Questions from a Young Journalist or answered questions from a young journalism professor, and he was easily one of the most patient answerers is have ever met in my years. His graciousness made a profound impact on me as i was getting started, so i owe a great deal of personal gratitude and debt to jim. Im extremely excited to have him come up here. Jim actually spent some time live in the caretakers cottage once upon a time. He had many stations during his tenure with the parks service. Time without. Some he has spent many years tutoring and mentoring generations of civil war buffs. Very few of us in the field know anyone who has made a greater impact in the real van jim ogden during than jim ogden his tenure at the park service. Mr. Ogden thank you, chris, and i think im going to have to start off i getting out of your site for a minute. The owner of the computer is here, so that will save me having to learn another one thank you for the introduction, and ask, everybody, involved with emerging civil war and having me up to speak. Im glad to do it. Thank you all for coming out and participating in this symposium. With thet these issues war. I hope that most of you all have had a chance to visit chickamauga at Chattanooga National park at one time or another. There certainly is a lot to see re, and if you have not visited in recent years, thanks to the assistance of several , somevation organizations additional areas of the then preserved. Not all of that ground is yet open, and some of it that has been preserved in the last 15 or 20 years has only limited access you have your hiking boots on and the right time of the year, there are more parts of the battlefield in the chattanooga area that you can get on now and consider the where theythe ground actually occurred. If you have spent much time at youchickamauga battlefield, certainly no part of the story and kind of the deciding moment in the battle. Notice i did not use the term be the and may , and maybe later on i will define what i mean. You may be familiar with this first quote i will start with. Our lines emerged into the border of long, open fields, over which the enemy were retreating under the cover of several batteries, which were arranged on the crest of a ridge running up to the corner of a stubble yield and of one battery on our level front, posted in the elevation of our wheels. Scene now presented was unspeakably grand. The resolute and impetuous charge, the rush of our heavy columns sweeping out of the shadow and gloom of the forest into the open fields flooded with sunlight, the glitter of dash ofhe onward artillery and mounted men, the retreat of the foe, the shouts of the host of our army, the smoke, the noise of firearms, of whistling balls and great shot, and a bursting shell made up a battle scene of unsurpassed grandeur. Here generals hood gave me the last order i received from him on the field go ahead and keep ahead of everything. How this order was obeyed will be best determined by those who investigate all the details of his battle. That comes from the Brigadier General commanding the led inonal division that the in what is long streets. Rand charge at chickamauga it is, as i said, the deciding moment, really, in determining the outcome of the battle, creating chickamauga as a tactical victory for can veterans. More to thata lot story, and that is what i want to spend a few minutes on tonight. Many james long street fans out there who want to have longstreetstreet looking into the future and seeing what will happen in the next few hours or minutes. If we were on the battlefield standing at the win of the breakthrough, i might even motioned towards a large pinetree on the east side of the lafayette road and say James Longstreet fans would like to have old peeking around the edge of that pinetree to see thomas Woods Division moving out of the battle line. Y of us will be familiar many of us will be familiar with sat formation for longstreet attack. One of the maps out of date powell dave powells a very useful, very helpful maps of chickamauga. Look, youome out to should have a copy of that with you, but on that app there is, of course, this formation right hood passhe center, formation on september 20, those troops stacked in that column inmation that dave talked the new york that dave talked about a minute ago. You have this night, need formation depicted just minutes before he will send the other troops forward. That was not at all what he had originally intended or even what thatally wound up with on morning of september 20. Of course, the decision had been made in Early September as a William Stark rosenkranzs approach to chattanooga, that importing a way to the industrial heartland and Braxton Bragg cries for reinforcement as a result of the approach, confederate authorities in richmond made the decision to not only reinforce bragg toss army with large numbers of troops from mississippi and also from east tennessee, but eventually to send two divisions of the first core of the army of Northern Virginia under James Longstreet to virginia, and of course, we could have another symposiums time in the future to talk about the important rail moves of the , and this one that is commonly used to illustrate the use of that new transportation medium in the war. Longstreets command wound its milethe circuitous 970 route through the eastern carolinas that into georgia, to atlanta and northward to join , arriving in almost dribs and drabs beginning on september 15 as a result of the distance, the number of rail lines that were necessary to make that move and the deteriorating condition of the confederate rail system. Longstreet himself and part of his staff did not arrive in