September 12, 1863---Near Lookout Mountain

SEPTEMBER 12, 1863:       

After the failure to carry out his planned major offensive at McLemore’s Cove, General Braxton Bragg C.S.A. orders his troops to engage Union units piecemeal in the Chattanooga area. Small engagements rock the area from Rheatown, Tennessee to Dirt Town, Georgia. 

September 11, 1863---The Battle That Never Was

SEPTEMBER 11, 1863:      

The Skirmish at McLemore’s Cove. General Braxton Bragg C.S.A. gives orders for the Army of Tennessee to begin a massive attack against the maneuvering Union Army of The Cumberland, but Bragg’s orders mysteriously never get delivered to the majority of his unit commanders. Only a few troops go into action. The “offensive” plays out as a series of minor skirmishes. By the time Bragg is able to reissue his orders, the Union forces have repositioned themselves in a better defensive position, and the attack cannot be carried out as planned.

September 10, 1863---The Battle of Bayou Fourche, Arkansas

SEPTEMBER 10, 1863:     

The Battle of Bayou Fourche (The Battle of Little Rock). In a two-pronged attack,  15,000 Union troops scatter 7,500 Confederates defending Little Rock, Arkansas. After a brutal artillery bombardment, the surviving Confederates disperse or surrender, and the city capitulates, becoming yet another Rebel State capital to be restored to the Union. 

September 9, 1863---The "Battle" of The Cumberland Gap

SEPTEMBER 9, 1863:        

The Battle of The Cumberland Gap.  Having taken Knoxville, Tennessee with hardly a shot being fired, General Ambrose Burnside U.S.A. decides to move against the strategically critical Cumberland Gap with 15,000 men. The Gap is occupied by a Confederate holding force of 2,500, all other Gray troops in the area having been reassigned to Braxton Bragg’s force in the Lookout Mountain region. Although The Gap is a superb defensive position, the Confederate Commander is intimidated by the sheer weight of Union numbers and surrenders The Gap after just a symbolic spattering of shots. The Union occupies The Gap in force, ending the “battle” before it ever begins. 

September 8, 1863---The Second Battle of Sabine Pass, Texas

SEPTEMBER 8, 1863:       

The Second Battle of Sabine Pass, Texas. In keeping with President Lincoln’s order to secure the Texas border against any planned French military adventures, U.S. Grant orders seven troopships full of men and four gunboats to take and hold Sabine Pass and establish a beachhead for further action. The only Confederate troops standing against this force are 44 men in shoreside Fort Griffin, all of whom were assigned there as punishment for disciplinary infractions. With nothing else to do at the remote outpost but practice their gunnery skills, they have become expert artillerists, and when the Union landing force approaches the pass the Confederates drive them off despite being outnumbered roughly 100-to-1. While not a grand victory for the South, word of the Union embarrassment at Sabine Pass helps bolster Confederate morale which had been flagging dangerously low.