‘Splendid Strategy’
fter the inconclusive victory at Stones River in January 1863, Union Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland occupied and fortified Murfreesboro, Tenn., and waited. And waited. Meanwhile, Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee retreated 30 miles south to a line centered at Tullahoma, Tenn. Convinced that Rosecrans’ next move would be to attack the important Chattanooga rail junction, Bragg spread his forces to block the only roads through the line of hills behind Tullahoma. Union General in Chief Henry—. In late June 1863, the Union commander finally moved, conducting a brilliant campaign that forced Bragg to abandon vital Middle Tennessee. It was a turning point in the Civil War, but would be overshadowed by the simultaneous Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. When Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton belittled Rosecrans’ achievement in comparison to Grant’s at Vicksburg, Rosecrans replied, “I beg on behalf of this army that the War Department may not overlook so great an event because it is not written in letters of blood.” A new opus by and , (Savas Beatie, $34.95) provides a welcome, thorough examination of Rosecrans’ singular success that summer. The two veteran authors spoke recently to .
