BG Archibald Gracie III, CSA

[Kas01]

I remember reading that Colonel Gracie loved to tell stories about his father during the Civil War, and one of the battles Brigadier General Gracie fought at was the Battle of Chickamauga. What, precisely, was BG Gracie's brigade doing during the battle? If it was held in reserve, was it committed at any point? What were its casualties during the battle?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Stephen Walker]

Hello, Kas01!

At Chickamauga, General Gracie's infantry brigade was composed of the 43rd Alabama, 63rd Tennessee, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Battalions of Hilliard's Alabama Legion. His brigade was part of Brigadier General William Preston's division of Major General Simon Bolivar Buckner's Corps.

Gracie's Brigade was heavily engaged in this bloody, chaotic battle in the northwest Georgia woods, where it was involved in the assaults on Major General George Thomas' wing of the Union Army of the Cumberland (specifically troops from Negley's and Brannan's divisions), which staunchly defended Snodgrass Hill on Sept. 20,1863. Gracie's boys captured a spur in front of the Union position and managed to hold on for about an hour before they were finally repulsed by a counterattack by Stanley's brigade. Gracie's casualties here were 725 out of the 2,003 men in his brigade--all in the space of about an hour and a half!

 

[Kas01]

Major General Simon Bolivar Buckner

Was he any relation to LTG Buckner, killed in action on Okinawa?

 

[Stephen Walker]

He certainly was! LTG Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. was the son of the Confederate general.

Interestingly, it was Buckner who surrendered his troops to US Grant at Fort Donelson back in Feb. 1862, the action in which he earned the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. Grant and Buckner were old friends--they'd known each other since their West Point years and the Mexican War, and Buckner had loaned Grant money on one occasion, before the Civil War, when he was broke.