Behind the Guns: The History of Battery I, 2nd Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery

4. The Bloody Battle of Chickamauga

48 In which Battery I participates in the advance towards Chattanooga called the Tullahoma Campaign, and as a part of Major General Gordon Granger's Reserve Corps, advances into northern Alabama. From Stevenson the Battery had a hard march to Chattanooga, and then to Rossville, Georgia, where the stage was set for the bloody battle of Chickamauga. The Battery was inactive the first day of the battle, September 19, but on September 20, it marched to General Thomas' support, was engaged, and served as rear guard as the army retreated to Chattanooga. On September 21, Lt. Coe's section was hotly engaged by the pursuing Confederates, but repulsed their attack. In Chattanooga, the Battery did not get as hungry as the rest of the besieged union army because it did its own foraging. It participated in the opening of the new supply route, the "Cracker Line," and was engaged in Sherman's attack on Missionary Ridge and at Chickamauga Station, then marched with the force sent to relieve Major General Ambrose E. Burnside in east Tennessee. Returning to the Chattanooga area, many of the Battery re-enlist, and return to Illinois for well-earned furloughs. For the Chickamauga campaign, covered in this chapter, the Union army was organized as follows: Commander, Major General William S. Rosecrans. 14th Army Corps, Major General George H. Thomas 1st Division, Brig.-Gen. Absolom Baird, 2nd Division, Maj.-Gen. James S. Negley, 3rd Division, Brig.-Gen. John M. Brannan, 4th 4 THE BLOODY BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA Division, Maj.-Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds 20th Army Corps, Major General Alexander McD. McCook 1st Division, Brig.-Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, 2nd Division, Brig.Gen . Richard W. Johnson, 3rd Division, Maj.-Gen. Philip H. Sheridan 21st Army Corps, Major General Thomas L. Crittenden 1st Division, Brig.-Gen. Thomas J. Wood, 2nd Division, Maj.-Gen. John M. Palmer, 3rd Division, Brig.-Gen. H. P. Van Cleve Reserve Corps, Major General Gordon Granger 1st Division, Brig.-Gen. James B. Steedman, 2nd Division, Cavalry Corps, Brig.-Gen. Robert B. Mitchell 1st Division, Col. Edward M. McCook, 2nd Division, Brig.-Gen. George Crook Battery I was in the 2nd Division of the Reserve Corps. The 2nd Division had only one brigade, called the 2nd Brigade. This Brigade was commanded by Col. Daniel McCook, and consisted of: 85th Illinois Infantry: Col. Caleb J. Dilworth 86th Illinois Infantry: Lt. Col. D. W. Magee 125th Illinois Infantry: Col. Oscar F. Harmon 52nd Ohio Infantry: Maj. J. T. Holmes 69th Ohio Infantry: Lt. Col. J. H. Brigham Battery I, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, Captain Charles M. Barnett. 49 AUG usT 20th, 1863, the 2nd Brigade of General Gordon Granger 's Reserve Corps, Colonel Dan McCook, commanding, to which the battery was attached, left for the front, via Columbia, Tenn., Athens, and Huntsville, Ala., the 1st Brigade having preceded. There being no cavalry attached to the brigade a detail of fifty men from the infantry and battery was made to act as scouts. The detail was mounted and scouted night and day, confiscating horses wherever they were found, and the quartermaster sergeant of the battery was foraging for the horses and men, and managed to keep the commissary department well stocked on the march. The boys had no occasion to grumble over their rations, as they had a greater variety than was issued by Uncle Sam's commissary. Many prisoners were taken on the march through Tennessee and Northern Alabama, and some amusing incidents occurred in connection with the scouting for forage. One day, when in camp near Spring Hill [Tennessee], it was reported that a party of bushwhackers , was prowling around west of the camp. Captain Barnett mounted about fifty men belonging to the battery on the horses of the battery, and armed them with sabres and revolvers. The detachment had quite the appearance of cavalry as they marched out of camp. Scouts were sent to the front to search for the enemy. After proceeding about four miles the scouts came back and reported men in a piece of woods across an open field. Line of battle was formed, and with a whoop and a yell it charged over the open ground into the woods. There, sure enough, were the men who broke and ran as fast as their legs could carry them with the detachment tearing after them, sabre in hand, till they were corralled in a farm house the other side of the...