Battle of Chickamauga

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga, the greatest Confederate victory in the west, during the Civil War. One Union soldier wrote this of Patrick Cleburne’s attack on the first day of fighting:

On they come, in the very face of fire and lead, until the strike the right of our regiment… but when too close to load and fire, the rebels were clubbed over the head and checked for the moment, while, instinctively, both sides recoiled a few steps without breaking the lines, and with that cool, deliberate determination and recklessness which characterizes all soldiers after breathing an atmosphere strongly impregnated with powder smoke, these deadly foes practiced the art of loading and firing in a manner that I believe was never surpassed on any battle field during the rebellion.

View the coverage of the battle of the Civil War 150th blog.