KEYNOTE ? Involved study that breaks through the legends surrounding the Chickamauga campaign The Confederate cavalry has a storied and generally favorable relationship with the history of the Civil War. Despite the brutal nature of the larger conflict, tales of raids and daring exploits all create a whiff of romance that lingers about the horse-soldiers of the Lost Cause. Sometimes, however, romance obscures history. Failure in the Saddle: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Joe Wheeler, and the Confederate Cavalry in the Chickamauga Campaign is the first study of its kind to examine the impact of the Confederate Cavalry on the larger Chickamauga campaign. David A. Powell, author of the bestselling The Maps of Chickamauga, draws upon a massive array of primary accounts, many previously unpublished, to offer the first detailed examination of the Southern cavalry's role in this fascinating campaign. The result is a richly detailed and elegantly written study full of insightful tactical commentary, new perspectives on the strategic role of the Rebel horsemen, and fresh insights on every engagement, large and small, waged during the bloody North Georgia campaign. The September 1863 battle of Chickamauga was one of the largest and bloodiest combats of the war. The culmination of a month of maneuvering in the knife-ridged mountains and narrow valleys of North Georgia, the intricate and confusing engagement between the Union Army of the Cumberland and the Confederate Army of Tennessee ended with a sweeping Southern breakthrough of Union lines with the ultimate prize in sight: Chattanooga, the giant road, river, and railroad transportation hub in Tennessee. The Army of Tennessee knew little of victory. The generals quarreled and the men bled. Constant defeats and bickering plagued this hard-luck army. Despite the Southern Army's field success?Chickamauga was the only major Confederate victory in the Western Theater during the entire war?the main prize of Chattanooga would elude them. Within months, Federal counterblows reversed all that had been so dearly purchased. With two full cavalry corps (nearly 14,000 horsemen) under legendary commanders Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joe Wheeler, should the outcome have been different? Failure in the Saddle is a judiciously reasoned and carefully crafted study and an essential book for readers of Civil War battle and campaign histories. AUTHOR: David A. Powell is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Class of 1983, with a BA in history. David has published numerous articles in magazines, more than fifteen historical simulations of various battles, and regularly leads tours to Civil War battlefields including the epic field of Chickamauga. 26 photographs m12 maps
