Johnston Given Department of Tennessee

Johnston

After his defeat at the Battle of Chattanooga, Braxton Bragg, commander of the Confederate army, offered his resignation on November 29, and President Jefferson Davis quickly accepted it. But he had trouble deciding on a replacement. William Hardee, the senior corps commander, took over temporary command. But he did not want it permanently, having seen the responsibility and governmental politics it involved. He recommended Joseph E. Johnston, as did Polk, another corps commander. Davis did not like Johnston and doubted whether he was willing to attack the enemy. The only other officer in the Confederacy of that rank was P. G. T. Beauregard, and Davis thought he would be even worse. The generals and the soldiers wanted Joe Johnston, but many in Richmond were not sure he had what it took. But finally, after nearly a month, Davis accepted the inevitable, and gave Johnston command of the Confederate army.

William Hardee

Lincoln's 10% Plan

In December of 1863, the Civil War was still far from over. Major Confederate armies still remained under Bragg and Lee, but overall it had been a good year for the Federals. Lee's second invasion of the north had been defeated by Meade at Gettysburg in July, and just the next day Vicksburg fell to Grant, and the Mississippi River was captured, dividing the Confederacy in half. The Union suffered their greatest defeat in the west at Chickamauga, but when Grant arrived he turned the campaign around and broke the siege of Chattanooga.

Lincoln, 1863

With these new victories to his credit, Lincoln turned his mind to how to reintegrate the southern states back into the nation. This task was not without its problems. Except for a few areas like East Tennessee, the vast majority of the voters in the southern states supported the Confederate war effort, and they would not go back kindly into the country they were fighting to leave. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect January 1^st 1863, declared the slaves in the Confederacy free, which created social problems for the United States. Nearly 40% of people in the south would be freed from their slavery, overthrowing the entire culture of the south.

To address the question of how states would rejoin the USA, Lincoln released The Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, explaining what would come to be called the 10% Plan. He would fully pardon anyone who participated in the rebellion who was not a member of the government, or fell into a few other cases, if they swore to support the U.S. Constitution, the Union and the United State's new policy on slavery. He also said that a loyal southern state government would be recognized if it was formed by a group who swore the loyalty oath which numbered 10% of those who voted in 1860.

Lincoln

The terms Lincoln offered were lenient. In exchange for giving up slavery, most of those who participated in the war would be pardoned, and they could quickly rejoin the nation as a full state. But Lincoln could not unilaterally offer these terms. In his proclamation he recognized that the Constitution gives Congress the right to control their own membership. If they disagreed with Lincoln they could refuse to seat elected Congressmen from the southern states, denying recognition of those governments.

Cartoon of Lincoln rebuilding the Union

Lincoln would meet opposition in his plan for reconstruction from the radical Republicans. They believed that the southerners needed to be punished for their rebellion, and they wanted a much longer reconstruction process which would involve a reconstruction of the entire southern society and economy. This question would not be resolved before Lincoln's death, and it would continue to be debated for many years.  

Battle of Fort Sanders

Ambrose Burnside, having gotten ahead of the pursing army of James Longstreet at the Battle of Campbell's Station, arrived in the works around Knoxville, Tennessee on November 17. The Confederates came up as well, and began to consider an attack. Longstreet decided that Fort Sanders was the most vulnerable point on the Yankee line. It was west of the town, positioned at a salient in the earthworks. It was 70 feet high and surrounded by an 8 foot ditch.

The Confederate positions were 2,400 yards from the fort. Longstreet's attack plan called for three brigades to be used. No artillery bombardment would be made, to avoid alerting the Federals of the attack, but this advantage was lost anyway because skirmishers were deployed long before the actual attack was made.

The southerners attacked at dawn on November 29th, after a cold night, with rain and snow falling. Moving out, they encountered obstacles made of telegraph wire which strung to trip the men. Alerted to the attack, the Federals opened fire and began shooting the rebels down. Eventually the Confederates made it to the fort, and jumped down into the ditch. But here they were confronted with a problem. Looking through binoculars at the position, Longstreet saw a Union soldier walking across the ditch. Not realizing that the man was on a narrow plank, he concluded that the ditch was very shallow and that scaling ladders would not be needed. But down in the ditch, the Confederates discovered the truth was much different. It was nearly impossible to climb out of the ditch onto the wall, especially slippery frozen as it was. The Confederates fruitlessly tried to dig footholds in the earth, as the Federals poured musketry into the packed men and stabbed with their bayonets, even tossing down artillery shells as hand grenades. Some southerners made it to the parapet by standing on each others shoulders. Several flags were planted on the top, but no breakthrough was made.

