In honor of Pvt. Nathan R. Oakes, CSA

150 years ago, my great grandfather, Nathan Richardson Oakes, served as a private in Company D of the distinguished 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment in the Army of Tennessee. He participated in the great Civil War campaigns, including the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, and Bentonville. I am writing about his engagements as well as some details about fighting for the Lost Cause. I hope to honor him and commemorate the events and individuals that contributed to making this a renowned unit in the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Roscrans crosses the Tennessee River

In the evening of today's date in 1863 came a report that the main force of Union Gen. Rosecrans’s army was crossing the Tennessee River at points 22 and 32 miles southwest of Chattanooga. By September 4, large forces were in the Wills Valley, west of Lookout Mountain. Part of the army was reported to be moving south in the valley, and perhaps would cross the mountain at Winston’s Gap, 42 miles from Chattanooga, in an attempt to cut off the Confederate supply line from Atlanta. Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne, commander of Great Grandfather Oakes's division, advises Gen. Braxton Bragg that he should attack and crush the enemy corps facing him, but Bragg does not agree.

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell & Elizabeth Purdue; Official Records, Vol. 30, Pt. 4
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