The Smoke at Dawn: A Novel of the Civil War Read online

  The Smoke at Dawn is a work of historical fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2014 by Jeffrey M. Shaara

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

  BALLANTINE and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Shaara, Jeff

  The smoke at dawn : a novel of the Civil War / Jeff Shaara.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-0-345-52741-7 (hardback) — ISBN 978-0-345-52743-1 (eBook)

  1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Fiction. 2. War stories. 3. Historical fiction. I. Title.

  PS3569.H18S66 2014

  813’.54—dc23

  2014012569

  www.ballantinebooks.com

  Jacket design: Tom McKeveny

  Jacket image: Mort Kunstler

  v3.1

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  TO THE READER

  LIST OF MAPS

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  PART ONE

  Chapter One: Forrest

  Chapter Two: Bragg

  Chapter Three: Thomas

  Chapter Four: Bragg

  Chapter Five: Bauer

  Chapter Six: Sherman

  Chapter Seven: Bragg

  Chapter Eight: Cleburne

  Chapter Nine: Grant

  Chapter Ten: Grant

  Chapter Eleven: Grant

  Chapter Twelve: Thomas

  Chapter Thirteen: Bragg

  Chapter Fourteen: Bauer

  PART TWO

  Chapter Fifteen: Bragg

  Chapter Sixteen: Bauer

  Chapter Seventeen: Bauer

  Chapter Eighteen: Bauer

  Chapter Nineteen: Cleburne

  Chapter Twenty: Grant

  Chapter Twenty-one: Thomas

  Chapter Twenty-two: Grant

  Chapter Twenty-three: Cleburne

  Chapter Twenty-four: Grant

  Chapter Twenty-five: Bragg

  Chapter Twenty-six: Cleburne

  Chapter Twenty-seven: Thomas

  Chapter Twenty-eight: Sherman

  Chapter Twenty-nine: Bauer

  Chapter Thirty: Cleburne

  Chapter Thirty-one: Grant

  Chapter Thirty-two: Cleburne

  PART THREE

  Chapter Thirty-three: Sherman

  Chapter Thirty-four: Cleburne

  Chapter Thirty-five: Thomas

  Chapter Thirty-six: Bauer

  Chapter Thirty-seven: Bauer

  Chapter Thirty-eight: Thomas

  Chapter Thirty-nine: Bragg

  Chapter Forty: Bauer

  Chapter Forty-one: Cleburne

  Chapter Forty-two: Sherman

  AFTERWORD

  Other Books by This Author

  About the Author

  TO THE READER

  This novel is the third in what will become a four-book set, taking place in the “Western” theater of the Civil War. As with the first two in this series, I follow several historical figures by telling you the story through their eyes, from their own points of view. Though the history is accurate, and every event happened as portrayed, because there are thoughts and dialogue, this has to be described as fiction.

  This story deals with the critical campaign around Chattanooga in the fall of 1863. Consistent throughout this entire series is the voice of Union general William T. Sherman. Here, as well, are Ulysses S. Grant and George Thomas. On the Confederate side are two widely different personalities: Confederate commanding general Braxton Bragg, and Major General Patrick Cleburne. Also in this story is a voice I introduced in the first two books, that of Private Fritz “Dutchie” Bauer. I have come to accept that no story like this can be told effectively without focusing on the man with the musket, who truly determines if the decisions of the generals will succeed or fail.

  In every case my research takes me back to this time, to the thought processes of the characters themselves. I am often asked about my research, and many times I’ve been asked “How do you write the dialogue?” There is no easy answer to that. The Acknowledgments section in this book offers a glimpse into the original sources, including diaries, memoirs, and collections of letters that offer enormous assistance in my efforts to find out just who these people are, to hear the “voices.” My job then is to tell you what I hear. That might sound a little “mystical” (or a little schizophrenic), and I don’t believe I’m either. The goal, ultimately, is to put words in the mouths of memorable and historically important people. If those words are not accurate to who that person was, either by deed or personality, the dialogue will come across as counterfeit—first to me, and most certainly to you. That’s the magic of the research, and, I hope, the magic of the writing process.

