Overview

July 1863 was a momentous month in the Civil War. News of the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg electrified the North and devastated the South. Sandwiched geographically between them—and lost in the heady tumult of events—was news that William S. Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland had driven Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee entirely out of Middle Tennessee. The brilliant campaign nearly cleared the state of Rebels and changed the calculus of the Civil War in the Western Theater. Despite its decisive significance, surprisingly few people know much about Rosecrans’s triumph. Now in paperback, Tullahoma: The Forgotten Campaign that Changed the Course of Civil War, June 23–July 4, 1863 by award-winning authors David A. Powell and Eric J. Wittenberg rectifies that oversight. On June 23, 1863, Rosecrans, with 60,000 men, began a classic campaign of maneuver against Bragg’s 40,000\. Confronted by rugged terrain and a heavily entrenched foe, Rosecrans intended to utilize strategic maneuver to defeat Bragg rather than direct assaults. He would outflank him, seize control of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad (Bragg’s supply line) at Tullahoma, force the Rebels out of their extensive earthworks, and fight the decisive battle thereafter. The complex and fascinating campaign included deceit, hard marching, fighting, and incredible luck—both good and bad. Rosecrans executed a pair of feints against Guy’s Gap and Liberty Gap to deceive the Rebels about where the main blow would fall. An ineffective Confederate response exposed one of Bragg’s flanks—and thus his entire army—to complete disaster. Torrential rains and consequential decisions in the field wreaked havoc on Rosecrans’s well-designed scheme. Bragg, however, hesitated as he teetered on the brink of losing the second most important field army in the Confederacy. The hour was late, the time was short, and his limited withdrawal left the armies poised for a climactic engagement to decide the fate of Middle Tennessee and perhaps the war. Authors Powell and Wittenberg mined hundreds of archival and firsthand accounts to craft a splendid study of this overlooked campaign that set the stage for the fighting to follow at Chickamauga and Chattanooga, the removal of Rosecrans and Bragg from the chessboard of war, the elevation of U. S. Grant to command the Union armies, and the early stages of William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. Readers will find the original maps and extensive footnotes enhance their understanding of this dramatic event. Tullahoma was one of the most brilliantly executed major campaigns of the war and was pivotal to Union success in 1863 and beyond. Now, after all these decades, students of the war everywhere will know precisely why.

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9781611217230

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Reviews

"""The Tullahoma Campaign has been largely overlooked ever since it was fought in 1863. David Powell and Eric Wittenberg, with their expertise in these armies and mounted operations, are perfect authors to take a fresh look at what happened in Middle Tennessee in late June and early July 1863. The result is a masterful, vivid, and detailed study, one that Tullahoma has so desperately needed.""--Chris Kolakowski, author of ""The Stones River & Tullahoma Campaigns: This Army Does Not Retreat"" ""The Tullahoma Campaign is frequently obscured by the almost simultaneous and much higher profile Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. With their respective expertise in Civil War cavalry and the Western Theater, historians Eric Wittenberg and David Powell have written the definitive account of Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans' operational masterpiece--the almost bloodless conquest of hundreds of square miles of Middle Tennessee in the crucial third summer of the Civil War.""--Sam Davis Elliott, author of ""Soldier of Tennessee: General Alexander P. Stewart and the Civil War in the West"" ""This is a gripping read and a welcome addition to the literature, covering a pivotal but ignored and misrepresented action.""-- ""Miniature Wargames"" ""An outstanding addition to the literature of the war.""-- ""The NYMAS Review"" ""Powell and Wittenberg provide sufficient detail to satisfy the most avid Civil War buff while engaging casual readers.""-- ""On Point: The Journal of Army History"" ""An excellent review of how the Union wrested western Tennessee from the Confederacy. ""--Collected Miscellany ""A model of superbly crafted and meticulously documented research...""-- ""Midwest Book Review"" ""David Powell and Eric Wittenberg have produced an outstanding study of the decidedly under appreciated 1863 Tullahoma Campaign in Middle Tennessee. Their balanced and nuanced evaluations of the leadership of Generals William S. Rosecrans and Braxton Bragg will force readers to reassess--without totally abandoning--the less-than-stellar reputations usually attached to these two prominent commanders. The authors's thorough examination of some of the war's most daunting logistical challenges and efforts to adapt workable solutions to them is both noteworthy and most welcome.""--Carol Reardon, George Winfree Professor Emerita of American History, Penn State University ""Orders of magnitude more informative and valuable than anything previously written on the topic, Tullahoma ranks among the best of modern Civil War campaign histories.""-- ""Civil War Books and Authors"""

Author Information

"David A. Powell is a 1983 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the award-winning author of many books, including The Chickamauga Campaign trilogy. His newest undertaking is a five-volume study of the Atlanta Campaign, the first volume of which, The Atlanta Campaign: Volume 1: Dalton to Cassville, May 1-19, 1864, will be out summer 2024. Eric J. Wittenberg is an accomplished award-winning Civil War author. An attorney in Ohio, Wittenberg has published nearly two dozen books on various Civil War subjects, with particular focus on cavalry operations. His latest, the two-volume set ""If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania"" The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg (with Scott Mingus Sr.) is the recipient of the 2023 Bachelder-Coddington Award."

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