This home near the Chickamauga battlefield served as a Union hospital during the battle. It was over run by the 1st Alabama Cavalry.
By September 17, 1863 the stage for the Battle of Chickamauga was set. Longstreet's desperate and fatigued men had arrived in the area after a two week train ride from Virginia. Forrest, Bragg and nearly all of the best Confederate officers and regiments now converged on the tiny town of Crawfish Springs which was the site of the battle along Chickamauga Creek. Within 48 hours the greatest Confederate victory in the West would be won.
Chickamauga Creek winds its way northward after crossing the La Fayette Road at Lee and Gordon's Mill on the Georgia side of the line. The first large scale action actually took place on the 18th between the cavalries of Bragg and Rosecrans.
The terrain was utterly unsuited for such a battle as most of the area was virgin forest. A historian by the name of Steele wrote of these early hours of battle: "Neither army knew the exact positions of the other...It is probable that division commanders on either side hardly knew where their own commands were, in the thick woods, let alone the other troops of their own army, or the troops of the hostile army. The lines were at this time about six miles long."
Further adding to the confusion was the arrival of Confederate reinforcements from Longstreet's corps which had arrived on the same day and Longstreet himself who arrived the next night.
During these early hours the cavalry of Joseph Wheeler and the 1st Alabama Cavalry deployed as well. Wheeler's men had fought Rosecrans with daring raids from behind the Union lines throughout the last months and now the men felt jubilant to finally be giving the enemy a frontal thrust instead of a blow to the back.
Among the men was Pvt. John William McKinley who served as a messenger for a Confederate officer and who was wounded around this time from an exploding shell burst above his position. A make shift hospital was established to the east of the town of Crawfish Springs and many of the wounded were carried to the facility.
The next day, September 19th, saw the Federals in control of the roads and bridge crossings which had to be taken if the Confederate offensive was to reach fruition. The Confederate goal was to secure the bridge crossings along the creek and the Southern commanders were willing to pay any price to gain control of the crossings.
The fighting that morning started with an attack by Union General Thomas, who believed he was attacking only a small force under cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest to his front. The fight expanded and lasted throughout the day as Bragg and Rosecrans engaged more of their armies.
Throughout the day of September 19th the battle swirled back and forth as both sides continued to commit division after division into the swirling mass of battle. Eventually the Federals were pushed back beyond the Lafayette Road.
As night fell on the 19th, Rosecrans consolidated his forces to form a compact defensive line. Bragg planned to resume the fighting on September 20th by attempting to envelop the Union left flank.
Bragg was once again unaware of the military situation when he met Longstreet later that night and told him "the troops have been engaged in ... severe skirmishing while endeavoring to get in the line of battle."
As the fading embers of the sun sunk below the western horizon on the night of the 19th, the Confederate soldiers encamped in the overgrown ravines and hill sides of north Georgia took comfort in having held their own against Union forces during the day's fighting.
The wounded, such as Pvt. John William McKinley, rested their wounded bodies in make shift hospitals along the edges of the battlefield while commanders such as Bragg, Longstreet, Forrest, and other Confederate generals stood silhouetted against the night sky as they discussed strategy against campfires which seem to echo the heat of the day's battle.
At this apex of history these men stood as giants in their own right. Bragg had held his army together on the march from central Tennessee, Longstreet had survived the meat grinder of Gettysburg, and Forrest had wrecked havoc on Union forces from Mississippi, through Alabama and now into Georgia. During the coming days a victory would be gained, an opportunity lost, and Forrest would threaten the life of the blundering Bragg but for this night the Southern cause savored victory in the shadow of Lookout Mountain and the north Georgia woods.