  It has been extremely gratifying to hear from so many readers, either through my website or on the road throughout my book-signing tours, who might have had no real interest in this particular topic (not everyone is a Civil War buff), but who have been drawn into these stories. One point I emphasize to every audience I speak to is that this is not a history book, nothing like what you were required to read in high school. My father, Michael Shaara, taught his creative writing students at Florida State that if you have any interest in writing a story, you must start and end with exactly that: the story. That’s a lesson I’ve taken to heart for the past twenty years. I am under no illusions that if my father were still alive, many of the books I’ve written would have been his stories to tell. His masterpiece, The Killer Angels, is now forty years old, and is currently in its 112th printing. He died in 1988, having no idea what he had left behind.

  The 150th anniversary of the Civil War has already been commemorated in all fifty states. I’m honored to have been a part of many of those events. Unfortunately, this four-year anniversary has overshadowed other milestones from our history, notably the bicentennial of the War of 1812, and, in 2014, the centennial of the start of World War I. With all due respect to those whose interests lie outside of the Civil War, the attention this particular anniversary has received is, to me, a sign of the power that the Civil War still holds over us. There are enormous numbers of descendants of the veterans of that war who still honor their ancestry in very graphic and impressive ways. (I have been caught completely off guard by the extraordinary emotions that pour through many events involving both the Sons of Union and Sons of Confederate veterans.) But even those with no personal connection at all continue to be drawn to the great fields where the war was fought, most notably Gettysburg. I was amazed how many visitors to the 150th anniversary events in July 2013 were making the trip to Gettysburg for the first time—and how many of those insisted they would return. I am a rabid supporter of battlefield preservation, and that kind of ongoing interest and passion is reassuring. As entertaining or enlightening as any battlefield might be, for me, the ground is an essential part of the research. As I mention in the introduction to my nonfiction Battlefields book, as the zoo is not the jungle, so the museum is not the battlefield. If any of these stories and characters are appealing to you, I implore you to see these places for yourself. You might find, as I did many years ago, that you are captured
by what happened there. And perhaps you might sit down and write a book.

  JEFF SHAARA

  MAY 2014

  LIST OF MAPS

  Overview

  Troop Positions at End of September

  Federal Attack at Brown’s Ferry

  Thomas Takes Orchard Knob

  Hooker Attacks Lookout Mountain

  Sherman Crosses the Tennessee River

  Sherman Attacks Tunnel Hill

  Thomas Advances to Missionary Ridge

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I am frequently asked about the sources for research for these stories. The following is a partial list of the original voices whose firsthand accounts were of considerable help in completing this story.

  Lucius W. Barber, 15th Illinois Infantry

  John Beatty, CSA

  Ira Blanchard, 20th Illinois Infantry

  Cyrus F. Boyd, 15th Iowa Infantry

  Braxton Bragg, CSA

  Irving A. Buck, CSA

  Sylvanus Cadwallader

  Joshua K. Callaway, 28th Alabama Infantry

  Augustus Louis Chetlain, USA

  Dr. James B. Cowan, CSA

  Charles Dana

  Thomas D. Duncan, CSA

  Ulysses S. Grant, USA

  William J. Hardee, CSA

  William B. Hazen, USA

  Joseph E. Johnston, CSA

  St. John Liddell, CSA

  James Longstreet, CSA

  Arthur M. Manigault, CSA

  Jacob B. Ritner, 1st Iowa Infantry

  William T. Sherman, USA

  Moxley Sorrel, CSA

  Leander Stillwell, 61st Illinois Infantry

  Sam R. Watkins, 1st Tennessee Infantry

  My deepest appreciation to the following, who contributed invaluable information and assistance:

  John Belfrage, Pierce, Colorado

  Patrick Falci, Rosedale, New York

  Colonel Keith Gibson, Virginia Military Institute

  Kilwin’s Ice Cream Parlor, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

  Charles F. Larimer, Chicago, Illinois

  Stephanie Lower, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

  Emma McSherry, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

  Lee Millar, Collierville, Tennessee

  Irene Wood Stewart, Jarrettsville, Maryland

  Terrence Winschel, Chief Historian (Ret.), Vicksburg National Military Park

  My sincerest thanks to the following historians whose published works proved extremely useful in the telling of this story:

  Benson Bobrick

  Captain H. R. Brinkerhoff, 15th U.S. Infantry

  First Lieutenant Charles H. Cabaniss, Jr., 18th U.S. Infantry

  Colonel Vincent J. Esposito, USA

  Judith Lee Hallock

  Captain J. Harvey Mathes

  James Lee McDonough

  Grady McWhiney

  Don C. Seitz

  Matt Spruill

  Wiley Sword

  Craig L. Symonds

  Jeffry D. Wert

  Brian Steel Wills

  INTRODUCTION

  By mid-1863, the Civil War has turned decidedly in favor of the Union. In July of that year, Federal forces win two monumental victories, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Gettysburg is far closer to the great media centers of the day, including Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond. Thus, most of the public’s attention is drawn to the events there, including the astounding casualty count. More than fifty thousand soldiers are killed, wounded, or missing, after a three-day fight that many now believe will prevent Southern forces under Robert E. Lee from ever again challenging any Union army for dominance on the field. With so much newspaper and photographic coverage of Gettysburg, overlooked by many is what the capture of the Mississippi River town of Vicksburg has done to Southern fortunes. Whereas Gettysburg crushes Lee’s hopes to end the war by posing a threat to Washington, D.C., the North’s victory at Vicksburg accomplishes three things that in the long term have a far greater impact. With unobstructed control of the Mississippi River, Federal armies can now travel freely from the great cities of the North and Midwest directly to the Gulf of Mexico. Supplies and equipment can be fed to Federal forces now in nearly every part of the South, and there is very little that Confederate armies can do about it. Worse for the Confederacy, they lose the enormously valuable lifeline of men and resources from those states beyond the river, including Texas, Arkansas, and most of Louisiana. But there is another notable story told at Vicksburg, as important to the outcome of the war as the battle itself. It is the ascendancy of the Federal commander there, Ulysses S. Grant.

  For two miserable years, Abraham Lincoln has struggled to find a general, any general, with the ability to confront his Confederate counterparts, and win. Though the Northern armies have on occasion been victorious, none of the Federal commanders can drive home those successes in a way that brings the war to an end. Some, especially in the East, fall flat on their faces, in stunning defeats where Federal forces greatly outman and outgun their adversaries.

  West of the Appalachian Mountains, it is a different story. The enormously superior resources of the Union overpower what the Confederacy can put in the field. So far removed from Richmond, the Confederate commanders are often given second-class status by their leadership, denied supplies and manpower adequate to hold the Federal armies away.

  For much of the war, both sides are concerned with a game of “capture the flag,” as though by either capturing or preserving the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, the war will be won or lost. In the West, the conflict rarely involves major cities at all. In 1862, the bloodiest battle yet fought on American soil takes place at Shiloh, in southern Tennessee, where no real town even exists. The crucial city of Nashville, Tennessee, is surrendered by the Confederates without a fight, and Memphis and New Orleans fall into Federal hands by the superior strategies and maneuvers of the Federal navy. At first, President Lincoln is no more impressed by the Federal commanders out west than he is by McClellan, Burnside, Pope, and Hooker. Early in the war, the Federal armies west of the mountains are commanded by Henry Halleck, and despite several victories, Halleck proves unable to press home his successes, allowing Confederate forces to rally and rally again. Lincoln recognizes that Halleck, though a capable administrator, is not a warrior. In mid-1862, after Halleck squanders the enormous Federal victory at Shiloh, he is called to Washington to serve as Lincoln’s chief adjutant general, a role that seems far more suited to his talents. After his success at Shiloh, Ulysses Grant is elevated in Halleck’s place. The next twelve months prove to Lincoln that his decision is the right one. Grant’s star continues to shine, reaching a pinnacle after the fall of Vicksburg, where Grant accepts the surrender of thirty thousand Confederate troops.

