleman and Reid five miles to Tedford’s Ford, where the orders for the day announced that Bragg’s headquarters would be, that I might get instructions for the next day. On the way I learned from some soldiers that Breckinridge was coming up from Lee and Gordon’s. I sent Captain Reid to him to conduct him to Cleburne’s right. General Polk, however, as wing commander, gave General Breckinridge permission to rest his weary men, and took him to his own headquarters. It was after 2 o’clock when General Breckinridge moved off under the guidance of Captain Reid, and his division did not get into position until after sunrise. Captain Coleman and myself reached the ford after midnight, only to learn that Bragg was not there. Some time after the unsuccessful search, my other staff-officers came up, and my chief-of-staff gave me a message from General Polk that my corps had been put under his command, and that he wished to see me at Alexander’s Bridge. He said not a word to any of them about an attack at daylight, nor did he to General Breckinridge, who occupied the same room with him that night. I have by me written statements from General Breckinridge and the whole of my staff to that effect. General Polk had issued an order for an attack at daylight, and had sent a courier with a copy, but he had failed to find me. I saw the order for the first time nineteen years afterward in Captain Polk’s letter to the Southern Historical Society. At 3 A.M. on the 20th I went to Alexander’s Bridge, but not finding the courier who was to be posted there to conduct me to General Polk, I sent Lieutenant Morrison, aide-de-camp, to hunt him up and tell him I could be found on the line of battle, which I reached just after daylight, before Breckinridge had got into position. Neither of my division commanders had heard anything of the early attack, and cooked rations were being distributed to our men, many of whom had not eaten anything for twenty-four hours. At 7:25 an order was shown me from General Polk, directed to my major-generals, to begin the attack. I sent a note to him that I was adjusting my line, and that my men were getting their rations. Polk soon after came up, and assented to the delay. Still nothing was said of the daylight attack. Bragg rode up at 8 A.M. and inquired of me why I had not begun the attack at daylight. I told him that I was hearing then for the first time that such an order had been issued and had not known whether we were to be the assailants or the assailed. He said angrily, “I found Polk after sunrise sitting down reading a newspaper at Alexander’s Bridge, two miles from the line of battle, where he ought to have been fighting.”

  However, the essential preparations for battle had not been made up to this hour and, in fact, could not be made without the presence of the commander-in-chief. The position of the enemy had not been reconnoitered, our line of battle had not been adjusted, and part of it was at right angles with the rest; there was no cavalry on our flanks, and no order had fixed the strength or position of the reserves. My corps had been aligned north and south, to be parallel to the position of the enemy. Cheatham’s division was at right angles to my line, and when adjusted was found to be exactly behind Stewart’s, and had therefore to be taken out after the battle was begun, and placed in reserve. Kershaw’s brigade of Longstreet’s corps was also out of place, and was put in reserve.

  GENERAL THOMAS’S BIVOUAC AFTER THE FIRST DAY’S BATTLE.

  Rosecrans in person made a careful alignment of his whole line in the morning, arranging it so as to cover the Rossville (Chattanooga) and the Dry Valley roads. It began four hundred yards east of the Rossville road, on a crest which was occupied from left to right by Baird’s division (Thomas’s corps), R. W. Johnson’s division (McCook’s), Palmer’s division (Crittenden’s), and Reynolds’s division (Thomas’s). These fou
r divisions became isolated during the day, and the interest of the battle centers largely in them. They lay behind substantial breastworks of logs,15 in a line running due south and bending back toward the road at each wing. “Next on the right of Reynolds,” says a Federal newspaper account, “was Brannan’s division of Thomas’s corps, then Negley’s of the same corps, its right making a crotchet to the rear. The line across the Chattanooga road toward Missionary Ridge was completed by Sheridan’s and Davis’s divisions of McCook’s corps: Wood’s and Van Cleve’s divisions of Crittenden’s corps were in reserve at a proper distance.” The line from Reynolds extended in a south-westerly direction. Minty’s cavalry covered the left and rear at Missionary Mills; Mitchell’s and Wilder’s cavalry covered the extreme right. Rosecrans’s headquarters were at Widow Glenn’s house.

