September 25, 1863---A family divided; a family grieving; a nation

SEPTEMBER 25, 1863:      

Having detached two Corps of The Army of The Potomac for duty in Chattanooga, President Lincoln, who is deeply in mourning for his close friend and brother-in-law General Ben Hardin Helm C.S.A., killed at Chickamauga, writes an acerbic and disgusted letter to General Ambrose Burnside in northern Tennessee, berating him for not moving his own much closer troops to Chattanooga. Lincoln, as was usually his wont when writing angry letters, never sent it on. 

September 24, 1863---Chattanooga is "under siege."

SEPTEMBER 24, 1863:      

General Braxton Bragg C.S.A. announces that Chattanooga is “under siege,” but his troops are not ordered to move from their positions around Lookout Mountain or to engage Rosecrans’ Army of The Cumberland. In the meantime, the 11^th and 12^th Corps of The Army of The Potomac are in transit to Chattanooga. Though he knows this, Bragg does not cut the rail lines. Bragg’s subordinates begin to complain to Richmond about his “cowardice” and “incompetence.”

September 23, 1863---Civil Rights activist Mary E.C. Terrell is born; The Union reinforces Chattanooga

SEPTEMBER 23, 1863:     

The 11^th and 12^th Corps of The Army of The Potomac are ordered to Chattanooga to reinforce The Army of The Cumberland. 

Also on this day, Mary Eliza Church Terrell (d. 1954), Civil Rights activist, founder of the National Association of Colored Women, and the first black woman to earn college degrees (B.S. and M.S.) in the United States, is born in Memphis, the daughter of former slaves.

September 22, 1863---More war for weary Missouri

SEPTEMBER 22, 1863:      

General Jo Shelby, C.S.A. begins a series of raids along the Missouri-Arkansas border.

September 21, 1863---Panic in Chattanooga

SEPTEMBER 21, 1863:      

  

In Chattanooga there is panic. The word has spread that the Federals have been soundly defeated. The citizenry expects to see triumphant Confederates pour into the city at any moment. General Rosecrans’ arrival on the afternoon of the 20^th does not bolster local Unionist morale in the least, as he orders the Army of The Cumberland to prepare to evacuate the town even as they are hacking down the thick woods around the city in order to build hurried defensive works. By the 21^st, barely a tree is left standing, and the town is full of Union troops, some preparing to withdraw, some hideously wounded and unable to leave, and many dying.

But Bragg’s Army of Tennessee, itself very badly bloodied, does not approach Chattanooga. Still, the horrors that have been seen at Fredericksburg, Antietam and Gettysburg are repeated:

“It was an awful time. Scarcity reigned everywhere. Not a pound of meal or flour or rice or potatoes could you buy or beg. Not a loaf of bread or anything to eat. The churches and large warehouses and all the stores were filled with sick and wounded men. One morning at the Baptist Church I saw a pile of legs and arms lying on the porch, the very sight of which was appalling. Going inside, I saw a surgeon take off a man's leg so quickly that it amazed me."---The Rev. Thomas Hooke McCallie, Tennessee Unionist.