This study is a historical analysis of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne’s Division during the Battle of Chickamauga. Cleburne’s Division earned a reputation as one of the best divisions in either army. This reputation also carried with it lofty expectations. This study analyzes how Cleburne’s Division performed at Chickamauga and what the effects of its actions were on the overall outcome of the battle. The Battle of Chickamauga has suffered its share of historical neglect. Fought in the forests and mountains of northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee, the battle has not been immortalized by any stirring fictional works, nor has it inspired any feature films, but the story of the men who fought there is worth studying. Cleburne’s Division did not distinguish itself at Chickamauga. It launched a confused, disjointed night attack to close out the first day of the battle, but determined leaders succeed in capturing their objectives. Day two of the battle saw Cleburne’s Division attack four hours late. It was quickly repulsed while suffering horrific casualties. While the Confederate left wing routed the Union Army, Cleburne’s Division nursed their wounds before finally advancing at sunset, as the Union withdrew from the battlefield.

“Focuses on the extensive contributions to the pyrrhic Confederate victory at Chickamauga made by the brave Lone Star State soldiers.” —Eric J. Wittenberg, award–winning author of Destined to Fail After Gettysburg, it was the Civil War’s largest battle, but until recently, little of consequence had been written about Chickamauga. You can count on one hand the number of authors who have tackled Chickamauga in any real depth, and most of their works cover the entire battle. Left unmined and mostly forgotten are the experiences of specific brigades, regiments, and state-affiliated troops. Scott Mingus and Joseph Owen’s Unceasing Fury: Texans at the Battle of Chickamauga, September 18–20, 1863 is the first full-length book to examine in detail the role of troops from the Lone Star State. Texas troops fought in almost every major sector of the sprawling Chickamauga battlefield, from the first attacks on September 18 on the bridges spanning the creek to the final attack on Snodgrass Hill on September 20. Fortunately, many of the survivors left vivid descriptions of battle action, the anguish of losing friends, the pain and loneliness of being so far away from home, and their often-colorful opinions of their generals. The authors of this richly detailed study based their work on hundreds of personal accounts, memoirs, postwar newspaper articles, diaries, and other primary sources. Their meticulous work provides the first exploration of the critical role Texas enlisted men and officers played in the three days of fighting near West Chickamauga Creek in September 1863. Unceasing Fury provides the Lone Star State soldiers with the recognition they have so long deserved.

This thesis is a historical analysis of Major General James Negley and his division during the Battle of Chickamauga. An examination of Negley, his actions, his major subordinate commanders, and the regiments of the division was conducted to provide a base with which to evaluate the principals during the Chickamauga Campaign of 1863. On 19 September, the division fought well as, and served to arrest a Confederate penetration of the Federal lines. The division was piecemealed into the fight on 20 September by brigade, and regiments. Negley ended up commanding fifty Federal artillery pieces on Snodgrass Hill and withdrew them to support the Union collapse upon Chattanooga. Negley was relieved after the battle, and charged with removing the artillery prematurely. He was acquitted of all charges during a subsequent court of inquiry; however, he never received another command. The relief of Negley tarnished an otherwise solid performance by the division during the two day battle. This study analyzes Negley and his division during the Battle of Chickamauga and draws conclusions using the battle command competencies as a framework: seeing the enemy, seeing the terrain, knowing yourself, visualizing the battle, and seeing into the future.

This study investigates the history of the Confederate Army of Tennessee from formation under command of Braxton Bragg through the eve of Chickamauga. The specific question to be answered is whether the Army of Tennessee was presented opportunities to destroy the Union Army of the Cumberland prior to Chickamauga, and if so why they were not taken advantage of. Answering this question requires an examination of the history of the Army of Tennessee prior to September 1863, with emphasis on Braxton Bragg’s personality and abilities. Between September 9th and 10th 1863 Bragg had a concrete opportunity to destroy a large part of the Army of the Cumberland in McLemore’s Cove, and over succeeding days he identified other favorable situations that might have led to successful attacks on isolated Union Corps. He was, however, unable to orchestrate a successful strike against the separated Federal units. A key contributor to the failures was the poor Confederate command climate that had developed in the Army of Tennessee over the preceding year. Bragg’s Corps commanders and some Division commanders lacked confidence in Bragg’s abilities. This led them to hesitate when prompt obedience was called for. Bragg himself grew frustrated by his inability to compel heartfelt cooperation from his principal subordinates and became unwilling to take a bold risk when opportunity appeared.

This text offers a critical biography of Patrick Cleburne. It explores the sources of Cleburne's commitment to the Southern cause, his growth as a combat leader from Shiloh to Chickamauga and his emergence as one of the Confederacy's most effective field commanders.

"The battle of Bentonville, in which Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederates launched a massive assault against one wing of Gen. William T. Sherman's Federal army, was the military climax of the long overlooked but critical Carolinas Campaign. It was also the Southern Confederacy's final hurrah. ... The war that had dragged on year after blood year drew to a close for these armies just thirty-six days after Bentonville, when Johnston surrendered his men at the Bennett farm house on April 26, 1865"--Jacket

Thomas C. Hindman, an ardent defender of slavery and state rights, was the most explosive force in Arkansas politics in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War. Energetic in championing a cause, fiery of temperament, and persuasively eloquent in speech, Hindman successfully led fights against Know Nothingism and the machine that had controlled the state's politics. He carried his fight against the abolitionists to Congress and vigorously campaigned for Arkansas' secession from the Union. Mindman raised a regiment at his own expense and drafted the ordinance that created Arkansas' military board. He quickly advanced from the rank of colonel to major general and for a time was commander of the Trans-Mississippi district. When he was reassigned east of the Mississippi, he participated in some of the most pivotal battles of the war, receiving injuries at Chickamauga and the Atlanta campaign. After the war, Hindman joined other Confederate refugees in Mexico. When Maximillian's government collapsed, Hindman returned to Arkansas, unpardoned and disenfranchised, and became the leader of the "Young Democracy, " a group willing to work within the bounds of the first Reconstruction Act. He had begun to build a biracial coalition to compete with the state's Republicans when he was shot at home by an unknown assassin on 27 September 1868.