Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 11:14:00 EDT
From: "K. Rushing (UTC)" <KRUSHING%UTCVM.bitnet@KSUVM.KSU.EDU>
Subject: Chickamauga & Chattanooga
Chattanooga was considered during the war the gateway to the deep South. As I
recall the overall strategy of the Union war makers, the goal was to divide
the Southern Confederacy into manageable parts. The divisions would permit
the piecemeal subjugation of the independence minded Southern population.
The fall of Vicksburg and the then possible control of the Mississippi River
from Cairo to New Orleans was one part of the strategy. Another major part of
the strategy was to take dominion of the "Eastern Theater" represented by
Richmond and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
If I'm correct, a third part of the overall Union strategy was to penetrate
the deep South, to take Atlanta and from there expand Federal control...
which, of course, is what Sherman did with his infamous and horrific "March to
the Sea."
Interestingly, General Grant played major parts in each of the strategic
elements. Grant commanded the siege and capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Grant was a player in the Union victory at Missionary Ridge--a victory which
opened the Chattanooga door to the lower South, and Grant, of course, chased
Lee's army through the Wilderness to Petersburg and on to Appomattox.
In response to the question about the relative importance of the Chattanooga,
Missionary Ridge engagements to the overall Union victory, perhaps, one must
take a "macro-view." Taking and holding Chattanooga and then breaking the
Confederate siege with the victory on the slopes of Missionary Ridge opened
the door to Atlanta and to the deep South. Control of Memphis, Vicksburg, and
New Orleans represented control by the Union of the Mississippi River.
Taking Richmond and the April 9 surrender of General Lee in Virginia
represented the concluding element in the overall Union strategy of "divide
and conquer."
Of course, my recollections and interpretations are certainly open to queston..
but... I believe that an overall view of all of the major theaters of
operation supports a better military and political understanding of the Civil
War. I'm not certain (as, perhaps, can be no one) that any one theater was
actually the "exclusively important" element in deciding the war's outcome.
----K. Rushing
----The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
((in the shadow of Lookout Mountain and near the slope of Missionary
Ridge))