03 March 2011
March Program
On Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 7:30 PM the SDCWRT will hold its 295th meeting at Palisades Presbyterian Church, at 6301 Birchwood St., San Diego, CA 92120.
When South Carolina left the Union on December 20, 1860 the threat of secession left the realm of rhetoric and entered an alternate reality. In Part II of, “Men Really Do Go Mad : Slavery, Secession, Seward, and Sumter”, SDCWRT member Pedro Garcia takes us to the centre of gravity of the secession movement, Charleston SC, as well as to the prize in Charleston Harbor…before returning north to look at the reaction of the Lincoln administration. Reading suggestions are: Days of Defiance by Maury Klein, Apostles of Disunion by Charles Dew, First Blood—the Story by W.A. Swanburg, and The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln by Larry Tagg.
January 2011 Meeting
By Travis Fuqua
On February 16, 2011, the San Diego Civil War Round Table welcomed Barbara Bruff Hemmingsen’s “The Western Theatre of the Civil War: the Battle for Chattanooga, September-November 1863”. Her great-great-grandfather was a Federal soldier in the battle and it was from his account from which she drew some of the information, and on which she focused her presentation.
Mrs. Hemmingsen began with a general account of the importance of Chattanooga to both the Union and Confederacy as an important supply base. Chattanooga, being in Tennessee, was a part of the Confederacy and was eagerly sought after by the Federal Government. The Battle of Chickamauga was a part of this endeavor to retake Chattanooga. After the failure at Chickamauga, the Federal Army was besieged at Chattanooga where they were fired upon by Confederate forces which overlooked the city from Lookout Mountain as well as Tunnel Hill and Missionary Ridge. In addition, Confederate forces were hindering Federal communications by railroad and the Tennessee River. Mrs. Hemmingsen’s ancestor took part in a Federal picket line and wrote of his experience in his diary.
The Federal Army tried to send relief to Chattanooga through the Army of Tennessee under General Sherman as well as even sending some of the Army of the Potomac under General Hooker. The Confederates, however, managed to capture Union supplies. President Lincoln relieved General Rosecrans at Chattanooga in October and replaced him with General Grant. Mrs. Hemmingsen’s ancestor was surprised at the relief of General Rosecrans. General Rosecrans had, however, began to work on strengthening the supply lines which was continued under General Grant. Grant later used Rosecrans’ plan of a night attack to secure a beachhead. The scheme succeeded and the Federal Army had supplies. Grant next wanted to break the siege using Sherman to attack Tunnel Hill while Hooker attacked Missionary Ridge. The Army of the Cumberland under General Thomas would also attack Missionary Ridge. The Army of the Cumberland attacked on November 23, 1863 and succeeded. Sherman failed to occupy the correct hill the next day and Hooker failed the same day to take his section of Missionary Ridge.
The battle was not going well and Grant sent reinforcements. Fortunately for the Federal Army, the Confederates had made an error in fortifications in that they fortified the topographical and not military crest—meaning they fortified the only the physically highest part of the ridge and not the most widely defensible area. This error allowed Federal soldiers to advance without being under continuous fire as there were areas the Confederate artillery could not reach, and in turn the tide of the battle went in favor of the Union. Mrs. Hemmingsen’s ancestor took part in this charge and was shot, but was only grazed.
The Battle of Chattanooga was won by the Union. With this important supply base, Federal forces were able to continue their advance into the South, including Sherman’s famous 1864 March to the Sea, a topic of a future presentation by Mrs. Hemmingsen.