Overview

The Battle of Chickamauga was the third bloodiest of the American Civil War and the only major Confederate victory in the conflict's western theater. It pitted Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee against William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland and resulted in more than 34,500 casualties. In this first volume of an authoritative two-volume history of the Chickamauga campaign, William Glenn Robertson provides a richly detailed narrative of military operations in southeastern and eastern Tennessee as two armies prepared to meet along the """"River of Death."""" Robertson tracks the two opposing armies from July 1863 through Bragg's strategic decision to abandon Chattanooga on September 9. Drawing on all relevant primary and secondary sources, Robertson devotes special attention to the personalities and thinking of the opposing generals and their staffs. He also sheds new light on the role of railroads on operations in these landlocked battlegrounds, as well as the intelligence gathered and used by both sides. Delving deep into the strategic machinations, maneuvers, and smaller clashes that led to the bloody events of September 19@–20, 1863, Robertson reveals that the road to Chickamauga was as consequential as the unfolding of the battle itself.

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9781469643120

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Reviews

Robertson's command of the subject shines in his expert analysis of conflicting accounts by participants, and colorful anecdotes that illuminate what might otherwise seem mundane.--America's Civil War Magazine Offers a remarkable scope . . . an authoritative analysis of how the rigors of campaigning affected command decisions and the experiences of common soldiers alike.--Civil War Monitor This volume leaves no stone unturned. . . . Robertson makes every effort to include as many personal observations from soldiers and officers of both armies, providing what amounts to real-time situational awareness. . . . An excellent book which will leave readers eagerly anticipating the next volume and the culmination of the campaign.--On Point The work is must reading for any student of the Chickamauga campaign. One awaits Volume 2 with great anticipation.--Journal of Southern History Possibly the most exhaustively detailed description of the campaign, certainly of the pre-battle phase, ever to appear in print. The biographic sketches of the principal participants and their interactions are good; the frequent quotations from soldiers' letters, diaries and journals give color to the progress of the campaign. The overall description of events is excellent and easy to follow. . . . Robertson knows Chickamauga like few others and lays it all out here.--Journal of America's Military Past This magisterial volume on the war of movement leading up to the climactic Battle of Chickamauga will long remain the standard study of events in the Civil War's western theater in summer 1863. . . . [Robertson's] familiarity with his subject matter may well exceed that of the two principal commanders involved. . . . The resulting volume knits together the firsthand accounts of hundreds of participants in a comprehensive whole unrivalled in detail or complexity.--Michigan War Studies Review

Robertson's command of the subject shines in his expert analysis of conflicting accounts by participants, and colorful anecdotes that illuminate what might otherwise seem mundane.--America's Civil War Magazine

Author Information

William Glenn Robertson retired as director of the Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 2011.

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