This Terrible Sound: THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA (Civil War Trilogy) (Paperback)

by Peter Cozzens (Author) "DEFEAT was in the wind..." (more)
Key Phrases: frontline regiments, field salient, open spur, Van Cleve, Van Derveer, Horseshoe Ridge (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Expertly renders the furious ebb and flow of the two-day battle capturing both the evolving strategies of each side and the horrendous experience of the fight... [This book] is built upon a bonanza of primary research, with the author having combed hundreds of diaries, letters, memoirs, interviews, official reports and regimental histories. The individual voices and the rich experiences they represent are unforgettably presented here." -- New York Times Book Review

Product Description
This is a main selection of the History Book Club. "Expertly renders the furious ebb and flow of the two-day battle, capturing both the evolving strategies of each side and the horrendous experience of the fight...[This book] is built upon a bonanza of primary research, with the author having combed hundreds of diaries, letters, memoirs, interviews, official reports and regimental histories. The individual voices and the rich experiences they represent are unforgettably presented here." - "New York Times Book Review".

Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252065948
• ISBN-13: 978-0252065941
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #111,945 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Attention to detail to the max, March 22, 2001

By	Randall L. Golden "randy_golden" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the most detailed retelling of the battle of Chickamauga I have ever read. This may be good, it may be bad. It took me about 100 pages to get used to Cozzens style, and even after that I was still overwhelmed with detail. Was it the 23rd Tennessee in Brock Field or the 19th Illinois at Snodgrass Cabin? You will know for sure after reading this book.

The problem is that Mr. Cozzens pounds you with such detail that you might miss some of the best parts of the book. Early on, Gen. George Thomas has sent Col John Croxton to flush a Rebel brigade. Croxton runs headlong into Forrest's cavalry, then is attacked by Claudius Wilson's Georgians. He wires Thomas "Which of the four or five brigades in front of me should I flush out"?

And Cozzens portrayal of Bragg as a mind-numbed leader and Rosecrans as a ranting lunatic is somewhat off-base. And while this was truely a soldier's battle, Cozzens frequently ends up giving short shift to the generals.

If you want to read this book, here's how to get through it. Download the entire series of maps of Chickamauga from www.loc.gov. As you are reading the book, study the maps. Also buy Chickamauga:A Battlefield Guide by Steven Woodworth as a study guide. You'll make it through it. I did.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, super-detailed story of an epic battle, May 18, 2000

By	Tim Weber (Iowa) - See all my reviews

To those reviewers who criticized Peter Cozzens' writing: What, exactly, were you reading? Cozzens does a marvelous job of bringing history to vivid life. "This Terrible Sound" is well-written, well-organized and reveals marvelously complete research. Yes, it is detailed, but the book is 675 pages long! What did you expect? Admittedly, there are times in the middle of the book when the story is confusing, and a few photos of the participants certainly would have been welcome, but overall this is the kind of Civil War history I love. I want detail. I especially love the many quoted sources here; I want the participants to tell the story as much as possible, and Cozzens allows that. This is a big step forward from the still-good "No Better Place to Die." But read on; "The Shipwreck of their Hopes" is better yet.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expert treatment of the ACW turning point in the West..., August 31, 2004

By	Thomas Moody (STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The year 1863 was truly a seminal one for the American Civil War...the famous battles at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Vicksburg have all been imminently researched and expounded upon with many very excellent histories published throughout the years. The same unfortunately cannot be said for the equally pivotal and provocative battle at Chickamauga Creek in northwest Georgia (Spetember 1863). Peter Cozzens, then, has added greatly to the abundance of published Civil War histories with "This Terrible Sound", a modern study of this battle that correctly places it in it's proper context as a major turning point for the Western theatre and indeed the entire war.

