Chickamauga: Animated Battle Map 

I truly appreciate the work that went into this presentation. It illustrates the troop movements very well. If I may offer one constructive criticism, it would be a simple one: what would help folks like me who are unfamiliar with a battle areas if you could put a very small scale at the bottom of the video, much like you find on a printed map: 1" = 15 miles, or something to that effect. It would help convey the distances involved. When I see red or blue lines moving, I ask myself "did they move 1 mile or 20 miles?" The scale would help put the distances involved in perspective. Thank you for hearing me out. I find your animated battle maps to be quite educational and fascinating. Thank you!

please make a video on Palmito Ranch

Please do one on the Battle of Nashville. The remnants of the 26'th Alabama were crushed by George Thomas's troops and sent packing back south.

All these battles make me so sad. Imagine the posterity lost to this senseless war. So many generations of true Americans lost. So many beautiful , wonderful , dedicated patriots this nation would have today if not for this war.

MidwestFresh P

My 3rd G-GPA was there as well. He served with the 31st Indiana Infantry Co G, Crufts Brigade, Palmers Division, Crittendens 21st Corps. Planning to visit this year for the 160th anniversary and follow his footsteps.

Shout-out to both of your ancestors for being on the right side of history.

It’s crazy how little I know about this battle. I have always lived around this battlefield but they don’t teach about it in school. I only live about a mile away from the battlefield now and I’m just not learning more about it!

@@_Tanneerr He was also a POW, I believe he was at Andersonville. I do know it was really bad there. He did make it out though.

​@@Casanovaelreywar happens because both parties think they're right, only when it end the victor will says they're the one on “right” course

That is fascinating info ! Thank you ! Very realistic .

Those where some great clips. Some of the best I can recall.

Thank you for the work you and your friends put into your hobby! If circumstances would allow I'd be right there with you. Bringing history to life is a wonderful way to teach.

I can always tell whether a photo is of re-enactors or a colorized version of an actual civil war photograph. It's not the equipment or uniforms (though far too many "spectacles"). It's the fat and the age. People who lived in that era were generally lean. Exercised. Re-enactors are fatter and older than real soldiers. No offense. This also ruins the battle scenes in Gettysburg, apart from the Little Round Top visuals.

Gee, a national guard training ground. We did them on the original battlefields.

I grew up in East Ridge Tn. We played in woods that had been part of the Confederate encampment. We used to find buttons and buckles in the dirt from soldier's uniforms.

Only place that saw more battles was Virginia, and Missouri is surprisingly 3rd highest in number of battles

And the animated series a lot so much that they should make more like maybe the battles of second bull run perryvile stones river and maybe valverde and glorieta pass

Indeed, even for non US people like me.

You are correct sir!

Agreed. This is most excellent.

@@ericthompson3402 👋

Word. It's like old school History channel.

Happy Funtime Can’t wait for the upcoming grant show

@@acdragonrider I am watching it right now

Agree, agree, agree! If this is our tax dollars at work, I don't mind a bit.

TY for your story. One often hears about Andersonville, but not much about how many rebel soldiers NEEDLESSLY suffered in Union POW camps. Seems they built them deliberately in the worst possible places to promote suffering then withheld food and medical supplies deliberately.

@@indy_go_blue6048 Regarding Andersonville, I have been there and seen what the Union soldiers had to suffer thru at that wooden stockade. They were forced to build and repair that stockade. They had no shelters other than what they could scrounge up. While it doesn't snow that far South, it does get cold. And note that the only man tried for crimes against humanity was the Confederate commander, Captain Henry Wirz. He was hanged. Wirz wasn't even a native born American. He was a Swiss immigrant.Since I moved to the East Coast 35 years ago I have made it a mission to visit every major battle site. I have done most of the big ones.

Bless Them Both.

@@christopherfranklin1881 Yes Christopher, we have heard the Andersonville story many times over many years. What indy_go_blue60 was saying is that it is time for the stories about the many awful Union prison camps to be told.

(to all...) This was war, not "make nice". The idea of the horrible prison camps was to demoralize as well as control the prisoners there. On both sides there were always more prisoners than guards so command had to be kept. Also, you wanted the prisoners to give up their morale, their fight, their hope so that when, if, they returned they would not take up arms again. Add to all that the fact that soldiers fighting got supplies not prisoners taking up space & sitting around. Sorry. But all of this is a fact of war, ANY war.

