About this episode: 

It was fall in the year 1863. Much had changed since the summer. Back in July, a doomed assault on Cemetery Ridge meant Confederate defeat at Gettysburg - and now, back in central Virginia, Lee and Meade’s armies sparred. That same July, Vicksburg fell, and the Mississippi River became a federal highway. Yet the Confederacy’s heartland was still a beating bastion of defiance.

That’s why Abraham Lincoln wanted to drive into eastern Tennessee. That’s why he wanted a major railroad hub in the southeastern corner of The Volunteer State. This is the story of the Union’s attempt to crack the Confederacy from within. This is part one of the story of The Battle of Chattanooga.

Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode: 

Braxton Bragg

James Longstreet

George H. Thomas

William Starke Rosecrans

Nathan Bedford Forrest 

Get The Guide:

Want to learn more about the Civil War? A great place to start is Fred's guide, The Civil War: A History of the War between the States from Workman Publishing. The guide is in its 9th printing.

*Title Image by Library of Congress

Producer: Dan Irving