Following the Federal victory at Vicksburg, President Lincoln sensing a momentum swing to the Northern effort, places his next great emphasis on the Union Army of the Cumberland, stationed at Murfreesboro, Tennessee following the Federal "victory" at the battle of Stones River (essentially a standoff with the Confederates retreating following the battle). William Stark Rosecrans' Federal force is "encouraged" to attack and subdue the rail center at Chattanooga...with the ultimate goal of using it as the base for further invasion efforts in the South. Defending the roads to Chattanooga, is Confederate General Braxton Bragg, the much maligned and, at the time of Chickamauga, the very ill leader of the rebel forces. Cozzens establishes both a physical and mental picture of both Generals that is neither favorable or complimentary. Regardless, Rosecrans establishes the immediate advantage with a detailed and complex troop movement that faces off with and defeates the Confederates at Tullahoma. Outnumbered and in disarray, the rebels retreat to Chattanooga and await Rosecrans next movement. The Federals continue with the complex manuevers and outflank the Confederates, driving them out of Chattanooga and to the southwest into Georgia, where they settle and await the inevitable Union advance. Rosecrans, sensing that he has the Confederate army on the run, allows his troops to squander valuable time negotiating and reconnoitering the mountainous regions south of Chattanooga. The Confederates, meanwhile, reinforce their troops with forces from Mississippi and the Army of Northern Virginia. The armies thus converge and ultimately meet in the dense forest West of Chickamauga Creek in norhtwest Georgia. Cozzens expertly coveys both this initial overall strategy and individual soldier perspective as he sets up the ensuing battle.

Braxton Bragg's intelligence forces inform him that the Federals have advanced southeast into Georgia...giving him the obvious recourse to attack the Union left flank and cut them off from retreat back to Chattanooga. This is the strategy that Bragg sticks with throughout the struggle and the one whereby he proves to be the most inflexable. Cavalry engagements at Jays Mill on the Western side of Chickamauga Creek start the battle and it immediately degenerates into a disorganized and largley unsupervised slugfest. The action rolls to the southwest with major first-day encounters at Winfrey and Brock Fields...ultimately ending with the Federals still in control of the major roadway out of the battlefield, the LaFayette Road and major breastworks established around this road in the Kelly Field. Cozzens deftly describes these engagements in sometimes excruciating detail as brigade and company level strategy is discussed. He also continues to convey the everday soldier perspective with many journal and diary entries that give true meaning to the atrocities of the battle.

The second day's struggles start with an abortive Confederate attack that ensues three hours late. The rebel army's high command continues to be in disarray and Bragg continues to push for the attack to focus on the Federal left. The initial battle around the Kelly Field breastworks results in major destruction for the Confederate forces, but an erroneous brigade movement opens up a hole in the Federal lines that ultimately proves to be it's undoing. James Longstreet's command from Virginia fortunately charges this opening at the same time that it is established and pushes the right side of the Union army to retreat...only a small and determined force under Union General George Thomas stays on the field and holds off the Confederate advance long enough to allow the balance of the Federal army to retreat back to Chattanooga and ultimately earning him the sobriquet "the Rock of Chickamauga". Cozzens again is precise and expository in his descriptions of these encounters...he really has a talent for integrating detailed troop movements with these soldier perspectives that give immediacy and feeling to the reader that the soldiers certainly must have felt. The second day bloodshed was worse then the first day's and Cozzens manages this balance brilliantly.

With the end of the second day, Thomas retreats his force back to Chattanooga and the Confederates own the field. Cozzens again details the lack of forward thinking on Braxton Bragg's part as the natural strategy then would be to pursue the Federals and defeat them in detail...Bragg chooses to wait and is villified by the Confederate command. Rosecrans is releved following the defeat with Thomas commanding the Army of the Cumberland and Ulysses Grant given overall command of the Western Army...a command that turned the tide ultimately in the Union favor with the ensuing victory at the battle of Chattanooga and the William T. Sherman drive from Chattanooga to Atlanta and beyond.

Prompted by a recent visit to this distinguished battlefield (the National Park Service is to be commended for beautifully maintaining this field), I undertook this work to supplement my battlefield tour experience. This book certainly is a detailed look at the battle and I'm sure that my glowing review was slightly slanted by the fact that I was able to picture the terrain that Cozzens so comprehensively describes. Notwithstanding the abundance of detail, this work should undoubtedly stand as the historical standard by which this battle was described and should be on the shelf of anyone interested in the Civil War western theatre.