Tbf any commander with sense and a comparable force could have beaten Hood by that point. The man was not meant for army command, division definitely, corps maybe, but not that level of independence.

@@chrisproost7290 I think it was said that he was too young to hold that size of command.

@@chrisproost7290 Chris 🎈

👋

Haunted as hell, too, so I hear.

@@michaelmbr365 when I was around 10 I walked through the entire battlefield, and I can attest to it being somber and humbling. Not sure about haunted but I probably wasn’t paying attention

I like the many Union monuments at Chickamauga that are large and in the shape of an acorn; other smaller statues/monuments have acorn elements worked into their designs. Did the Natl. Park Service ever get Wilder Tower repaired? I seem to remember something structural was deteriorating. When I was there in 2000, there was a wasp infestation at the very top of the tower and got chased all the way down the stairs! Was privileged to visit Chickamauga a few years later with a contingent of Senior ROTC Cadets of the Spartan Battalion of The University of Tampa; this was the start of an effort to fulfill a U.S. Army ROTC goal of each senior class to visit a military museum or take part in a near-by field walk (quasi "battlefield ride") of any American conflict. Florida has few such Civil War sites, but there are several Seminole War battlefields close-by that could be visited; Georgia offers even more opportunities.

Rob 👋

I also am from Indiana. Thank you for remembering our heroes of the 19th century who preserved the union. If you are ever in Indianapolis and can get to the cities center at monument circle, look to the top of the monument. You will a statue of "victory" a woman with a sword pointed down (for ended hostilities) and the important thing to notice is that she faces south. She is welcoming our Hoosier ancestors home. And that includes your Sgts Great Great Uncle.

I own a Spencer Three band rifle used in this battle serial number 6339 17th Indiana Wilder brigade. Wish I could find out who it was issued to. My great grandpa found it in a barn wrapped in burlap inside a trunk

@@DelEast740That was a great find by your great grandpa!

My great great grandfather (Alonzo Prather) fought at Chickamauga with the 6th Indiana Infantry Regiment and was wounded during the battle. He had fought also at the Battle of Shiloh and was wounded there as well.

Tho our ancestors were on opposite sides, I give a hand salute to your Great grandfather.. I had a Great uncle (Warrington) with the 121st Ohio infantry. Injured here, died in Jan 64 at a federal hospital.. Buried at Chattanooga. May both of them - and all of the others - Rest In Peace. For what its worth I oppose and am offended by the removal and destruction of all the historical statues, plaques.and flags. Your Ggrandfather and his comrades deserve to be remembered.

@Imperial Dovahkiin You dont know who or what the Ggrandfather was. A . L O T ,. of very young men joined to get off the farm.and bustin their butt in the hot summer sun. Be charitable, not a righard. And dont "all lives Matter" OR IS THAT JUST TALK?

@Imperial Dovahkiin well that would include the whole country and entire world that participated in the trade....and continues on the continent of Africa this very day....know reality before you jump in

Traitor!

@@TimothyCihal-pn7fm Who made you judge and jury. Pretty stupid to carry hate for over 157 years. Does mommy know you left your coloring books and came up out of the basement?

They did have the best generals and tough farm boys who would go into battle with little in their bellies but little else. Once the "King Cotton" myth fell apart, simple math proved the South would never be able keep it's armies provisioned for extended campaigns. That's why Grant sent Sheridan to burn out the Shenandoah and Sherman into Georgia.

@@JohnP538 Cause the union was lying sorry scum that cheated was greedy over land and are the real terrorist for invading southern land

@What you on about mate Put it this way if you’re in a group who’s killing, stealing land, raping and pillaging villages, would you stay?

In this particular theater of war, the performance of the northern man in the ranks was equal or superior to that of his southern counterpart. Almost all soldiers on both sides were “hardy farm boys”. Turn off You Tube and do some reading!

They accomplished the utter destruction of the South

Yes you did in fact your country had a lot to do in creating it, thinking that they could drag back under the crown and then the Russian fleet moved in. at that time you moved out.!!

The British gave the United States the Constitutional form of government, common law principles, foundation for our Bill of Rights and ironically the Declaration of Independence.

