Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to the 420th episode of our Civil War Podcast.

I'm Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Welcome to the podcast.

As y'all will recall, with last week's episode, we got to start on the Chattanooga story arc.

We saw how, after the Battle of Chickamaga, the Federals pulled back to Chattanooga itself,

while the Confederates slowly advanced and occupied the high ground looking down on the

town.

We said that for both Army commanders, Braxton Bragg and William Rosecranes, the key issue

in the aftermath of the Battle of Chickamaga was logistics.

The Confederate commanding general, Braxton Bragg, didn't have enough wagons, and so

it was a stretch even transporting supplies to the Army of Tennessee from the Railhead

Ecotusa Station just a dozen miles away.

And then, in pulling back to Chattanooga and giving up the high ground that looked down

on the town and the Tennessee River, the Federals were also giving up the most direct

line of supply back to their bases in Bridgeport and Stevenson in Northwest Alabama.

That meant that now, getting supplies into Chattanooga would be extremely difficult and

time-consuming.

Just in five days after the end of the Battle of Chickamaga, after his forces had finished

pulling back to Chattanooga, William Rosecranes, the commander of the Army of the Cumberland,

reported to Washington that he had only ten days' worth of rations on hand.

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