  In the cities of the North, the twin victories in mid-1863 produce a euphoria that the end of the war is a simple inevitability, that Southern hopes have been crushed. But dangerous Confederate armies still roam the great middle ground between the mountains and the Mississippi.

  Grant’s authority does not extend into eastern Tennessee. That command rests in the hands of Major General William Starke Rosecrans. During the 1840s, while most of his West Point contemporaries earn valuable combat experience in the Mexican War, Old Rosy, as his troops call him, pursues a career in academia, becoming a professor of engineering at the United States Military Academy. But his reputation is sound, and at the start of the war he immediately goes into service as subordinate to George McClellan. Rising through the ranks, Rosecrans is given command of the Army of the Cumberland, following a poor performance by Don Carlos Buell. Rosecrans now commands an area that includes eastern Tennessee, and parts of Alabama and Mississippi. But Rosecrans is a man who studies details better than he relates to his fellow officers. His unfortunate temperament makes enemies, including Grant, and Rosecrans never receives the attention, nor the respect, he feels he deserves.

  His adversary is Confederate lieutenant general Braxton Bragg, who has r
isen to command following the death of his superior, Albert Sidney Johnston, killed at Shiloh. Bragg’s reputation has been built upon a solid foundation of discipline, and his own troops learn to fear the severity of his punishment for offenses common to any army. But the Confederate troops benefit enormously from Bragg’s discipline, and become an effective fighting force, easily capable of handling itself in the face of any Federal army. Still, he is never embraced by his officers, and survives in his position only because of his friendship with Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Like Rosecrans, Bragg is difficult at best, and is quick to pass negative judgment on his colleagues, which damages his ability to supply his army or gain preferential treatment when his campaigns require it. That kind of dismissal only adds to Bragg’s hostility toward the ranking commanders throughout other theaters of the war.

  Rosecrans faces off against Bragg at the Battle of Stones River, near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, over the New Year 1863. The battle is one of the bloodiest of the war, and though Rosecrans claims victory, neither side dominates the other. The victory in many ways is handed to Rosecrans, as Bragg chooses to retreat southward, though Confederate forces prove superior in many of the battle’s engagements. For the next six months, neither man makes an aggressive move, inspiring vigorous protests from their respective governments.

  In June 1863, Rosecrans finally moves, and engineers a tactically brilliant deception around Bragg’s army that causes Bragg to abandon the city of Chattanooga. But Rosecrans’s great triumph is severely overshadowed in the press and among Northern civilians by the twin victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Rosecrans takes advantage of the momentum he has been given, and flush with confidence, he pursues Bragg into Georgia. Both armies now stumble into confused maneuvering and inept positioning, caused by incompetence among commanders, as well as the difficult mountainous terrain. By September 1863, the two armies settle down to face each other west of Dalton, Georgia, along Chickamauga Creek. The resulting bloodbath severely weakens both armies, but when Rosecrans makes a catastrophic blunder in repositioning his lines, Bragg’s field commanders, notably James Longstreet, take advantage. The result is the complete collapse of the main Federal position, and a stampeding retreat back toward Chattanooga. Bragg refuses to grasp the magnitude of his victory, and thus does not order a full-on pursuit. Though Rosecrans is swept away by the panicked retreat, the Federal troops make good their escape in part by the solid wall of defenses put in the Confederates’ path by Rosecrans’s subordinate George Thomas.