whereas in chickamauga, it's like fighting in jungle. and so rosecrans gets very out of touch with the situation. you couple that with the fact that the guy has a very exuberant personality. he has a way of giving a lot of orders and being very enthusiastic. he also has a terrible time managing his sleep schedule. he usually averages only about four or five hours of sleep a night. which, considering the fact that you left nashville on december 26th is not really that much of an effect, particularly adrenaline has a way of taking over, but by the time he gets to chickamauga, he's been three weeks on campaign and maintaining that schedule. so there's an exhaustion of mental reserves that's there as well. you put all of that together. and what works, the formula that works at stones river because of certain other circumstances that we talk about doesn't work and gets him into trouble at chickamauga. so that would be the answer. he's a fascinating study as a leader, he really is. another question over here? >> jim rosebrock, fredericksburg,

here's two things i chi say, ben rosecrans at stones river and it rosecrans at chickamauga. it's a very straightforward battle, a fairly open place. it's broken fields, but you can stand on the noll, and you can see pretty much your entire battle line. he's got a pretty good visual fi sense of what's going on, whereas in chickamauga, it's like fighting in jungle. so rosecrans gets very out of touch with theth situation. you couple that with the fact that the guy has a very exuberant personality. he has a way of giving a lot of orders and being very enthusiastic. he also has a terrible time managing his sleep schedule. he usually averages only about a four or five hours of sleep a 6 night. which, considering the fact than you left nashville on december f 26th is not really that much ofy an effect, particularly we adrenaline has a way of taking over, but by the time he gets te chickamauga, he's been three weeks on campaign and maintaining that schedule. so there's an exhaustion of mental reserves that's there as well. you put all ofth that together.a and whatuse of works, the

this is a cross -- chickamauga creek for the best part of a full day. i disrupt the confederate battle plan. as a result, the fighting that begins next day, which is sometimes seen as the traditional first day of the battle, but i think it's in midst -- i the fighting that 19 agents 63 will begin at 7:30 in the morning. it was wasted; 30 at night and consist mostly of back and forth in the woods between boat the road called the lafayette road this is very indecisive. it decides nothing, achieves nothing. it runs up enormous casualties for both sides -- they find themselves fighting oppositions that comes in from unexpected directions. they are unprepared for the nature of the combat. even though they -- the primary goal is to attack the union army, drug that away the city of chattanooga, the battlefield is some 10 miles -- chattanooga it is right on the tennessee georgia line. even other plans don't work out very well at all, september 20 -- on theays battle night of september 19, general rosecrans and break holds command conferences -- rosecrans especi

what happened at chickamauga? >> [laughter] that is a great $64 question. if rosecrans is -- i think the biography of him is written entitled "edge of glory," is very true. the difference between rosecrans at stone river in chickamauga -- the rosecrans at stones river has fought a very short campaign. it's also a very straightforward battle and a fairly open place. all -- onand on than the knoll and see your battle line. he has a good visual sense of what's going on. in chickamauga, it's like fighting in jungle. rosecrans gets very out of touch with the situation. couple that with the fact that the guy has a very exuberant personality -- he has a way of giving a lot of orders and being very enthusiastic. he also has a terrible time managing his sleep schedule. he averages as the campaign goes on, only about 45 hours of sleep tonight. considering the fact that you left nashville on december 26 is not really that much of an effect, adrenaline is a way of taking over. but by the time he gets chickamauga, he's been three weeks on campaign and maintaining that s

offinally relieved polk command after chickamauga. davis let him down easily and gave him another command. polk for creating this poisonous atmosphere that permeated the army of tennessee. criticismrves some for not responding to it in a positive way it and making it worse yes, but bragg and not initiated, polk did. yes. christian keller, u.s. army war college. bragg is given a little more credit in strategic circles because he proposed early on a viable confederate strategy in 1861 to president davis. would you comment on your opinion of bragg the strategist versus bragg the army commander? >> good point. bragg was in favor of withdrawing in the spring of 1862 when the fall of donelson propelled this crisis in the western confederacy. he was a proponent of getting away from the idea of holding all territory equally well and evacuating coastlines and concentrating on key points. that strategy was followed whether bragg was able to convince people to do it. i'm not sure. people had the same idea. also i would argue -- in the has, that

that army won only one battle, chickamauga. i point out, let's not look at battles, let's look at battlefield days. were there any days in the civil war that the army of tennessee did well? and yes there were at least four days of brilliant tactical victories on the battlefield, that the army of tennessee achieved. bragg was responsible for three of them. three of the four. the army of tennessee suffered dismal tactical defeat on 14 days of the civil war. bragg was responsible for only four of them. for kmonding the army of tennessee for 20 months, he was responsible for for 75% of the success days, but only 24% of the defeat days. in bell led the army for six months and was response responsible for 70% of the defeat days. he was better than the other people that shared command of the field army which was the most important of the west with him. that army was bragg's army more than any other commander. there certainly was a negative side to bragg's personality. everybody recognize that is. i don't think even i would want to spe

coming up, the siege of vicksburg and confederate defense, battle of chickamauga and horseshoe ridge defense, and union lou general's monocacy defense. american history df is in prime time all week with recent civil war conferences. on tuesday a seminar focusing on the civil war leadership with talks on generals robert e. lee and ulysses s. grant. american history tv in prime time begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >>> matt atkinson is a former park ranger with the vicksburg national military park. next he talks about the 1863 siege of vicksburg and the confederate defense of the city. this 50-minute talk was part of a symposium on great defenses of the civil war, host by the emerging civil war blog. >> our next speaker today comes to us from gettysburg national military park. we've just heard from gettysburg and we're going to have the get ea gettysburg talk about vicksburg. matt is a nate irof mississippi. he is everything you hope to find when you walk to the desk at the park and you want to talk to the great southern gentleman with the great accent. he is going to tell you about southe

coming up, the siege of vicksburg and confederate defense, battle of chickamauga and horseshoe ridgedefense, and union lou general's monocacy defense. american history df is in prime time all week with recent civil war conferences. on tuesday a seminar focusing on the civil war

i'm doing research on the chickamauga campaign. you know, sherman's battles with the newspapers in the bayou campaign are a bigger, more interesting story. >> who what extent did polk have an easy time putting together what i guess is an antibragg coalition in the army of tennessee? >> i try to skirt polk a little bit in my presentations knowing somebody like you will bring him up. i'm happy for you to do it. in my own personal interpretation, polk was a horrible guy. he was unfit to command a cor. e because he didn't have the ability to do it, he didn't support his commander. he had a tendency to play this game -- you talk about a friendship between a president and general, it was polk and davis they were friends -- >> roommates. i think they were roommates. >> i think you're right. davis kept polk in command in high levels of command longer than he should have. there's no justification for it. the interesting thing is that -- as i mentioned, as soon as bragg takes his army up to tennessee to form the army of the mississippi he di