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On its final day, the Battle of Chickamauga had turned into a mutual slaughter, with attacks and maneuvers from both sides adding up to a very costly stalemate. One stupid tactical error could turn the tide of battle and Union Commanding Gen. William Rosecrans was about to make it.
On the morning of Sept. 20, 1863, minister and Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk attacked General George Thomas and his well dug-in corps on the Union left.
Polk, sending 10,000 troops in, had initial success but could not break the Union’s line. Nevertheless Thomas called on Rosecrans for reinforcements which started a series of moves that spelled doom for the Union Army. Rosecrans could hear the heavy fighting in the distance and sent two divisions in support.
As the general and his staff were riding behind the Union lines, he thought the move created an opening in the middle, it did not. The Union Commander and others did not see a division that was well positioned lying in the woods. “Rosecrans ordered Gen.
Thomas Wood’s division to move and fill the gap that didn’t exist,” proclaimed my favorite grocer Adam Stretch, whose great-great grandfather was there. General Wood was torn, he knew there was no .