Battle of Liberty Gap | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Alexander M. McCook | St. John R. Liddell | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
XX Corps | Hardee's Corps | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
unknown | unknown |
The Battle of Liberty Gap was fought during the Tullahoma Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was an early instance of mounted infantry using Spencer repeating rifles during the war similar to the concurrent battle of Hoover's Gap.
Following the retreat after the Battle of Stones River, Gen. Braxton Bragg, commander of the Army of Tennessee, established a fortified line along the Duck River from Shelbyville to Wartrace. On the Confederate right, infantry and artillery detachments guarded Liberty, Hoover's, and Bellbuckle gaps through the mountains. Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, feigned an attack on Shelbyville but massed against Bragg's right. His troops struck out toward the gaps with George H. Thomas and the XIV Corps moved against Hoover's Gap. Moving against Liberty Gap was Alexander M. McCook and the XX Corps. [1]
On June 24 McCook sent a brigade under Colonel Luther P. Bradley against the Confederate pickets from General St. John R. Liddell's brigade holding the crossroads at the gap. Bradley's men were screened by Colonel Thomas J. Harrison's 39th Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment armed with Spencer repeating rifles. Harrison's mounted infantry moved so quickly they captured the crossroad at a cost of only one man wounded. Hearing the gap was lightly defended, McCook wanted to take advantage of the situation and sent Brig. Gen. August Willich's Horn Brigade forward. Though the gap was held in fact only by two Arkansas infantry regiments and an artillery battery, Willich determined they were in a good defensible position. Willich attempted to flank the Confederates with the 32nd Indiana Infantry on the left and Harrison's mounted infantry on the right. The Union and Confederate forces launched attacks and counter-attacks while McCook sent forward the 77th Pennsylvanian and 29th Indiana infantry regiments for support. Liddell saw the futility of attempting to hold the gap and withdrew his forces. [2]
On June 25 Liddell planned to renew the fight by stalling the Union advance through the gap. Liddell's division commander, Patrick R. Cleburne sent forward reinforcements. Late in the morning Liddell opened the fight against Willich's Union brigade. A see-saw battle ensued as both sides brought forward reinforcements. During the fighting Colonel John F. Miller of the 29th Indiana Infantry was seriously wounded, losing an eye. [3] Willich also had an opportunity to test a tactic he developed while a prisoner of war he called “advanced firing”. Using the 49th Ohio Infantry Willich deployed the men in four rows. The first row fired a volley while the fourth row moved forward between the men to fire another volley. Continuing this process allowed the soldiers to keep up a continuous line of fire while moving forward at the same time. [4] Liddell's brigade was finally forced from the field while S.A.M. Wood's neighboring brigade was brought forward but darkness ended the fighting before Wood's men could effectively be brought into action leaving the Federals in control of the gap.
Although slowed by rain, Rosecrans moved on, forcing Bragg to give up his defensive line and fall back to Tullahoma. Rosecrans sent a flying column (Wilder's Lightning Brigade, the same that had spearheaded the thrust through Hoover's Gap on the 24th) ahead to hit the railroad in Bragg's rear. Arriving too late to destroy the Elk River railroad bridge, the Federals tore up much track around Decherd. Bragg evacuated Middle Tennessee. [1]
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 19–20, 1863, between U.S. and Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a Union offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It was the first major battle of the war fought in Georgia, the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater, and involved the second-highest number of casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Of the major battles of the war, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. The battle ended in Union victory after the Confederate army's withdrawal on January 3, largely due to a series of tactical miscalculations by Confederate General Braxton Bragg, but the victory was costly for the Union army. Nevertheless, it was an important victory for the Union because it provided a much-needed boost in morale after the Union's recent defeat at Fredericksburg and also reinforced President Abraham Lincoln's foundation for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which ultimately discouraged European powers from intervening on the Confederacy's behalf.
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The Battle of Hoover's Gap was the principal battle in the Tullahoma Campaign of the American Civil War, in which Union General William S. Rosecrans drove General Braxton Bragg’s Confederates out of Central Tennessee. Rosecrans’ feigned move on the western end of the Confederate line had left the eastern mountain passes lightly defended, and Colonel John T. Wilder's mounted infantry achieved total surprise when they attacked Hoover's Gap. Success was attributed both to Rosecrans’ brilliant deception tactics and the high morale of Wilder’s "Lightning Brigade", equipped with the new Spencer repeating rifle.
The Tullahoma campaign was a military operation conducted from June 24 to July 3, 1863, by the Union Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, and regarded as one of the most brilliant maneuvers of the American Civil War. Its effect was to drive the Confederates out of Middle Tennessee and to threaten the strategic city of Chattanooga.
The Chickamauga campaign of the American Civil War was a series of battles fought in northwestern Georgia from August 21 to September 20, 1863, between the Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee. The campaign started successfully for Union commander William S. Rosecrans, with the Union army occupying the vital city of Chattanooga and forcing the Confederates to retreat into northern Georgia. But a Confederate attack at the Battle of Chickamauga forced Rosecrans to retreat back into Chattanooga and allowed the Confederates to lay siege to the Union forces.
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The 38th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
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The 39th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Shiloh, Corinth, and Stones River. In April 1863 the unit acquired horses and Spencer rifles and became mounted infantry, serving in the Tullahoma campaign and at Chickamauga. On October 15, 1863, the unit was renamed the 8th Indiana Cavalry Regiment.
The 72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served as mounted infantry from March 17, 1863, to November 1, 1864, notably as part of the Lightning Brigade during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns.
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The Lightning Brigade, also known as Wilder's Brigade or the Hatchet Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade from the American Civil War in the Union Army of the Cumberland from March 8, 1863, through November 1863. A novel unit for the U.S. Army, its regiments were nominally the 1st Brigade of Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds' 4th Division of Thomas' XIV Corps. Operationally, they were detached from the division and served as a mobile mounted infantry to support any of the army's corps. Colonel John T. Wilder was its commander. As initially organized, the brigade had the following regiments: