A quarter-mile hole in the Union line, eight Confederate brigades aimed straight at it, and one general who would not leave the ridge. Chickamauga is part of The Western Campaigns in Civy War.
One scenario, playable from either side. Every battle runs five minutes on the clock against a Green, Regular or Veteran enemy: the attacker has to break the line before nightfall, the defender has to hold.
Chickamauga
The Western Campaigns
September 20, 1863 · 11 a.m.
As the Union, hold the line. If it breaks, hold Snodgrass Hill until dark. Thomas holds the log breastworks around the Kelly field with Baird's, Johnson's, Palmer's and Reynolds's divisions, and an order has just pulled Wood's division out of the line by the Brotherton cabin. Brannan's division and Van Derveer's brigade, Harker's brigade and Davis's division are near the gap; Granger's Reserve Corps is somewhere to the north, and Whitaker's and Mitchell's brigades come up during the fight.
As the Confederacy, break through at the Brotherton field and take Snodgrass Hill. Longstreet has stacked his brigades one behind another: B. R. Johnson's in front, Hood's Texans, Alabamians and Georgians and McLaws's men behind, Hindman on the left. Go straight across the La Fayette Road, through the Dyer field, then turn north for the ridge.
The battle
In the late summer of 1863 William S. Rosecrans maneuvered Braxton Bragg out of Chattanooga. Bragg, reinforced by James Longstreet's corps from Virginia, turned on him along Chickamauga Creek in northwest Georgia.
After a day of confused fighting in the woods on September 19, Longstreet's column struck at about 11:10 the next morning, just as Wood's division marched out of the line, and poured through the gap. Davis's and Sheridan's divisions were swept away, and Rosecrans and two of his corps commanders were carried back with the rout toward Chattanooga. George H. Thomas gathered what was left on Snodgrass Hill and Horseshoe Ridge. Gordon Granger marched to the sound of the guns without orders, and Steedman's brigades reached the ridge in time to save its open flank. The line held until dark, then fell back to Rossville.
Some 16,000 Union and 18,000 Confederate soldiers were lost in the two days, the worst toll of any battle in the West. It was the greatest Confederate victory in the West, but Bragg did not pursue; he besieged Chattanooga until Grant broke the siege at Missionary Ridge. Thomas was known ever after as the Rock of Chickamauga.
Free or paid
Paid: part of The Western Campaigns, a one-time purchase that unlocks Chickamauga, Olustee, Kennesaw Mountain and Atlanta (Perryville, the first, is free). The map is the 1889 survey of the battlefield compiled under Colonel W. E. Merrill, with troop positions by Captain S. C. Kellogg, from the Library of Congress.
Thirteen battles, the Drill Field and the Field Manual are free. The Historical Campaigns, Grant's Campaigns and The Western Campaigns are optional one-time purchases that restore on every device signed in to the same Apple ID.
