Writing about Chickamauga: The River of Death

Well, if you know me, you know that I write books about the American Civil War. More specifically, I’m writing a trilogy that follows the 2nd Michigan Cavalry through the war. The first two novels, Rampage on the River: the Battle for Island No. 10 and The Perils of Perryville, are already out and available on Amazon. I’m currently working on the third novel which will be called Blood for Blood at Nashville. I’m planning on having that out either late 2020 or early 2021.

I write historical fiction and even though my main characters and their stories are fictional, I try to keep the historical events and historical figures as accurate as possible. For this reason I always try to visit the actual places where the battles in my books take place. I learn and understand a lot from reading history books and firsthand accounts of the action. It also helps to look at maps and sketches of the battles, but there’s nothing like actually walking the grounds, pinpointing where certain events took place and feeling the echoes of the events that happened there.

I’ve been lucky to be able to do this for every major battle I’ve described in my books so far. Right now, I’m writing about the Battle of Chickamauga in my current novel.  My girlfriend and I decided that this Memorial Day Weekend was a perfect opportunity to take a drive out there and see if the battlefield matched the vision in my head and what I’ve written so far.

This video is a brief synopsis about the Battle of Chickamauga.

The Battle of Chickamauga is extremely complicated. There’s a lot that led up to it, a lot that happened during it, and a lot that happened afterward that was a result of it. When I write about battles in my novels, I do so from the perspective of my characters. I also try to break them down to the core truth of what happened and then build my narrative from there. I have to remind myself that I’m not writing a comprehensive nonfiction account of the battle, but a story that comes out of it. I do list all my sources at the end of my books so if my reader wants to learn more about a historical event I describe in my work they can find, what I believe to be, a good account.

That said, here’s the core truth of what happened at Chickamauga according to me:

The Federals were in a defensive battleline that extended north to south. The Confederates were concentrating their attacks on the Federal northern flank. The Federal commander was shifting units around to fortify that northern flank and in doing so, he inadvertently opened a gap in his center just as a secondary Confederate assault was approaching that very spot. The result was a complete rout. The Confederates punched through the Federal line, throwing them into a panicked retreat to Chattanooga. Only that northern flank held during the chaos that ensued allowing much of the Federal Army to escape annihilation.

That’s the simple truth in a nutshell. I elaborate much more in the novel I’m writing. I named the chapter about Chickamauga “The River of Death” because that’s the rough translation of the Cherokee name for the creek that twists and turns all through the battlefield. I think it’s a great metaphor for the battle itself. I can imagine the rush of Confederates breaking through the Federal line like a big gray river of death and destruction flooding the Federal defenses.

The Battlefield is massive and there’s a lot to take in, much more than we could on an overnight trip. So I wanted to nail down four things: Where was the point of the breakthrough. Where was the Federal commander’s headquarters? Where was Nathan Bedford Forrest’s division? If you didn’t know, Forrest figures prominently in my novels, more so than any other historical figure. His actions at and after Chickamauga are important to the plot of my current book.

Finally, I wanted to know where the 2nd Michigan Cavalry was.

[image error]

We found the monument to the 2nd Michigan. It was among many of the other regimental monuments. This was merely one of the areas the park had designated for monuments. It didn’t denote where the 2nd Michigan was during the battle.

The 2nd Michigan Cavalry spent most of the battle guarding the very southern flank of the Federal line at a place called Crawfish Springs. They were far from most of the action until the were called up to the very northern end of the line to join the effort to hold off the Rebels while the rest of the army escaped. A quaint little town called Chickamauga has sprung up there since the battle. We had a tough time finding the 2nd Michigan Cavalry’s historical marker. We finally did. It was hidden in some landscaping outside of a condominium. Here it is:

[image error]

I bet the residents were wondering who this weirdo was crawling around in their flower bed.

It was a really good trip. I learned a lot. I’m going to make some adjustments to what I’ve already written about the battle so far. I got to look at some replica cannons, which I’m very fond of, like this one below which I think I wrongly identified:

For the record, I’m pretty sure this is a regular 12-pound Howitzer. Mountain Howitzers also shoot a 12-pound ball, but they’re smaller and take an even lesser amount of powder to shoot. The mountain Howitzers are designed to be as light as possible so the can be carried into difficult places, like a mountain, for instance. I feature mountain Howitzers in my current novel, Blood for Blood at Nashville.

Well, that’s it. I hope you enjoy the new novel when it comes out. Maybe you’ll remember this article when you read the chapters that deal with this battle. If you want to get started on the series you can get the first book by clicking the link: Rampage on the River: The Battle for Island No. 10

Thanks for reading this!