As an American I apologize and assure you that some of us appreciate your interest and are thankful for your well wishes

Very well said sir, I've noticed alot of Brits on all the US History RU-vid channels and FB pages etc. It's really interesting to me to see you guys interested in our short history of being a independent country vs. the long incredible history of the British Empire and the control it had over basically every country on the globe at one point in time or another. Any ideas why??

@@WKRP187 can't answer that, other than to say I'm another Brit hooked on your history!

Even at Gettysburg, his 18,000 men came within an ace of beating 30,000 crack Union troops on the second day. They in all likelihood would have done so if not for the fact that the terrain was so horrible for offensive operations. He got some help from incompetent Union generalship (hi there, Dan Sickles!) but still. Longstreet favored the defensive because he knew how Civil War-era combat worked (and that it hugely favored the defender), not because he was bad at attacking. Well, except Knoxville. We don't talk about Knoxville. :p

Just ask any professional sports coach (NFL, NBA, MLB, etc) and they will tell you that DEFENSE wins games.

@@omegacon4 Ask Saddam how well defense worked out. There's a constantly shifting balance between offence and defense. The results we witness from the civil war show that offensive operations are more likely to succeed than defensive ones when they are indirect. Whereas direct offensive operations are likely to fail.

@@AngryDogPerformance - Saddam was like Hitler, or Trump - sure of his own genius. His real skill was keeping control of his subordinates by playing them against each other. As with Hitler and Trump. When he tried to actually run a real war, he was almost the MVP for the enemy. Saddam's army never really mounted a coordinated defensive campaign. As an Egyptian general admitted after the Six Day War, the Arabs had armies intended to look good on parade, and when they took to the field, they didn't look so well.

@@DavidSmith-ss1cg Yeah, just like LBJ and Obama were great at micro-managing the commanders in the field, and if there was a failure, they would blame someone else. Oh, and Trump actually DID something against ISIS. If you recall Obama pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq AGAINST the advice of the American Generals, but Obama wanted to look good and be the one who brought the troops home. ISIS fulled the void, just like the Generals said it would and ten's of thousands suffered and died because of Obama's decision. Yeah, how did that one work out? But then, I guess it was Bush's fault that he (Obama) did that, because he blamed Bush well into his (Obama's) second term. When Bush sent General Patraeus to sell the idea of the "surge" to congress, both (then) Senators Obama and Clinton all but called Patraeus a liar. I believe you can watch those exchanges here on RU-vid if you care to look. But I've heard the recordings of the testimony Patraeus gave and Obama's and Clinton's responses. But who did Obama choose to command in Afghanistan? That liar Patraeus. In fact, Obama and Clinton were against a "surge" in Iraq. But Obama sent 30,000 troops to Afghanistan....hummm sounds like a surge to me. But what Obama didn't say was the surge in Iraq under Bush actually worked.....

Fred

Leonidas Lantz Thomas is my favorite general of the entire war both sides

Seems to me Wood did a pretty darn good job preventing the total annihilation of federal forces, and allowing the safe retreat.

Tyler Smith yet he won battles for uncle sam

@@NeoThomist-sd1ue A southerner by birth, but refuse to betray his nation. True Patriot! His siblings never forgave him for it.

@@tylersmith8360 No. He understood modern war. He was just slow and cautious enough.

I was just visiting and it said that those rifles dropped 300 men in around 3 minutes. People noted that all they had to do was hold up they hand and they could catch a bullet. That the air was filled with rounds.

To probably misquote one rebel defending Atlanta, "with them guns they can load on Sunday and shoot all week." Many of these repeaters were captured, but the rebels weren't able to manufacture the appropriate ammo, so they were useless.

If I remember rightly, they literally thought they had run into an entire corps of infantry, and were baffled how Rosecrans could have gotten the jump on them so badly.

@@indy_go_blue6048the quote "load on Sunday and fire all week" is attributed to John S. Mosby and refers to the Henry rifle, not the Spencer.

I remember seeing an account by a baffled confederate soldier who was captured. When told he had been fighting a regiment, he responded that he swore they had a full brigade from the volume of fire.

