I ' m sorry . This is a Gettysburg thread isn ' t it ?! Haha ! Slap me one time . I got caught up in the whole CW thing .
Just a side note though . As far as Bragg goes , he had a terrible personality by all accounts , and was little better as a general . It was N . B . Forrest who once said he would " slap his ( Bragg ' s ) jowls ". Bragg had quite a talent for ****ing off just about everyone around him . If I ' m not mistaken the quote was taken during the Chickamauga battle .
I think your number on Union casualties is a typo . The numbers of wounded and dead were very bad on both sides . Looks like you left a " 0 " out of the Union figures there .
By all accounts , the Chickamauga victory could have been a major setback for the Union had Bragg pushed his advantage . He had the entire Union army in route yet because of his casualties " was unwilling to beleive he had achieved a great victory " as one source puts it . He decided not to pursue the defeated Union army , ala Meade at Gettysburg . That was when Forrest , utterly disgusted at yet another mismanagement , unloaded on Bragg . Even going so far as calling him a coward , which I do not beleive Bragg was . I think he was a bad general is all . I admire Bragg ' s concern for his men . That ' s about the nicest thing I can say about Braxton Bragg .
I visited Lookout Mtn about 2 years ago when my mother lived in Scottsboro . Enjoyed it a lot . They have a nice park there . I remember telling my mother and wife that if you had given me a few thousand men , no one could push me off this mountain . Anyone who has ever been to Lookout Mtn can attest to what I mean . How Union forces even made it up the mountain is a mystery to me .
I think it has more to do with Bragg ' s generalship and his army ' s moral more than anything . The guy lost almost every battle he ever fought . The only thing that kept him in charge was Jeff Davis , who was a close personal friend .
The best thing Davis ever did for the Army of Tennessee was put John Bell Hood in command . Although Hood ' s command was a disaster , he was a fighter of great stature , and commanded emmediate respect from his men . From the reports I ' ve seen ( I also have his memoirs , and I ' m sure they are biased
) the moral of the AofT was greatly improved when fighting under Hood . Atleast he fought . He attacked his enemy instead of constantly retreating . The men seem to apreciate this spirit a lot more than constant retreat and re - deployment .
I do think Hood mismanaged the army and was a far better commander at the division level . But at the same time , he was given a group of " losers " at a point in the war in which he could not possibly succeed .
Just my opinion .
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"Crimson Tide. The polite way of saying bloodbath".
Craig Kilborne Show