the area of braggs army until about 2 00 p. M. On the afternoon of september 19. They will arrive at catoosa platform, a stop on that Railroad Just a little bit south although technically just east of georgia, a platform that had been developed by the railroad as a place for those visiting the Mineral Springs to get off of the western Atlantic Railroad and takehome carriages to those Mineral Springs. Those Mineral Springs were the resort facilities at those minerals rings springs had served as confederate hospitals in 1862 and into the summer of 1863. That is where Braxton Bragg was the very detailed Braxton Bragg and his ill wife had so their bones in those Mineral Springs in july and august of 1863. That is where Braxton Bragg was on the day that the bombardment of chattanooga began to announce the approach. Longstreet will this embark disembark in the area of catoosa platform because the destruction of bridges on the western Atlantic Railroad as rags army had retreated out of chattanooga 11, thember 9, 10, and Bedford Forrest cavalry screening that withdrawal in the area had earned a number of bridges on the western Atlantic Railroad. As a result, the railroad did not operate the aunt catoosa platform, and there is good evidence that no train could actually reach the platform it self itself. Longstreet himself and none of his staff will indicate exactly how they got their horses off the train with the train carrying those horses arrived a little later on, but john bell hood, who had arrived the day before said that to get his horse off of the train, they had to jump the horse off of the boxcar that it was in. The reason that they were not unloading right of the platform itself and also why longstreet and his staff had to wait almost two hours for the train carrying their horses was that to accommodate the number of troops that were being moved, the railroad was being operated. N section this was actually a common form of Railroad Operation at that time, given the limited power of the locomotives, only a certain number of cars they could pull, particularly if the cars were loaded, so they had an elaborate system of the and able to operate one locomotive, a string of cars, another locomotive, a string of cars, and they could do this 2, 3, 4 trains thats, a series of flags indicating if there were following trains or not. Apparently on the ride up from atlanta, one of the trains in further back than the one longstreet himself was on will break down, his having to wait the additional two hours for the arrival of their horses, asonce the trains arrived one of the Staff Officers will say, the rickety train pulled up , they willand bangs he andir horses, and another staff officer will set out for the battlefield. The sound of battle roaring off in the distance. Braxton bragg is often criticized for not having anyone at catoosa platform to meet James Longstreet, and while he certainly could have been a better commander, i will defend him here. It was not braggs responsibility to have somebody at the railroad to meet James Longstreet. Since 3 00 a. M. On the morning of september 17, another of longstreets Staff Officers has headquarters. S or someone he arranged not at the railroad to meet longstreet . And the party will set out toward the sound of battle. They will work their way using the sound of battle as a guide. At one point in the move, they almost captured after dark when they nearly ride into union picket line along Chickamauga Creek at some point. The exact route longstreet traveled toward the battlefield is not known, but in his memoir, he notes that as they move toward the sound of battle, Wounded Soldiers were coming into the road that they were on from the right, which would suggest he is moving more southwestward from the area of ringgold, having passed through Taylors Ridge after leaving. Atoosa platform but after nearly writing into sharplines and making a right about, they will gallop away from the hasty and surprised fire of the union. Ickets they will, as they approach the battlefield itself, encounter Lieutenant General lee and i leonidasleonardos polk. Polk, at the moment longstreet him,is party encounters was headed back to his own headquarters near alexanders bridge. Longstreet and his party will not reach braggs headquarters until near 11 00 at night. It may, however, have actually been later. It may have been around midnight before longstreet found braggs at or nears located bedfords ford. They found Braxton Bragg asleep , and after he is will joinlongstreet bragg, and there will be a betweenconversation bragg and longstreet. Longstreet will briefly relate that meeting. The artillery consisted of majors williams, robertson, and leiden together with some other batteries attached to brigades. This brief description by longstreet indicates the reorganization of braggs army that bragg had instituted on the evening of the 19th. In fact, Organization Number 11 in the 14daytime that is going. O end with september 20 how would you like to work with an organization that reorganizes almost daily . Sure, atou have, im some point in your careers. Bragg toss reorganization of the army into the left and right wing was something that he had begun even by late morning when he had assigned on the 19th to take command of troops on the right. Longstreet will go on and say the commanding general gave him and that showing roads and streams between Lookout Mountain and the chickamauga river, and a general description of the position. That longstreet refers to is probably a portion of the principal map that was in Braxton Braggs headquarters at. He time this is plate 48 in the official records at less, and, yes, i know on this screen it is not