Union engineers on the battlefield

After 20 minutes Longstreet recalled his men. It was one of the most disastrous attacks of the entire war. The attack had been badly planned, and victory was nearly impossible without ladders. The Confederates lost 813 men, the Federals only 13. This reverse. Combined with the defeat of Bragg at Chattanooga, ended the Siege of Knoxville, and the Confederate's attempt to gain control of East Tennessee.

The First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is the 150th annual celebration of the holiday in American history. Although the holiday is traditionally associated with the Pilgrim's Thanksgiving in the 1600s, its celebration annually by the nation begun in 1863 with a proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. Before that time, Thanksgiving days were called on special occasions. To learn more about the history of Thanksgiving, watch this video from Discerning History.

Battle of Ringgold Gap

After the Confederates were defeated at Chattanooga, Bragg retreated south towards Atlanta. When the army passed Ringgold Gap, he ordered Cleburne to hold it to the last ditch so the rest of the army could escape. Although it was considered to be a suicide assignment, Cleburne and his men did it gloriously. On November 27^th, 150 years ago today, they held the gap successfully, giving Hooker there the same reception they gave Sherman on Missionary Ridge. Covering the hill with slain, they effectively stopped the pursuit in its tracks. Hooker lost around 509 men, Cleburne 221.

Cleburne

Bragg halted his discouraged men, and as he had after the battle of Murfreesboro, offered to turn over his command. This time this offer was accepted. In his time as commander of the Army of Tennessee, Bragg had fought four battles, and although three could be claimed as victories, in two of those cases he followed his claimed victory with a retreat. Although he had penetrated deep into Kentucky, his mistakes had led him into a disastrous retreat from an almost impregnable position. Jefferson Davis would eventually decide to replace him with Joseph E. Johnston. Johnston had shown on several occasions that he was very hesitant to fight, but the president could find no better man for the job. 

Mine Run Campaign

Since the Battle of Gettysburg the armies in Virginia had not met in a major battle. But both Meade and Lee maneuvered and skirmished, trying to gain an advantage over the other. At the end of November and beginning of December this would result in the Mine Run Campaign. Meade tried to gain a march on Lee and strike his right across the Rapidan river. But the Federals got bogged down while crossing the river, and Lee was alerted to their movement. He sent the Second Corps, under the temporary command of Jubal Early, to meet the Federal advance. Spearheaded by the Stonewall Division under “Allegheny” Johnson, the Yankee movement was blunted.

Lee

That night Lee withdrew to a line of prepared fortifications along Mine Run. Meade planned to attack on December 1, but after a heavy bombardment he was convinced that Lee's position was too strong. Lee gave orders to hit to Union left flank, which his cavalry had discovered was in the air. But when the southerners move out the next day, they found the Union position empty. Meade had fallen back during the night. Lee was very frustrated with this, and said, “I am too old to command this army. We never should have permitted those people to get away.” This ended the campaigning in Virginia for 1863. 

Battle of Chattanooga

Tunnel Hill
150 years ago today, the Federals executed their attack on the Confederates at Chattanooga. Hooker was to continue to press on the Confederate right, Sherman on the left, and Thomas in the center. Sherman was at a positioned called Tunnel Hill. His 16,600 men were met at first by only 4,000 under Patrick Cleburne, who barely made it back to the battle in time. Cleburne's brave men were entrenched on Tunnel Hill which took its name from the railroad tunnel which cut through it. Sherman had chosen the strongest position on the Confederate line to attack. At dawn he sent two brigades forward under Brigadier General John Corse. They were stopped hard by Cleburne's men. The Confederates could throw stones down from their position and do almost as much damage as the bullets they shot. Corse's men could make no headway and were forced back. Sherman sent more lines forward, dashing them against Cleburne's line. One Federal wrote,

We had been concealed from the enemy all the forenoon by the edge of a wood; yet his constant shelling of this wood showed that he knew we were there. As the column came out upon the open ground, and in sight of the rebel batteries, their renewed and concentrated fire knocked the limbs from the trees about out heads. An awful cannonade had opened on us. ... I had heard the roaring of heavy battle before, but never such a shrieking of cannon-balls and bursting of shells as met us on that run. We could see the rebels working their guns, while in plain view other batteries galloped up, unlimbered and let loose upon us. ... In ten minutes the field was crossed, the foot of the ascent was reached, and now the Confederates poured into our faces the reserved fire of their awful musketry. It helped little that we returned it from our own rifles, hidden as the enemy were in rifle pits, behind logs, and stumps, and trees. ... Then someone cried, 'Look to the tunnel!' There, on the right, pouring through a tunnel in the mountain, and out of the railway cut, came the graycoats by hundreds, flanking us completely. ... They were through by the hundreds, and a fatal enfilading fire was cutting our line to pieces.

