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, November 30, 2013

Ringgold Destroyed

On November 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne's defense of Ringgold Gap, Georgia, had been a complete success. His division, tasked with holding the gap at all costs while Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee retreated beyond to Dalton, defeated Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's army of superior strength and numbers.

On today's date in 1863, Hooker withdrew the last of his occupation force from the town of Ringgold, but not before destroying it. On the previous day, its citizens had been herded outside of town and informed that their village would be destroyed as a military necessity. Overnight, Federal soldiers systematically set fire to the buildings and homes, an terrorist tactic that the Union army will use to maximum effect in the months ahead. The entire town—home to more than 2,000 people—was completely and needlessly reduced to ashes.

Source: Mountains Touched With Fire, Wiley Sword

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