Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale: The Battle of Chickamauga, September 18-20, 1863

The battle of Chickamauga brought an early fall to the Georgia countryside in 1863, where men fell like autumn leaves in some of the heaviest fighting of the war. The battlefield consisted of a nearly impenetrable, vine-choked forest around Chickamauga Creek. Unable to see beyond their immediate surroundings, officers found it impossible to exercise effective command, and the engagement deteriorated into what many participants later called “a soldier’s battle.” It was, explained Union Gener...