Stirring Up the Monster: Demonstrating on Chattanooga in September 1863

Posted at the edge of Walden’s Ridge at the beginning of September 1863, one soldier of the 97th Ohio described how his brigade held Chattanooga under observation and stirred up the Confederates in town.

          “Occasionally our brigade, encamped in the valley, is sent down near town, to stir up the monster and make him show his teeth,” he wrote. “When it becomes known that they are going to do so, the edge of the cliff is lined with spectators. The firing can be distinctly seen but too distant to observe the effects of the shots.”

          The key objective of General George Wagner’s brigade was to demonstrate against Chattanooga, trying to convince Braxton Bragg that General Rosecrans’ army would try crossing the Tennessee River north of town. The distraction worked, allowing Rosecrans to cross most of his army downstream of town and setting in motion what would become the Battle of Chickamauga.

          The following letter, penned by a soldier who signed his name as L., first saw publication in the September 16, 1863, edition of the Zanesville Daily Courier.

 


Camp near Chattanooga, Tennessee

September 3, 1863

          For about two weeks we have been encamped on the heights overlooking Chattanooga, amusing ourselves by watching the operations in town. With field glasses we can see the windows in town and can distinguish persons walking or riding along the streets, troops marching and trains moving about the plain as you can distinguish objects in West Zanesville from the porch.

          These heights are about 2,000 feet above the river and distant from the town in a direct line nearly 7 miles and there being no intervening object to obstruct the view, we can with entire safety sit on the projecting crags and watch the firing below. Occasionally our brigade, encamped in the valley, is sent down near town, to stir up the monster and make him show his teeth. When it becomes known that they are going to do so, the edge of the cliff is lined with spectators. The firing can be distinctly seen but too distant to observe the effects of the shots.

          It is now a great question with us whether the place has been evacuated or not. When we first came here and for several days afterwards there was the greatest activity and commotion among the enemy. Troops were seen galloping through town, clouds of dust arising from the approaching roads and immense trains moving constantly. But it was impossible to ascertain whether they were evacuating, drawing in their lines or receiving reinforcements. The strongest glasses could not detect which wat the trains carried the loads or penetrate the dust to discover the cause. The minutest circumstances and occurrences were taken into consideration to try to determine what they were about, but all of no avail.

For instance, one day, a train was seen moving out slowly, consisting of two locomotives and but few cars. This would seem to indicate that they were removing some heavy load from town, siege guns or something of the kind. But they were taking them to Knoxville to operate against Burnside, to some fortification at a river ford above, or was it preparatory to evacuation? Deserters reported that the latter was the case and that all the heavy guns had been removed from the fortifications, but they could not be relied upon and other circumstances seemed to contradict it. The campfires did not diminish and whenever we fired at them, sometimes they did not reply but at others they replied with great vigor with 32-pounders and sometimes 64-pounders. No conclusion could be arrived at by us but it is happy thought that General Rosecrans is not so ignorant.

General William S. Rosecrans
Commanding, Army of the Cumberland

No casualties have happened on our side so far except on the first day that Wilder’s battery went down. One of his pieces was posted in a road firing into town when from the center of the street of which the road was an extension, there arose a 64-pounder which opened upon Wilder’s battery. The first shot killed four horses, dismounted the piece, and took off a man’s leg. James Newell, formerly of Zanesville and now a captain on Wilder’s staff, was in a house nearby taking observations. The next shot from the town, an 11-inch shell, exploded in a pigpen under the house, tearing up the floor and throwing him out the door and about four feet in the air, slightly interrupting his observations for the remainder of the day but doing no further damage.

Deserters say that Wilder’s shots killed a woman and wounded three or four men. Our battery has been down several times to prick the monster a little and see if he still showed fight. The first day, our side proposed an exchange of papers but the Rebels refused, saying that they exchanged nothing but bullets across the river. With that the battery opened; they were replied to be the fortifications on the hill north of town, but our guns were in a sheltered position and suffered no damage. The distance was too great for us to effect much and so we withdrew after giving the Chattanooga Rebel items in the way of a few shots, some of which passed through their office but with what damage I have not learned.        In this way and in doing heavy picket duty, our time is pretty much all occupied. We have a detachment guarding a path about two miles to the south of us. Their pickets extend to the river while the enemy are stationed upon the opposite shore. They are not as belligerent as they are nearer town and the boys sometimes converse with them and exchange papers, none of which, however, I have yet been able to obtain.

          I have said that it is a question with us whether the Rebels have evacuated or not. Supposing they have not, it is a matter of much speculation whether they will. It seems to me that they will not; in fact, I hope so. I wish this place to be a second and final Vicksburg. If Bragg does not make a stand here, it will result in an almost irrecoverable demoralization to his army. The Kentuckians and Tennesseans will be sure to leave it and in all probability the northern Georgians and Alabamians. Tennesseans have been coming into our lines in great numbers ever since we advanced from Murfreesboro. They seem think their state is forever lost to the Confederacy and therefore have lost all interest in the latter. If Chattanooga is evacuated, they will certainly know this and their conversion will be complete.


          If you look at a map, you will see that the town lies opposite to a peninsula of land formed by a sharp bend in the Tennessee River. Upon this peninsula there are four brigades: Wagner’s, Wilder’s, Hazen’s, and a brigade of cavalry. The army, which had been in our rear, in reserve and nearer to rations has concentrated at Bridgeport and is crossing the river. This is all I know of our position at present. Now for speculation. The river town is wife and deep with no fords. The enemy can cross no better than we can; therefore, for the present, the force here is sufficient to occupy the line of the river while the army from below having crossed over will be thrown around the town, thus completely encircling it with our occupation of this bank. The remainder has been told in the siege of Vicksburg, not omitting the result.

          All is quiet here now. The commotion attending our arrival has ceased. The town looked deserted; the fortifications show no living souls but a lone sentry pacing the parapets. The garrison flag flutters in the breeze, but all beneath is quiet as if in sleep, but it is like the sleep of a lion which when once aroused is fearfully terrible.

          But I must close as it is midnight. This reminds me of a fall night in Ohio. The wind blows and blusters and nestles among the leaves as it does in November at home and, strange as it may seem to you, the weather is uncomfortably cool. My fingers are almost benumbed and we had a cool spell during which two or three blankets were no more than comfortable. What do you think of that for September weather?

For further reading about the preliminary movements of the Army of the Cumberland before the Battle of Chickamauga, please check out the following posts:

Dispatches from Poe’s Tavern: The Army of the Cumberland on the Cusp of the Chickamauga Campaign

Crossing the Tennessee: The Army of the Cumberland Invades Georgia

Marching into Chattanooga with the 97th Ohio

Source:

Letter from L., 97th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Zanesville Daily Courier (Ohio), September 16, 1863, pg. 2


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