CS victory at McLemore's Cove:

The CSA had at McLemore's Cove one of the great all-time strategic opportunities of the Civil War to inflict major damage on their enemy and secure initiative where in the light of the future reinforcement by James Longstreet and company which was inevitable regardless such a victory would have meant even more than in an immediate sense. Assuming that Bragg's generals adopt a different approach and try to screw Bragg by attacking as he orders just to show what an idiot he is, and as a result inflict major damage on Thomas's XIV Corps, what realistically happens as a result of this? OTOH this is a major strategic gain right out of the starting gate, OTOH, this is Bragg and his subordinates, people that make Megatron and Starscream look like examples of soldierly camaraderie and bonhomie. *If* this actually happened, does it alter anything other than to increase the scale of defeat in the Chickamauga Campaign, which was the worst Union battlefield defeat of the war IOTL as it was?
 
Even if the Confederates win a major victory like they did at Chickamauga its simply impossible for them to capitolize on it. The rift between Bragg and most of the senior officiers of the army is simply too big to be healed by any victory. The Army of Tennessee will have dark days ahead as long as that situation remains unremedied.
 
Negley getting trounced at McLemore's Cove via Dug Gap could have a number of sequelae. I think the major question is what might happen to his commanding officer Thomas, if someone much less deliberate and patient is in charge at Nashville *or* if Horseshoe Ridge goes worse than expected there could be significant butterflies. Opening up McLemore's ridge also puts the railway to Nashville in jeopardy of capture or sabotage and would make a marching retreat more difficult. I doubt the Confederates could retake Murfressboro but with supply lines stretched to Louisville, what sorts of reserves does the Army of the Cumberland have if their main force is bottled up against the river and has to make a fighting retreat?

I do not think the CSA has a chance to win the war militarily as a result but it might make the 1864 elections a lot more interesting, especially if the Confederacy still holds Atlanta or even large parts of Tennessee. Maybe the Union counters with a march through the Deep South with Sherman starting from his old home town of New Orleans and goes on to Savannah or Charleston?
 
The best they could hope for out of McLemore's Cove was to cut-off and annihilate Negley's Division. The drama of such an event would have been done wonders for the AoT's morale and the reputation of Braxton Bragg, but I doubt it would have meant much overall.

Negley was just one division; it's not like Bragg could have destroyed the entire XIV Corps there. So a 1/4 of 1/3 of the AotC is gone.

In fact, having achieved a small but complete victory, it is not inconceivable that the differences in what Bragg and Rosecrans might have done next would have meant Chickamauga never happened. And after that, who knows?

The point here is that destroying Negley might - might - substantially change future events. However, it would in no way imply that the AotC would be either defeated or destroyed as a result.

The CSA had at McLemore's Cove one of the great all-time strategic opportunities of the Civil War to inflict major damage on their enemy and secure initiative where in the light of the future reinforcement by James Longstreet and company which was inevitable regardless such a victory would have meant even more than in an immediate sense. Assuming that Bragg's generals adopt a different approach and try to screw Bragg by attacking as he orders just to show what an idiot he is, and as a result inflict major damage on Thomas's XIV Corps, what realistically happens as a result of this? OTOH this is a major strategic gain right out of the starting gate, OTOH, this is Bragg and his subordinates, people that make Megatron and Starscream look like examples of soldierly camaraderie and bonhomie. *If* this actually happened, does it alter anything other than to increase the scale of defeat in the Chickamauga Campaign, which was the worst Union battlefield defeat of the war IOTL as it was?
 
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