Sherman continued attacking for six hours, never breaking through the rebel line. When the Federals gained any foothold, Cleburne shifted his troops and launched a strong counterattack, himself at the head of his men. Charging down the hill they broke the Federal lines. By late in the afternoon, Sherman's attacks had accomplished nothing. He had lost almost 2,000 men, while Cleburne had skillfully held his position, loosing only about 200. One Confederate who visited the battlefield wrote,

They had swept their front clean of Yankies, indeed, when I went up about sundown the side of the ridge in their front was strewn with dead yankies & looked like a lot of boys had been sliding down the hill side, for when a line of the enemy would be repulsed, they would start down hill & soon the whole line would be rolling down like a ball, it was so steep a hill side there.

Grant watching the battle

Missionary Ridge
Not all of the Confederate line had put up such a good fight as Cleburne. The odds in the center of the Confederate line were much better for the Confederates. While Cleburne had only one division to fight six, here Bragg had four to Thomas's five. In the center, Grant ordered Thomas to go forward at 3:30 pm after it was clear Sherman was making no headway. Ten minutes after the order was given, six cannon rang out, the signal for the 25,000 Federals to move forward towards the Confederate gun pits. Bragg had 112 cannon on the 400 foot ridge, and they opened at once on the advancing Northerners. The cannon balls tore into the Federal lines, but they were not halted. They broke into a run towards the ridge, with yells of "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!", remembering their defeat of a few weeks before. They rushed forward and captured the line of rifle pits. The second Confederate line in the middle of the ridge opened a heavy fire upon the intruders. At first the men were pinned down, but instead of fleeing, the men began to move slowly up the slope. They had no orders to advance, they moved of their own accord. They wanted to come to grips with the enemy rather than lay there and be shot. One Yankee wrote:

Above, the summit of the hill was one sheet of flame and smoke, and the awful explosions of artillery and musketry made the earth fairly tremble. Below, the columns of dark blue, with the old banner of beauty and of glory leading them on, were mounting up with leaning forms.... Cannon shot tore through their ranks; musket balls were rapidly and tearfully decimating them; behind them, the dead and wounded lay thick as autumn leaves.... With a wild cheer and a madder rush our men dashed forward, and for a few moments a sharp, desperate, almost hand-to-hand fight with bayonet and ball ensued. Before this resistless assault the rebel line was lifted as by a whirlwind, and borne backward, shattered, bleeding and confused.

The strong position was not taken just because of the bravery of the Federal troops, there were problems with the position itself. Although it was strong naturally, that strength made the defenders careless. The order for the first line to fall back after a few volleys had not been communicated to all the troops, so there was confusion and demoralization. The engineers had also made a bad mistake, placing the top line of rifle pits on the geographical crest rather than the military crest. On Missionary Ridge the defenders had blind spots, since they were on the actual crest. When the Federals came up the hill, not stopped by the Confederate volleys, the men broke and ran for the rear. The officers tried to stem the rout, but it was of no use. Bragg himself tried to rally them, but they ignored him. “Grey clad men rushed wildly down the hill and into the woods,” a Yankee wrote, “tossing away knapsacks, muskets and blankets as they ran. Batteries galloped back along the narrow, winding roads with reckless speed, and officers, frantic with rage, rushed from one panic-stricken group to another, shouting and cursing as they strove to check the headlong flight, but all in vain.”

37 cannon and 3000 men were captured, and Bragg himself barely made his escape. The Confederate center was completely wrecked. the Federals had suffered heavily as well. Sheridan alone, who had delivered the heaviest assault, had lost 1,346 of his 6500 men. Some regiments had over half their men killed or wounded. They halted for a time at the top of the ridge, resting on their gains. The Confederates on the left and right of the line tried to contain the breakthrough as much as possible, fighting the Federals from both directions. Cleburne's men held their ground until after sunset, and they retreated last, the unbroken rear guard of Bragg's army.

Missionary Ridge

During the course of this several day battle for Chattanooga, Bragg had lost 361 killed, 2160 wounded and 4146 captured, while Grant had 753 killed, 4722 wounded and 349 captured. But more importantly, Confederate control of Chattanooga, the gateway to the South, had been lost. Many mistakes had been made which caused Bragg to lose his very strong position. He had bad relations with many of his subordinates, causing some very talented men to have to be removed from his command so that the army could continue to function. Longstreet had been sent to East Tennessee, weakening the force. The entrenchments on Missionary Ridge had been badly positioned, and orders to the men had been confused. By this time, most of the Confederates were veterans. They knew when to stand and fight and when to run. When they thought they had no chance of success, they ran, with the exception of Cleburne's men on the right.