toss of a to see all of the. Etails of the map a scale of two miles to the it is not but likely that longstreet received a copy of this entire map. More probably, he received a portion of it. He says he was given a map showing roads and streams between Lookout Mountain, here on the western or left edge of the map, and chickamauga river , andeek, which is here more probably, something just like this. In the lafayette require his papers at the Southern Historical collection at university of North Carolina chapel hill, there are a series of essentially these little off ofaps or snippets this for very similar confederate maps, and that is probably what longstreet was given. The Confederate Army has a very difficult time reproducing maps of any size. You can find in a number of surviving collections almost like the old aaa trip maps or are good forhey that route you are traveling on, but if you turn left or right you wille route, probably not know where youre going. Longstreet will get just a very small snippet probably of this map. Togstreet will then begin receive his order. I was informed that troops will be engaged in severe skirmishing while endeavoring to get in line for battle. Not sure of almost all of the then divisions of the army of tennessee that had been engaged in the fighting on september 19 would say that it had been. Erely skirmishing it had been a pretty costly fight, but that statement probably says something about the awareness that Braxton Bragg had of the condition of his army and the state of the army and longheld belief of how the battle would the unfolding, and now only here on the night of the 19th does he really begin to change that idea. Longstreet will go on and say, and informed me battle was ordered for daylight the next morning, the action to be brought on on our right and be taken up successively to the left, the general movement to be a wheel upon my extreme left as a pivot. Is referring to is what bragg had ordered bragg had essentially wanted all 10 of the then available divisions within his army overnight on the night of the 19th in the Early Morning hours of the 20th to get online side by side one another from north to south, all 10 divisions, and at the first bit of daylight, the northernmost division, the right division in leonidas , was to jumpwing off and quickly thereafter in echelon by division from north to south, as each division saw the one to its right move forward, the next division was to its self step off and move forward. Get was an effort to coordination, synchronization, cooperation, something that bragg had had a difficult time achieving over the last couple of days. Learned that night that the battle was expected to daylightthe right at the next morning and be taken up successively by division and essentially, if things went correctly, driving the union line back, it would essentially be a large left s leftith Longstreet Division as a pivot. The conversation lasted for. Bout an hour there are a lot of things we do not know about that meeting, one of which is if Braxton Bragg communicated to longstreet that earlier in the evening, bragg himself had talked with one of longstreets subordinates and relayed to him at least the general outline of the planned for september 20. Into play because there is some evidence that have relayed some of this idea down the chain of his command even before longstreet had arrived. Also inside was it longstreets staff officer latrobe joined longstreet at that point or not until the next morning and also the he got one company of louisiana cavalry that will be assigned to him, and also, when the soldier of the first confederate infantry, Tom Brotherton, son of the brotherton family, whose farm will be a principal landmark for longstreet actions on september joinedn Tom Brotherton longstreet to serve as a local guide. Its all its possible he was already playing that role for on september 19 and even 18. A number of soldiers from the local area had been detailed a couple of days before bragg had executed the plan, so it is possible Tom Brotherton was serving in this capacity with and becomeshood onociated with longstreet the 20th. After this brief conference, return to sleep and longstreet and his small staff will also lay down to get some rest. Sorrell says, we all took to the leafy ground under the tall oaks and hickories for some sleep against the work before us. Anyention here of sending messages out to the five or six divisions that he is to command the next morning, to make preparations for the beginning soone attack in his sector after daylight if his plan goes off as he desires, but after the long train ride, you can needinly see perhaps the for longstreet and his staff to. Et some rest the next morning, longstreet at dawn there were some indications that might have been a little bit before dawn, but the next morning, longstreet will ride to the front from the fog that is rising that morning of the five,ommand soon to be six, divisions that are present, 17 brigades. Only five of those eventual are coming from virginia as reinforcements. The other 12 brigades are regular parts of braggs army or reinforcements that have been sent from mississippi or east tennessee. When longstreet rides into the sector of his now left wing of the army of tennessee, he will a situation very different than that nice, neat, orderly the earlier map. He will say that the line was arranged from right to left as follows stuarts, johnsons divisions, Hoods Division of which only three wickets were up, was somewhat in the rear of johnsons. There also was some fighting that continued until just after dark. Most of the confederate units that had been engaged in Late Afternoon or evening would