Mountains Touched With Fire: Chattanooga Besieged, 1863 [Hardcover]

Wiley Sword (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

A dramatic recreation of the 1863 siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, details the events of the pivotal battle, the personalities of soldiers and officers on both sides, and the impact of the battle on the Civil War.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sword (Embrace an Angry Wind) makes a significant contribution to Civil War battle history in this account of the dramatic breaking of the Confederate siege of Chattanooga in November 1863. The Confederacy's defeat began with Gen. Braxton Bragg's conviction that his positions on Missionary Ridge were so naturally strong that they precluded direct attack. It was facilitated by vicious infighting among senior commanders of Bragg's army. But the North still had to win the battle. Initially Ulysses Grant's attack was checked on both flanks. Even William Sherman could make no headway against Pat Cleburne, whom Sword regards as the best general on either side. Then the Army of the Cumberland took matters into their own hands with a headlong frontal assault up the steep slopes of Missionary Ridge. Caught by surprise, the Confederates retreated, then broke and ran, carrying with them the last faint prospects for Southern independence.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

No serious analysis of the battles around and in Chattanooga would be complete without an in-depth look at the personalities that formed their outcome. The author (Embrace an Angry Wind: The Confederacy's Last Hurrah, LJ 1/92) studies the actions and decisions of generals Rosecrans and Bragg as they approached the Battle of Chickamauga, then follows up through the Siege of Chattanooga with the same type of in-depth look at most of the generals involved in the decisions before the final battle. The outcome depended more upon the determination and abilities of the individual soldier than upon the decisions of the commanding officers. Sword has written an excellent account of the actual battles and skirmishes that culminated with the loss of Chattanooga to the Union Army. He also gives us an insight into the thoughts and deeds of the individual soldier on both sides. Highly recommended for most libraries.
W. Walter Wicker, Louisiana Technological Univ., Ruston
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 430 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1 edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312118597
• ISBN-13: 978-0312118594
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #954,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lookout Mountain Wasn't Always A Tourist Trap!, July 11, 2002

By 

Ken Cook (Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mountains Touched With Fire: Chattanooga Besieged, 1863 (Hardcover)

This book concerns itself with the siege of Chattanooga in the fall of 1863 by the Confederates and the unexpected breakout by Union forces just when it seemed that they on the verge of suffering a major defeat. Historian Willey Sword weaves a brilliant narrative that reveals the behind-the-scenes infighting of the Confederate generals and the ineptness of many of the northern generals as well as the rise of Ulysses S. Grant (this battle helped to cement his reputation). But what I found most compelling about this book was the detailed descriptions of the incredible suffering that was sustained by the common soldiers.

Many people have a romantic image of the Civil War. But the reality is that the average soldier suffered hardships that cannot even be imagined today. For example, so starved were the troops on both sides during the siege that many were driven to such desperate acts as eating bark off trees or picking undigested corn from animal feces. For in those days, supplies to the battlefield often had to travel hundreds of miles on rail which were often sabotaged by the enemy. Even if the supplies made it to the nearest depot safely, they still had to travel dozens of miles by horse-driven wagons over muddy and often impassable roads. The sad truth is that most supplies ended up rotting or otherwise were destroyed before they even got to the troops, ensuring a constant lack of vital supplies and rampant starvation and illnesses.

By this stage of the Civil War, it was apparent that many of the rank-and-file soldiers were sick of the war and just wanted it to end. In fact, soldiers on opposing sides of the picket lines would often banter playfully with each other and trade such items as pocket knives and tobacco back and forth across enemy lines. But they would soon enough be engaged in bloody battle once again. The climactic battle makes for gripping reading and many unexpected (and unheralded) heros turn disaster into victory (for the Union).

The battle described in this book is typical of many Civil War battles. Lots of people were slaughtered and maimed. Many of them senselessly on account of ill-advised orders from their own officers. It is amazing how the United States was able to reunite at all after such a bloody conflict (over 520,000 Americans were killed), but that is a story for other books to tell. This book only concerns itself with the action at Chattanooga in late 1863 and the narrow focus of the book is an advantage as it does not bore the reader with a confusing tangle of battles and generals - the pitfall of many of the other Civil War books.

The only disappointment with this book (and keeping it from getting five stars) is that there are only a few maps and they are horrid and almost useless. This extremely well-written text deserves better situation maps and more of them so that the reader can better picture the action in his/her mind.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frustrating maps, May 6, 1999

By 

Matthew T. Carpenter (Peoria, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mountains Touched with Fire: Chattanooga Besieged, 1863 (Paperback)

For the most part this was an entertaining and useful book. I did not enjoy it as much as Sword's other works, for two reasons. First, the maps were poor and not well situated throughout the text. Often events were described and the locations were not on any of the overall regional maps. It was also difficult to find the relevant map so an index would have been helpful. Considering the main audience for this work is composed of Civil War buffs, detailed and covenient maps should have been a top priority. Second, I think there was some mild hyperbole used throughout, with verbs chosen to unnecessarily sharpen the conflict between fueding generals. Other than these points I thought this book was a wonderful exposition of the siege of Chattanooga. After reading it I will have to visit Missionary Ridge all over again. I highly recommend Sword's other books to the Civil War enthusiast.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better storyteller than most, March 30, 2001

By 

Randall L. Golden "randy_golden" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mountains Touched with Fire: Chattanooga Besieged, 1863 (Paperback)

Wiley Sword has a richly deserved reputation as a Civil War historian and a writer. Although the title indicates the book is about the battle of Chattanooga, the book is half gone before you start the fighting that occurred in Nov. 1864.

Sword starts with the Tullahoma Campaign, touches on the events preceding Chickamauga, and with the fires still glowing 12 miles south of Chattanooga, Sword begins to weave the tale of America's Scenic City late in 1863. The Union Army is stranded with little food and little hope of increasing its supply, Rosecrans is arrogently refusing to admit to his problem and General Grant is put in charge of a potentially disasterous situation.

Grant's first concern are the men trapped in this valley between two mountains. He is willing to overlook his distaste for George Thomas, who is, well, a Virginian in the Union Army. Once a supply route is secure and the rations begin to pour into the besieged city, Grant turns his attention to the problem at hand -- lifting the seige and driving the Rebels back. This he does in a series of four battles, Orchard Knob, the "Battle Above the Clouds," Missionary Ridge and Ringgold Gap.

The Confederates are being torn apart by the hatred of most of the generals for their commanding officer, Braxton Bragg. And as much a the book is a big hurrah for General Grant and Thomas, its an indictment of the beleaguered commander of the Army of Tennessee.

Sword's strength is his ability to tell a story without sacrificing historical accuracy. I suppose he could have gone into more detail, but I like it just the way it is. We don't need another Cozzens epic.