Civil War Daily Gazette   “They Seemed Everywhere Victorious” –
Union Route at Chickamauga  September 20, 1863 (Sunday)
Rosecrans: Run to the hills! Run for your lives!  Rosecrans: Run
to the hills! Run for your lives!  William Rosecrans, commander
of the Union Army of the Cumberland, knew he could not attack.
The previous day’s fighting along the Chickamauga had left his
army wounded, and now only five brigades remained fresh. For
him, reinforcements could not possibly come quickly enough, and
they most certainly would not come on this day. He believed
himself to be facing perhaps as many as 120,000 Rebels. The true
number was about half that. Retreat, as well, seemed impossible.
He knew the fate that had befallen other officers before him who
had beat hastily towards the north. No, his army would stay and
they would receive the enemy’s attacks, and if fortune was with
them, the Federals would withstand the strike.  Through the cold
night, Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee heard the axes of the
enemy fellin