Florida Soldiers at Chickamauga

September 19, 1863 — Six Florida Regiments Enter One of the Civil War’s Bloodiest Battles

By Wm. E. McMullen II

On the morning of September 19, 1863, six Florida regiments went into battle among the farms and thick woods along Chickamauga Creek in northern Georgia.

They were hundreds of miles from home, but together they represented all six Florida regiments then serving in the Civil War’s western theater.

The 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th Florida Infantry regiments and the 1st Florida Cavalry (Dismounted) were part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. For two days at Chickamauga, they would fight in one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

Why Were Florida Soldiers in Georgia?

Florida is often remembered for Civil War fighting within its own borders — Olustee, Natural Bridge, coastal raids and the struggle to protect cattle, salt and transportation routes. But thousands of Floridians served far beyond the state.

By September 1863, the strategic focus in the western theater had shifted toward Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga was a vital railroad center and a gateway through the Appalachian Mountains into the Deep South.

Union Major General William S. Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland maneuvered the Confederate Army of Tennessee out of Chattanooga. Confederate General Braxton Bragg withdrew south into northern Georgia and gathered reinforcements for a counterattack.

Among those reinforcements were Florida soldiers.

Six Florida Regiments — Two Brigades

During Chickamauga, the Florida regiments were initially divided between two Confederate brigades.

Brigadier General Marcellus Stovall’s brigade included the 1st, 3rd and 4th Florida Infantry. Colonel Robert C. Trigg’s brigade included the 1st Florida Cavalry (Dismounted), 6th Florida Infantry and 7th Florida Infantry.

The word “dismounted” is important. The men of the 1st Florida Cavalry were cavalrymen serving without horses and fighting as infantry.

On September 18, Confederate troops began attempting to cross West Chickamauga Creek. Union cavalry resisted at several crossings. By the morning of September 19, those scattered clashes had expanded into a full-scale battle.

September 19 — The Floridians Go In

The battlefield was heavily wooded. Visibility was poor. Units sometimes advanced without knowing exactly what lay ahead, and attacks developed almost independently as commanders fed more troops into the fighting.

Trigg’s brigade entered the struggle against the Union right during the afternoon.

The 1st Florida Cavalry (Dismounted) was the first Florida regiment in Trigg’s brigade to encounter Federal fire. Union mounted infantry, fighting dismounted, poured rifle fire into the Floridians while Union artillery added to the barrage. The regiment withdrew and re-formed.

Nearby, the 6th and 7th Florida Infantry attacked Union positions around Viniard Farm. The 6th Florida was particularly exposed to artillery and rifle fire.

The cost was severe.

Florida Memory records that the 6th Florida lost 35 men killed and 130 wounded on September 19 alone.

When darkness came, neither army had achieved a decisive breakthrough. The Union line remained intact along the LaFayette Road. Both armies prepared to fight again the next morning.

September 20 — The Battle Breaks Open

The fighting resumed on September 20. A mistaken Union troop movement opened a gap in Rosecrans’s line just as Confederate forces under Lieutenant General James Longstreet attacked.

Confederate troops surged through the opening. Much of the Union center and right collapsed and retreated toward Chattanooga.

But the battle was not finished.

Major General George H. Thomas organized a determined Union defense around Horseshoe Ridge and Snodgrass Hill. His troops resisted repeated Confederate assaults long enough to prevent the retreat from becoming a complete destruction of Rosecrans’s army.

The Florida regiments were among the Confederate troops engaged in this final phase of the battle. Florida Memory notes that the 6th Florida again suffered particularly heavy casualties while attacking the Union position on Horseshoe Ridge.

After darkness, Thomas withdrew toward Chattanooga.

A Victory Bought at Enormous Cost

Chickamauga ended as a Confederate battlefield victory, but the cost to both armies was staggering.

The National Park Service places the combined toll at roughly 35,000 killed, wounded, missing and captured. Only Gettysburg rivaled Chickamauga among the war’s great battles in the scale of its losses.

For Florida, the battle carried special significance because every Florida regiment serving in the western theater had been involved.

Florida Memory describes Chickamauga as the event after which Braxton Bragg brought the Florida regiments together into what became known as the Florida Brigade of the West. The 1st, 3rd and 4th Florida had already served together as a Florida formation; Chickamauga brought all six western Florida regiments onto the same battlefield, and they were subsequently consolidated into one Florida brigade.

The Victory Did Not Last

After Chickamauga, Confederate forces followed the Union army back toward Chattanooga and attempted to isolate it there.

Two months later, the strategic result was reversed. Reinforced Union forces under Major General Ulysses S. Grant broke the Confederate siege and defeated Bragg’s army in the Battles for Chattanooga, including the dramatic Confederate collapse at Missionary Ridge.

Chattanooga remained in Union hands. The following spring, it became the launching point for the campaign toward Atlanta.

For the Florida soldiers who survived Chickamauga, the war was far from over.

Florida History Far From Florida

Chickamauga is a reminder that Florida’s Civil War history cannot be understood only by looking at battlefields inside the state.

Floridians fought in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia. The six western Florida regiments represented thousands of men drawn from communities throughout a state whose total population was still comparatively small.

On September 19, 1863, those Florida soldiers entered the woods around Chickamauga Creek. Some would never leave them.

Their story became part of Florida history nearly four hundred miles from Florida’s northern border.

On this day in Florida history — September 19, 1863 — all six Florida regiments serving in the western theater fought at Chickamauga, beginning two days of combat that would leave tens of thousands of soldiers killed, wounded, missing or captured.

Sources for Additional Reading

• Florida Memory — Florida and the Civil War: September 1863 — Detailed State Archives of Florida account of the six Florida regiments at Chickamauga, including their brigade assignments and September 19 losses.
• National Park Service — Chickamauga Battlefield — Battle chronology, strategic context and overall losses.
• National Park Service — The Battle of Chickamauga — Day-by-day account of the September 18–20 fighting.
• Florida Memory — Corporal Seaborn Tiller — State Archives portrait record, 6th Florida Infantry.
• Florida Memory — Washington Mackey Ives — State Archives portrait record, 4th Florida Infantry.

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