Perhaps the best rearguard in the face of absolute annihilation. Dude was just made of steel

Gon 🎈

Frank 🎈

James

Same

Hood led Texans and let me tell you Texans will loose every limb and still win

at least the Texan Brigade

Hood was a true warrior

It’s only a flesh wound😀

@@joelmoore3469 but they didn't

Koch 👋

Definitely. Thomas won a crushing local victory on his flank, but was basically abandoned as the Federal right collapsed. Bragg was in such despair over the shellacking the Confederate right suffered in its bloodily repulsed assault, that he was slow to react to the good news from elsewhere.

Rosecrans ran away, and total disaster could've been the result, if it hadn't been for General George Thomas. He became known as "The Rock of Chickamauga"!!!

General George Thomas became known as "The Rock of Chickamauga"! I'd of gladly fought under his command. If I'd of been in the Eastern Theatre of the Civil War, I'd of gladly fought under General U. S. Grant's command. These were two of the best Generals of the entire Union. Rosecrans tucked tail, and ran. Not even I could have spoken a word of defense for this guy. He turned out to be a coward! He deserved to be Demoted. You never act in cowardice, and leave any of your Army behind. That's called desertion! I'm not going to hate him, but I have no respect for him. I don't know which one is worse-General Rosecrans, or General McClellan, the Union General that commanded the Union Army in the Eastern Theatre of the Civil War from 1861-Late 1862. These two are two of the worst Generals that the Union ever had!!!

It seems as if Grant and Sherman intentionally shunned Thomas, depriving him of any credit that he deserved for contributing to their success and glory. But Halleck did the same thing to Grant after Shiloh. Many petty jealousies, I suppose in all wars.

@@pammullinsx6026 Actually Grant and Thomas had a decent time going Sherman on the other hand...

Read Ambrose Bierce's shocking short stories such as 'Chickamauga' for a soldier's eye view of the carnage.

Too little too late for the South.

MY GREAT X3 GRANDFATHER FOUGHT THERE TOO ... 34TH ALABAMA CO'Y 'D'. HE WAS FATALLY WOUNDED BY CANISTER SHOT AT ATLANTA IN A CHARGE ON THE YANKEE BREASTWORKS. DIED 3 DAYS LATER.... NO IDEA WHERE HE WAS BURIED. BUT HE MAY BE AMONG THE 3000 UNKNOWN CONFEDERATES AT OAK LAWN CEMETERY NEAR THE CONFEDERATE HOSPITAL CLOSEST TO THE DE GRASS BREAST WORKS.

sutlers2day Not necessary to have the whole post in all capital letters!!!

Wallace Bell he’s just making sure the folks in the cheap seats of the auditorium can hear him. Lol

May they rest in peace

Seriously complex. I've been to Chickamauga battlefield twice and still dont completely understand it. It really could have gone either way at several points.

I agree. Chickamauga was a highly complex engagement and I think this video drastically oversimplifies this very important battle. Then again, how could it not? Everything is moving in smooth motion over the map so we get the gist of troop movements, but that is highly misleading. You cannot get a true sense of what it was like without being on the ground or ground similar to it and, of course, the battlefield itself has changed mightily over the decades. Still, the scale of the battle becomes real when you're on the ground and once you're there the complexity of the battle engulfs you again.

Right my friend. I think commander must be informed about every single action at front and this was the fact in this union defeat. It wasn't the fault of rosecrans but there was clear fault in communication and intelligence.

Dan 🎈

Jerry

I grew up reading the Time-Life series, with the static battle maps. It was hard work, trying to connect up the different colored rectangles from one map to the next - but I did it for every single map they provided! How much easier would it have been, if we'd had RU-vid dynamic battle videos in those days!

DeClean💓

Clark

They say, take the high ground, but supplies come in from the hill bottom, surround the hill, starve them out, instead of fighting your way up

My great great great grandfather was wounded in the hand on the same day at the battle. He was with Company G of the 36th IL regiment.

@Hermus Glodiac 👍 Well said!

Rebs outnumbered the Union at Chickamauga

Cross 💝

Scott Carr my great great great grandpa fought there too with the 36th IL regiment. Was wounded in the hand but stayed in through part of the Atlanta Campaign. They really had it rough.

It's the clever way to do it, Wellington did similarly. With ranged weapons, prepared defence is often stronger than attack, unless you can concentrate overwhelming firepower. Push into enemy territory to make them fight, then choose a strong position and let them batter themselves against it. Even if you're forced to withdraw, the enemy have taken too much damge to exploit that success and, in the case of the Confederates, lost men they couldn't replace.

Billy