Granger's initiative

Since the ACW's Western Theater is not talked about much around here......

Not to take anything away from George "Rock of Chickamauga" Thomas' stand at Chickamauga, but I think it could be argued that General Granger's (I have forgotten his first name) initiative in moving his division forward without orders just as the rest of the rest of the Army of the Cumberland is falling back played a big part in saving the said Yankee Army. It reinforced Thomas, and managed to hit Longstreet's men in the flank as they were wearing themselves out against Thomas' repeaters.

So my question is this- what if Granger had followed military protocol and NOT acted on his own? Thomas' men were outnumbered, and were running short on cartridges. So is it conceivable that the Army of the Cumberland's retreat may have been cut off? If so, what then? Even Braxton Bragg could not have missed the opportunity to retake Chattanooga, which would have had few defenders.

With the AoC gone and Chattanooga back in Confederate hands, Jeff Davis would no doubt have pushed for his friend Bragg to march on Nashville in short order. Do you think Bragg would have done this? Halleck and Stanton in Washington would have been panicking, urging the War Department to promote US Grant and send him and his Army of the Mississippi to Nashville immediately. Reinforce him by sending what ever troops are left in the west, and possibly some from the Army of the Potomac too. But doing this could embolden Lee in Virginia, perhaps giving us a very different war.


No doubt the North would probably still win the war eventually, but it would have been a different ending from what we know.

What do you think?
 
His name was Major General Gordon Granger.

His orders were extremely unclear. One set ordered him explicitly to be in support of Thomas. Another ordered him to place his command where it could support either McCook or Thomas (McCook was even farther south down the line, so Granger clearly either ignored or didn't receive this order). Then two more inquiries from Rosecrans during the day asked about possible locations for artillery at Rossville, so it could be concluded that Granger was supposed to guard Rossville and stay where he was. In short, no one really knew what his orders were, so it can't really be said that he ignored orders.

When he came to Thomas, he came with ony 2 brigades (a third was left to guard the gap), and quite green brigades at that. They had to detour around Forrest's cavalry and arrived during a lull in the fighting.

When Granger arrived Thomas at first wanted to use him to plug the hole in his line, between Thomas' 4 relatively intact divisions on the left at the Kelly Field salient, and the elements of Brannan's, Wood's, and other scattered divisions still re-forming on Snodgrass Hill and Horseshoe Ridge (which incidentally is not remotely shaped like a Horseshoe). However, another part of Johnson's Division was just then beginning an attack on the far right flank of the Horseshoe Ridge line, so Granger was hurried there.

They struck Johnson's Division not in the flank but head-on, and several of his regiments broke (green-ness). But the surprise turned Johnson back, and he being the left-most unit of the Confederate Army ended the immediate threat. The 2 brigades were then incorporated into the line.

The only repeaters involved were with the 21st Ohio. They fought in the left-center of the Horseshoe Ridge line, nowhere near the far flank, and with a very good defensive position to boot. Granger was not involved there. Wilder's Brigade was entirely armed with repeaters, but he was out of the battle after 1 PM when Assistant Secretary of War Dana ordered him off the field.

Granger's arrival was valued far more for the cartridges that he brought, although with only 95,000 they only provided a few per man.


So in TTL let us say that Granger stays guarding Rossville Gap. Johnson's Division was very disorganized after breaking several miles into the Union center, and it's northward turn was really an effort to outflank the cannons re-forming on the open part of Snodgrass Hill. By virtue of the angle of attack, he was attacking with 2 understrength brigades.

The fight on Horseshoe Ridge would have been a giant melee, and the right-most Union troops probably would have broke and ran, but parts of the line, specifically Wood's relatively fresh division, would have held. Johnson alone certainly could not have swept the line.

Kershaw, meanwhile, was attacking towards the NW, head-on at Snodgrass Hill. His initial attack will be unaffected by the non-arrival of Granger, so his force is bloodied and pushed back.

By this point (mid-afternoon), Polk had halted attacks on the Union left, so confronted by enourmous pressure, Thomas will finally shift two brigades from his own reserve (at Kelly Field, he had at least 4 brigades in reserve) to the Snodgrass Hill line.

What will happen is that the likelihood of a breakthrough at either half of the Union line is increased substantially, but the Confederates have been greatly disorganized, no one is sure of their place in the command structure (what with Longstreet's arrival and D. H. Hill's "demotion"), and Bragg is completely not involved in the battle. Should a breakthrough occur, no one will be able to take advantage of it.

Also by mid-afternoon, Rosecrans' orders to Thomas had gotten through, telling him to take command and withdraw. In OTL Thomas postponed until darkness due to safety. Should part of his line be broken he may withdraw sooner, but it can still be done in safety. The Mcfarland's Gap road is still open (Longstreet would have had to move a few miles laterally to get near it) so Thomas can withdraw under the relative security of Baird, Johnson, Palmer, and Reynolds, with 4 intact divisions from the Kelly Field line. Also with Granger still up by Rossville the northward road is still safe.

The real effects will be that a few thousand less Union troops are killed or wounded but a few thousand more are captured. Granger does not get promoted to Corps command and is looked upon as an over-ly harsh commander (which he is), and Bragg keeps a few thousand more men, who he will lose at Chattanooga anyway.
 
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