Gateway to the Confederacy

New Perspectives on the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns, 1862-1863

Evan C. Jones and Wiley Sword

Narrated by Micah W. Lee

Available from Audible

Book published by Louisiana State University Press

A collection of ten new essays from some of our finest Civil War historians working today, Gateway to the Confederacy offers a reexamination of the campaigns fought to gain possession of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Each essay addresses how Americans have misconstrued the legacy of these struggles and why scholars feel it necessary to reconsider one of the most critical turning points of the American Civil War.

The first academic analysis that delineates all three Civil War campaigns fought from 1862 to 1863 for control of Chattanooga—the transportation hub of the Confederacy and gateway to the Deep South—this book deals not only with military operations but also with the campaigns’ origins and consequences. The essays also explore the far-reaching social and political implications of the battles and bring into sharp focus their impact on postwar literature and commemoration. Several chapters revise the traditional portraits of both famous and controversial figures including Ambrose Bierce and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Others investigate some of the more salient moments of these campaigns such as the circumstances that allowed for the Confederate breakthrough assault at Chickamauga.

Gateway to the Confederacy reassesses these pivotal battles, long in need of reappraisal, and breaks new ground as each scholar reshapes a particular aspect of this momentous part of the Civil War.

Evan C. Jones is a former National Park Service ranger who has worked at numerous Civil War battlefields, including the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Wiley Sword is the author of several books about the Civil War, including Mountains Touched with Fire: Chattanooga Besieged, 1863.

REVIEWS:

“This collection of thought-provoking essays, all of which are solidly researched and impeccably written, should have wide appeal to those not only interested in the armies and personalities of the campaigns for Chattanooga but those who seek to understand how history is written, remembered, and revised.”

—Civil War History

“Gateway to the Confederacy is required reading for serious scholars of the Western Theater. Its multifaceted exploration of the 1862–1863 Chattanooga campaigns should also keep general audiences intrigued. The respective authors have made a substantial contribution to the scholarship of these campaigns, one that other scholars will have to consider in future works on the topic”

—North Carolina Historical Review

“Essay collections rarely win literary honors over sweeping studies or finely honed monographs.... The 10 articles in Gateway to the Confederacy, superbly edited by Evan C. Jones and Wiley Sword, stand as an exception to conventional wisdom.... Beautifully produced, elegantly written, and buttressed by useful maps, this is a book that should be devoured by any reader interested in mid-way military operations in the West.”

—Civil War Monitor

“A collection of ten deeply researched essays by nine prominent historians that offers fresh insights into the overlooked significance of this mountain city and the men who fought there.... Gateway to the Confederacy is an excellent compilation of scholarship. Individually, the essays constitute thought-provoking case studies. Collectively, they persuasively assert that Chattanooga is central to any full understanding of the Civil War.”

—Journal of Military History

“If you are looking for a rehash of time-worn theories, Gateway to the Confederacy is definitely not your book. Always thought provoking and at times edgy, this collection of essays pokes, prods, and challenges our views about two crucial campaigns of the western theater. The result is a fresh perspective that, though controversial at times, must be taken seriously. Excellent.”

—Larry J. Daniel, author of Days of Glory: The Army of the Cumberland, 1861‚Äì1865

“This worthy collection ... has something for anyone with even a cursory interest in the Civil War, especially beyond the battlefield. Anyone reading Gateway to the Confederacy will conclude their time well spent.”

—Lawrence Lee Hewitt, author of Port Hudson, Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi

“Chickamauga ranked second only to Gettysburg among the Civil War's great effusions of blood, yet it has received only a fraction as much attention from historians. Gateway to the Confederacy helps redress this striking imbalance, illuminating many facets of the battle and its context as well as some of the ways in which it was remembered. The essays complement one another splendidly and underscore the rich potential for analysis and narrative inherent in major Civil War military operations.”

—Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Union War

“This remarkable collection shows Civil War studies at its best. The freshness and range of the topics addressed here remind us that we have only begun to comprehend even the most important aspects of the conflict. The essays in Gateway to the Confederacy prove that the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns played pivotal roles in crucial dimensions of the war, then and for generations to follow.”

—Edward Ayers, author of In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859‚Äì1863

“Gateway to the Confederacy features some of the best essays on one of the most crucial Civil War battles.”

—William W Freehling, author of The South versus the South

“Gateway to the Confederacy opens an unparalleled vista on the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns, giving readers a panorama of perspectives from the ground level of war to the high command. Editors Evan C. Jones and Wiley Sword have assembled an impressive cast of historians whose original essays challenge popular thinking about Nathan Bedford Forrest, Braxton Bragg, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Rosecrans. The authors also consider critical tactical decisions without losing sight of the soldiers themselves, who struggled to depict the helter-skelter of battle. In 1895 when the Union and Confederate survivors rallied together for a national reunion, they again found Chickamauga to be a confusing place. As much as the veterans proclaimed reconciliation, this superb volume concludes that too much blood had been sacrificed for anyone to simply forgive and forget.”

—Peter S. Carmichael, Fluhrer Professor of History and director of the Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College