The Truth About Chickamauga
by Archibald Gracie
Book #800
$50.00
462 pp., introduction by Glenn Robertson, five 2-color maps, photos, index, hardcover.
Late in the afternoon of September 20, 1863, the two-day struggle at Chickamauga approached an ending. Federal units, clinging to the Snodgrass Hill-Horseshoe Ridge line, repulsed savage attacks by Confederate forces. By sunset, the Union toops directed by Major General George Thomas, had abandoned the field. The bloodiest battle in the West had concluded with a Southern victory. The casualties amounted to a staggering 34,000 for both sides.
Since that time few published accounts have examined the complex engagement at Chickamauga. Archibald Gracie’s The Truth About Chickamauga initially appeared in 1911, and was not a study of the entire battle, but an account of the final hours of fury on Snodgrass Hill-Horseshoe Ridge.
Gracie, the son and namesake of a Confederate brigade commander in the battle, began his work following a visit to the battlefield in 1904. By that time, the process of monumentation at the park, under the supervision of Henry Boynton, who led the 35th Ohio during the battle, had been nearly completed. Boynton’s interpretation of the struggle as reflected in the monumnents disturbed Gracie. The latter quickly understood that the placement of the markers and monuments had been undertaken with only a modicum of research. Gracie became almost obsessed with determining the “truth” about Chickamauga.
His book focuses on the combat on the afternoon of the 20th. He based his work on the Official Records, published unit accounts and memoirs, and interviews with participants. The result is a tedious, often belabored, argument, written in a turgid style. It resembles a lawyer presenting a lengthy brief, repeating salient points while ignoring conflicting evidence.
The importance of Gracie’s book, however, should not be under-estimated because of its style. His arguments are well-reasoned, if occasionally overdrawn. His immersion in the Official Records and his interviews contribute important information on a critical aspect of the engagement. His groundbreaking work can serve well present-day students of Chickamauga.—Review from The Civil War Book Exchange
