68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Chattanooga Campaign

Chattanooga Campaign

Lee's army retreated into Virginia and, after some delay, the Army of the Potomac followed. After a skirmish in Hagerstown, Maryland, on July 12, the 68th crossed the Potomac into Virginia on July 16 and took up guard duty along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad near Warrenton. The regiment remained there until September, when it and the rest of the XI Corps were detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent to Tennessee. The XI and XII Corps, under Hooker's command, made up an independent force added to the Armies of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Ohio, which were all operating in that theater. Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, having just lost the Battle of Chickamauga, was besieged in Chattanooga, and the other armies were gathering to lift the siege and attack the Confederate army there, led by Lt. Gen. Braxton Bragg. Traveling for seven days by rail, the 68th arrived in Tennessee on September 30.

The regiment spent the first month guarding railroads again, this time west of Chattanooga. Rosecrans soon found himself relieved of duty, and Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was placed in overall command of the three armies plus Hooker's two corps. The 68th, too, saw a change in its leadership when Col. von Bourry was cashiered for drunkenness and command passed to Lt. Col. Albert von Steinhausen. By this time, losses from Gettysburg and illness had reduced the regiment to 127 men present for duty, just over a tenth of their numbers from the start of the war.

Grant's armies converged on Chattanooga and planned to attack Bragg's army. Getting into place required the XI and XII Corps to cross the Tennessee River at Bridgeport, Alabama, and march rapidly for Lookout Valley, opening the supply line to Chattanooga. They did so, to the surprise of the Confederate forces there, which had not expected an attack from that quarter. On October 28, Hooker's two corps were attacked by a part of Bragg's army, which had by now been joined by Longstreet and some units from the Army of Northern Virginia. Bragg ordered Longstreet to drive the federals back and he attacked. In the ensuing Battle of Wauhatchie, the XII Corps took the brunt of the initial assault. Hooker bypassed Howard and ordered Schurz to bring up the XI Corps to join the fight. The engagement was confused on both sides, but the Union forces were victorious, driving off the rebels and inflicting twice the casualties they received. With the supply lines now reopened to Chattanooga, Grant planned to dislodge Bragg's army. At the Battle of Lookout Mountain, the 68th was held in reserve on the first day, November 24. The battle continued the next day and a part of Howard's XI Corps, including the 68th, was shifted to the far left of the Union lines to reinforce Sherman's attack on Missionary Ridge. There, the 68th skirmished with the enemy, but was unable to advance. The Confederates were forced to retreat however as Maj. Gen. George Thomas's troops' assault on their center sent Bragg's army into retreat from the ridge.

Four days later, on November 28, the 68th, still attached to Sherman's army, marched north to relieve Burnside's army, which was besieged in Knoxville, Tennessee. Before they arrived, however, Burnside managed to defeat the enemy, and the regiment returned south. It spent the winter guarding railroads near their winter quarters in Bridgeport. In April, the enlistments of many three-year men were due to expire, including the men of the 68th. The men were sent to Louisville, Kentucky, and then by rail back to New York City for four weeks' leave of absence. With the war not yet over, the government encouraged re-enlisting, and many of the 68th did so. The three-year men of the 8th and 29th Infantry, two other German-American units reduced by casualties and expiring enlistment terms, were consolidated into the 68th. Drafted men and substitutes brought the ranks up to 400 present for duty.