The Chickamauga Campaign―Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863 Paperback – September 13, 2017

How anyone could ever accuse General Rosecrans of cowardess or ineffectual command is beyond the scope of reality in my opinion. Mr. Powell has shined a very bright light on some very murky circumstances surrounding the removal from command of General Rosecrans. That is to say, short of accusing Edwin Stanton of running a 'Good Old Boys Club' where merit had no bearing on advancement or even support of the administration for service faithfully rendered. Lincoln said when asked about Grant's drinking and fitness for command, "I cannot spare this man, he fights". Really? In my mind, Rosecrans outshined Grant by a wide margin in both categories. Rosecrans was a tactician, that is plain to see, who used position as well as strength to achieve his goals . He took Chattanooga not by force, but by maneuver, it was the object of the campaign and acheived almost bloodlessly. Rosecrans leaving the field to safeguard this does not surprise me. Negley's refusal to take the eight or ten thousand rallied troops back into the field mystifies me. It seems to me that he held an opportunity to turn what appeared to be a rout into a resounding Union victory and all he had to do was show up. Like Hooker at Chancellorsville, his corps commanders, aside from Thomas, seemed to lack any initiative, no sense of responsibility to achieve anything unless expressly ordered to do so. Braxton Bragg however, mistakenly believed his would let circumstances dictate their movements, giving them a green light to take advantage of circumstances as they saw them. Was Negley blind, stupid or frightened? Perhaps be cared little for Thomas. In any event, it appears he wasn't up to the moment. All of that aside, in my estimation, General Rosecrans was the brightest star in the Union Army, bar none.

This is a fine end to the three volume series on the extraordi8narily sanguinary battle at Chickamauga. This is not a lengthy volume, but it has heft. For instance, the order of battle lays out what units were involved in the battle--and also the best estimate as to casualties. The percentage of dead, wounded, and missing or captured is high. This is clearly a very deadly battle. The tables in appendices are a valuable contribution to our understanding of the battle.The subtitle is telling. For the Confederate Army of Tennessee, this was indeed a "barren victory." Commanding general Braxton Bragg did not have a sense of the magnitude of his victory. And the momentum of the battle dissipated as the dysfunctional leadership structure of the southern forces manifest itself. Confederate forces had a sense that the Union Army of the Cumberland was devastated by the battle. They were not. There was a reasonable degree of order in their retrogade movement into Chattanooga. The Union forces began to take action to stabilize their position. U. S. Grant brought forces to Chattanooga. The Army of the Potomac contributed two corps to the city. The dynamic rapidly changed.And the victory was indeed barren.

If you read the first two books about the battle the last book is a must. The aftermath is necessary to understanding how a great battlefield victory, was not so great. The commanding generals on both sides made major mistakes.

I know the author personally, and have acted as a 'human flank marker' while he was doing battlefield research, figuring out how much space which regiment took up. Dave is the most thorough researcher I have ever met in my life (I'm a game map cartographer) and this trilogy will be the history of this campaign that all others will be compared to. he is truly the 'Coddington of Chickamauga.'

A worthy finish to the "trilogy". Powell gives the immediate follow up to the battle and plenty of material on the costs, consequences and losses--with sources. The author explains that casualty research is ongoing, yet comparing the figures to the loss lists in his Maps book shows few changes--and a typo or two.He is working on maps of Chattanooga/ Knoxville,and i hope he follows that up with a book on the battle of Chattanooga. (Dave, that's a hope not a request or a suggestion for the next part of your life.)

This is book 3 in the trilogy of this battle. Like the other 2 preceding it, it is filled with many details making the reading slow if you are to digest all the details. If you are interested in the Civil War & this battle in particular, this is a good book. If you read the first 2 (& you must if you are to understand this one) , this is a good finish to your study.

Powell did an immense amount of research for his Chickamauga trilogy and presents it to the reader. There's lots of nuggets and raw material (his bibliography has an awesome amount of information for researchers and writers). Quite often, though, I get the feeling that Powell is adept at finding information and inserting it into the stream of writing, creating a voluminous account that sometimes seems clunky rather than superb. Contrast his work to that of Peter Cozzens (This Terrible Sound) which was considerably shorter but packed a much more powerful punch.One other thing - the publisher didn't do right by Powell. His work has oomph and merit, but the books are full of grammatical mistakes. The publisher must be short on proofreaders and editors. It shows.

This book and the other two in the series are excellent. The battle is complex yet the author makes it all understandable with amazing details and expert research that took years to accumulate. If you are interested in the history of the battle you won’t be disappointed. I loved these books!!!