Battle Of Chickamauga Essay

The Battle of Chickamauga was the second bloodiest battle by numbers of casualties. From 18-20 September 1863, the Union Army of the Cumberland and the Confederate Army of Tennessee engaged in a fierce battle near Chickamauga Creek. The Union commander, Major General William Rosecrans, did not properly utilize the fundamentals of mission command. He lost the battle because he failed to effectively command his forces on the battlefield. He failed to build cohesive teams through mutual trust, create shared understanding, provide a clear commander’s intent, and use mission orders. Following his success at Chattanooga, MG Rosecrans pursued the Confederate Army into the mountainous terrain of northern Georgia. As the Union Army marched through

Instead of building unified teams, Rosecrans demonstrated a lack of trust in several of his subordinates. Trust is defined as a shared confidence between commanders and subordinates (APD 6-0, 2012, p. 2). Known for his temper, Rosecrans often publicly berated subordinate commanders for not rapidly executing his orders. Also, throughout the battle of Chickamauga, he constantly changed his army’s task organization. Cozzens wrote, “Rosecrans tossed aside any consideration of command cohesion; divisions and even brigades were peeled from their parent units and fed into the fight wherever and whenever they were needed. Commanders were thrown into unfamiliar relationships (1996, Chapter 10).” Additionally, MG Rosecrans did not effectively create a shared understanding with his subordinate commanders. On the eve of the final day of the battle, MG Rosecrans held a meeting with his corps and division commanders to present his plan for the following day. As he presented his plan, the XIV Corps commander, MG Thomas, stated the MG Rosecrans needed to reinforce the left flank. MG Thomas did not have adequate forces to hold the left flank against a Confederate attack. That evening, Rosecrans did not address Thomas’ concerns. Thomas remained persistent and continued to ask Rosecrans for

The Union forces suffered 16,179 casualties while the Confederates suffered 18,454 casualties (Cozzens, 1996, Chapter 32). Only the Battle of Gettysburg had more casualties during the Civil War (“Ten Costliest Battles,” 2003). Confederate forces followed the Army of the Cumberland back to Chattanooga and conducted a siege on the city. The Union had to send General Ulysses S. Grant to rescue Rosecrans and his army. The Battle of Chickamauga broke MG Rosecrans and he was relieved of command. Rosecrans was ineffective with his execution of mission command. He did not build mutual trust among his commanders, create a shared understanding, provide a clear commander’s intent, or use mission orders. If Rosecrans had properly exercised mission command, the battle may have been