Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga

[lothaw]

What if, after his victory at Chickamauga, Bragg had followed up with a more aggressive pursuit and was able to destroy Rosecrans' army at Chattanooga before Grant and Sherman could reinforce him?

This could be very possible. Nathan Bedford Forrest, in his usual diplomatic manner, advised Bragg to follow up his victory at Chickamauga as aggressively as possible. James Longstreet was mentioned several times as a replacement for Bragg.

Supposing a massive assault on Chattanooga, Rosecrans was literally against the wall and had no where to retreat. If his entire army of some 40,000 men was destroyed what effect would this have on the war?

Would Grant come east the next spring when the Army of Tennesse has just shown it still has teeth? For that matter would Grant even be promoted?

Assuming this victory, would this almost certainly mean another campaign for Bragg? Or would he be replaced anyways? Joe Johnson and Pete Longstreet would be possible candidites. Putting the Army under Longstreet's command would be interesting, given the kind of tactics he came up with. Though it would weaken Lee next spring, even if he get's the 1st Corps back(under the command of Hood perhaps?).

If Grant stays in the west, how would Meade fare against Lee in 1864? He's every bit as competent as Grant, though far less aggressive. Would he call it quits after a Wilderness like battle or follow up an aggressive campaign like Grant did?

For that matter what effect would these two victories have on Northern morale? Would this offset the fall of Vicksburg and the defeat of Gettysburg's impact on public opinion? If the Army of Tennesse is still a going concern, what does this do to Lincoln come election time?

 

[Nytram01]

While Braxton Bragg had his own little saving-graces as a general (namely his logistical capabilities) being agressive when the situation called for it was not his strong point.

He proved this at Harrodsburg when he and General Edmund Kirby Smith linked up their forces and for the only time in the history of the conflict outnumbered his adversary and , as General Basil W. Duke said, "every other conceivable factor was in their favor" and rather than return to Perryville and smash General Don Carlos Buell's army, as the situation called for, he chose to retreat to Tennessee, attributing his decision to do so on the lack of support for the Confederacy in Kentucky.

Bragg was not the kind of General who would smash an Army that was on the brink of destruction and, dare I say it, neither was Joe Johnston or James Longstreet.

Uncle Joe would have used the opportunity to reinforce the Army he Tennessee he may have launched somekind of offenisve but would be more likely to try a seige, as Bragg did. The difference between Joe Johnston and Bragg is that Joe would not hang around and let Grant and Sherman reinforce the Army of the Cumberland, he would have either tried to force the surrender of the AotC before Grant and Sherman coud link up with it or he would have withrawn to safer more defensible positions.

If James Longstreet's previous experience in individual command and against entrenched enemies in OTL is anything to go by then he would have launched into a seige as well and you would be presented with basically the same scenario as Joe Johnston's version above.

So neither Bragg not Johnston nor Longstreet would have smashed the AotC to peices but there was one man on hand who could have done so and and would have done so given the chance and that man was Daniel Harvey Hill. But unfortunately for the Confederacy General Hill had a tendency to say the wrong things for his career to progress and in criticising Bragg for his inability to conduct the battle of Chickamauga more efficently and capitolise on the victory he finally broke the last tender string of patience Davis was prepared to show to the man who had before criticise Robert E. Lee and many of Davis' favorites.

D.H. Hill was effectively demoted, sent into forced retirement in North Carolina for the entire Atlanta Campaign and was turned away by Davis' for any role in any theatre of the war from then on. He only got back into the war becuse General Beauregard asked him to help out and even when he commanding a division at Bentonville he wasn't officially a Confederate General anymore.

If D.H. Hill wasn't so prone to saying the wrong thing and rubbing people the wrong way he would have been perfect for the Army of Tennessee.

Those are my thoughts on this at the moment, I might think more on this later.

 

[lothaw]

I do remember Bragg had his buddy Jeff Davis block D.H. Hill's promotion to Lieutenant General before getting rid of him as well.

Bragg was like McClellan in a lot of ways. Those two were both terrible field commanders, but would've both probably made terrific Chiefs of Staff.

Even if the Army of the Cumberland isn't destroyed, just the possibility of Longstreet taking command in the west is intruging. He probably would've been more aggressive than Johnson.