The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory Quotes

“Unlike Gettysburg, Chickamauga does not contain imposing statues of Thomas, Longstreet, or any other general officer.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“the men who rallied and initially held Horseshoe Ridge did so with little regard to tactical manuals. They simply refused to quit.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“the Federals who rallied atop Horseshoe Ridge did so of their own volition, and the initial gathering there had as much to do with individual tenacity and a stubborn unwillingness to admit defeat as it did with the presence of any general.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“September 19 bears the hallmarks of a large-scale meeting engagement, albeit one seemingly conducted with most of the participants blindfolded.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“Bragg was a good strategist, a competent planner, a solid logistician, and demonstrably capable of turning civilians into first-rate soldiers through training and discipline. He was also a failure as a leader, incapable of inspiring loyalty among his subordinates or forging disparate personalities into a functioning combat command. He could be remarkably inflexible on a field of battle.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“For reasons that remain obscure, Ingraham’s body was never removed from the battlefield. After the war, the Reed family marked his grave with a proper headstone and encircled it with an iron fence.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“Union regiments counted officers as well as enlisted men as a matter of course, but Confederate formations often omitted their officers in their own accounting–”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“Thomas’s deployment on the morning of September 21 encompassed less than one-third of the overall length needed to secure all of Chattanooga’s approaches.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863

“If Rosecrans wanted to establish a line on this encircling high ground, he would need a large number of men to do so. Troops would have to man the entire length of Missionary Ridge at least as far as Rossville, more troops would be needed to hold the two miles of valley, and then additional forces at the foot, on the plateau, and on the top of Lookout. In all, this line would require about 100,000 men to properly man all the necessary defensive works. In the immediate aftermath of Chickamauga, however, Rosecrans had at most 30,000.”
― David A. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign—Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863