Overview

1863 was the third year of the American Civil War. When the year began, the warwas still largely unsettled. This was the case in the western theater, where the Union Armyof the Cumberland faced the Confederate Army of Tennessee, vying for control ofTennessee and its valuable resources and strategic rail interchanges. In the early months of1863 the Army of the Cumberland was resting and reorganizing. General William S.Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cumberland, resisted pressure fromWashington to commence his spring offensive against General Braxton Bragg, commanderof the Army of Tennessee. The strategic importance of Tennessee at that point in the warwas three-fold. First, many Union loyalists lived in East Tennessee. President Lincolnwanted to liberate the state and bring those citizens back under the umbrella of Unioncontrol. Secondly, Confederate rail lines connecting the resources of the western theater toVirginia ran through Tennessee. Those rail lines served as lines of communication andlines of supplying the Confederate armies not only in Tennessee but throughout the EasternTheater as well. Third, Tennessee was rich in supplies needed to sustain the Confederatewar effort. Food items such as pork, corn and mineral resources such as copper andsaltpeter, two ingredients of gunpowder, were mined in Tennessee.

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