Talk:The Union's Dark Fall of 1863

Concerning Plausibility
I saw LG's edit, and decided to do a revision on this based on some prior feedback to increase the realism of this short article.

First and foremost, the Army of the Cumberland was indeed starving during the Siege of Chattanooga. Seehere from the Civil War Trust for confirmation, while this link goes further into detail by revealing that when the "Cracker Line" was opened, only half of a morning's ration was left when the supply ship arrived. If that supply route had not been opened, the Union Garrison would've been forced to surrender due to a lack of food, plain and simple. An Army lives and fights off its stomach, afterall.

Next, what could the Confederates have done to prevent the resupply and force the surrender? Just as I've outlined, repulse the attack at Brown's Ferry and/or win an Alt-Battle of Wauhatchie. In OTL, a force of Union troops floated down the river to attack the Confederate emplacements at the Ferry, and were then rapidly reinforced from some comrades right across the river. The historical Confederate counterattacks were halfhearted and too late to make a difference, and soon not only was the Cracker Line made viable but 20,000 men of Hooker's Corps were able to use a combat-built pontoon bridge to attack across the river. However, what is overlooked is why the Confederates failed in their objective.

There were indeed nearby Confederate reinforcements in number that could've, if deployed in a timely manner, either repulsed or at least contained the beachhead at the Ferry long enough for a strong enough counterattack to finish the job. However, they were not deployed due to command confusion within the Army of Tennessee. Next, a counterattack under Longstreet did occur (See above on how that went), but Longstreet's force was half its normal size most likely due to Bragg seeking petty vengence. It was also late in developing, occuring the following night after the assault against newly established fieldworks manned by a slightly larger Federal detachment. If it had been conducted in a more timely manner with all of Longstreet's troops, it's very likely that in of itself could've repulse the Federals.

In conclusion (Sorry for the rambling nature of this, been a long day of school and work!), I have established several PoDs that allow for the above to take place and thus allow the Confederates to retain the position. Thanks to that, the Union cannot sail resupply due to Confederate batteries, and thus the Army of the Cumberland is forced to surrender in totality due to an inability to continue the struggle in the face of starvation.

God Bless the United States of America (talk) 06:35, November 7, 2015 (UTC)