  The Confederate line ran at the outset from north to south, Hill’s corps on the right, next Stewart’s division, Hood in reserve, then Bushrod Johnson’s, then Hindman’s on the extreme left, Preston’s in reserve. After the fighting had actually begun, Walker’s and Cheatham’s divisions and Kershaw’s brigade were taken out and put in reserve. Wheeler’s cavalry covered our left, and Forrest had been sent, at my request, to our right. The Confederates were confronted with eight Federal divisions protected generally by breast-works. The battle can be described in a few words. The Confederate attack on the right was mainly unsuccessful because of the breastworks, but was so gallant and persistent that Thomas called loudly for reënforcements, which were promptly sent, weakening the Federal right, until finally a gap was left. This gap Longstreet entered. Discovering, with the true instinct of a soldier, that he could do more by turning to the right, he disregarded the order to wheel to the left and wheeled the other way, striking the corps of Crittenden and McCook in flank, driving them with their commanders and the commanding general off the field.16 Thomas, however, still held his ground, and, though ordered to retreat, strongly refused to do so until nightfall, thus saving the Federals from a great disaster. Longstreet, then, was the organizer of victory on the Confederate side, and Thomas the savior of the army on the other side.

  Longstreet did not advance until noon, nor did he attack the breastworks on the Federal left (Thomas’s position) at all, though Federal writers at the time supposed that he did. Those assaults were made first by the divisions of Breckinridge and Cleburne of Hill’s corps, and then by the brigades of Gist, Walthall, Govan, and others sent to their assistance. Stewart began his brilliant advance at 11 A.M., and before that time Thomas began his appeals for help.

  Breckinridge moved at 9:30 A.M., and Cleburne fifteen minutes later, according to the order for attack. Forrest dismounted Armstrong’s division of cavalry to keep abreast of Breckinridge, and held Pegram’s division in reserve. Breckinridge’s two right brigades, under Adams and Stovall, met but little opposition, but the left of Helm’s brigade encountered the left of the breastworks, and was badly cut up. The heroic Helm was killed, and his command repulsed. His brigade, now under the command of that able officer, Colonel J. H. Lewis, was withdrawn. The simultaneous advance of Cleburne’s troops would have greatly relieved Helm, as he was exposed to a flank as well as a direct fire. General Breckinridge suggested, and I cordially approved the suggestion, that he should wheel his two brigades to the left, and get in rear of the breastworks. These brigades had reached the Chattanooga road, and their skirmishers had pressed past Cloud’s house, where there was a Federal field-hospital. The wheeling movement enabled Stovall to gain a point beyond the retired flank of the breastworks, and Breckinridge says in his report, “Adams had advanced still farther, being actually in rear of his intrenchments. A good supporting line to my division at this moment would probably have produced decisive results.” Federal reënforcements had, however, come up. Adams was badly wounded and fell into the enemy’s hands, and the two brigades were hurled back. Beatty’s brigade of Negley’s division had been the first to come to Baird’s assistance. General Thomas says:

  “Beatty, meeting with greatly superior numbers, was compelled to fall back until relieved by the fire of several regiments of Palmer’s reserve, which I had ordered to the support of the left, being placed in position by General Baird, and which, with the coöperation of Van Derveer’s brigade17 of Brannan’s division, and a portion of Stanley’s brigade of Negley’s division, drove the enemy entirely from Baird’s left and rear.”

  THE SINK-HOLE NEAR WIDOW GLENN’S HOUSE. FROM A RECENT PHOTOGRAPH.

  This sink-hole contained the only water to be had in the central part of the battle-field. Colonel Wilder’s brigade of mounted infantry at one time gained the pool after a hard contest and quenched their thirst. In the water were lying dead men and horses that had been wounded and had died while drinking.

  Here was quite a sensation made by Breckinridge’s two thousand men. American troops cannot stand flank and rear attacks. While Breckinridge was thus alarming Thomas for his left, Cleburne was having a bloody fight with the forces behind the breastworks. From want of alignment before the battle, Deshler’s brigade had to be taken out that it might not overlap Stewart. L. E. Polk’s brigade soon encountered the enemy behind his logs, and after an obstinate contest was driven back. Wood’s (Confederate) brigade on the left had almost reached Poe’s house (the burning house) on the Chattanooga road, when he was subjected to a heavy enfilading and direct fire, and driven back with great loss. Cleburne withdrew his division four hundred yards behind the crest of a hill. The gallant young brigadier Deshler was killed while executing the movement, and his brigade then fell into the able hands of Colonel R. Q. Mills. The fierce fight on our right lasted until 10:30 A.M. It was an unequal contest of two small divisions against four full ones behind fortifications. Surely, there were never nobler leaders than Breckinridge and Cleburne, and surely never were nobler troops led on a more desperate “forlorn-hope”—against odds in numbers and superiority in position and equipment. But their unsurpassed and unsurpassable valor was not thrown away. Before a single Confederate soldier had come to their relief, Rosecrans ordered up other troops to the aid of Thomas, in addition to those already mentioned. At 10:10 A.M. he ordered McCook to be ready at 10:30; Sheridan’s division to support Thomas.

  General McCook says that he executed the order and marched the men at double-quick. This weakening of his right by Rosecrans to support his left was destined soon to be his ruin. So determined had been the assaults of Breckinridge and Cleburne, that, though repulsed and badly punished, they were not pursued by the enemy, who did not venture outside of his works.

  At 11 A.M. Stewart’s division advanced under an immediate order from Bragg. His three brigades under Brown, Clayton, and Bate advanced with Wood of Cleburne’s division, and, as General Stewart says, “pressed on past the corn-field in front of the burnt house, two or three hundred yards beyond the Chattanooga road, driving the enemy within his line of intrenchments.… Here they encountered a fresh artillery fire on front and flank, heavily supported by infantry, and had to retire.”

  This was the celebrated attack upon Reynolds and Brannan which led directly to the Federal disaster. In the meantime our right was preparing to renew the attack. I proposed to the wing commander, Polk, to make a second advance, provided fresh troops were sent forward, requesting that the gap in Breckinridge’s left, made by the withdrawal of Helm, should be filled by another brigade. General J. K. Jackson’s was sent for that purpose, but unfortunately took its position too far in rear to engage the attention of the enemy in front, and every advance on our right during the remainder of the day was met with flank and cross fire from that quarter. Gist’s brigade and Liddell’s division of Walker’s corps reported to me. Gist immediately attacked with great vigor the log-works which had repulsed Helm so disastrously, and he in turn was driven back. Liddell might have made as great an impression by moving on the Chattanooga road as Breckinridge had done, but his strong brigade (Walthall’s) was detached, and he advanced with Govan’s alone, seized the road f
or the second time that day, and was moving behind the breastworks, when, a column of the enemy appearing on his flank and rear, he was compelled to retreat.

  This was simultaneous with the advance of Stewart. The heavy pressure on Thomas caused Rosecrans to support him by sending the divisions of Negley and Van Cleve and Brannan’s reserve brigade. In the course of these changes, an order to Wood, which Rosecrans claims was misinterpreted, led to a gap being left into which Longstreet stepped with the eight brigades (Bushrod Johnson’s original brigade and McNair’s, Gregg’s, Kershaw’s, Law’s, Humphreys’s, Benning’s, and Robertson’s) which he had arranged in three lines to constitute his grand column of attack. Davis’s two brigades, one of Van Cleve’s, and Sheridan’s entire division were caught in front and flank and driven from the field. Disregarding the order of the day, Longstreet now gave the order to wheel to the right instead of the left, and thus take in reverse the strong position of the enemy. Five of McCook’s brigades were speedily driven off the field. He estimates their loss at forty per cent. Certainly that flank march was a bloody one. I have never seen the Federal dead lie so thickly on the ground, save in front of the sunken wall at Fredericksburg.