Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
In the spring of 1863, the Union Army’s objective was to capture the town of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a junction point for four vital railroad lines that carried a large proportion of the Confederacy’s arms, munitions, food, and other supplies.  President Lincoln’s belief was that with Chattanooga in Union control, “I think the rebellion must dwindle and die.”  A part of this Tullahoma Campaign, the Battle of Chickamauga waged on September 19-20, 1863, in Chickamauga, Georgia, resulted in General Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee defeating the Union’s Army of the Cumberland commanded by General William Rosecrans.  After Rosecrans’ troops pushed the Confederates out of Chattanooga earlier in September, Bragg called for reinforcements and launched a counterattack on the banks of nearby Chickamauga Creek.  Over two days of battle, the rebels forced Rosecrans to give way, with heavy losses on both sides.  Bragg failed to press his advantage after the victory, however, allowing the Federals to safely reach Chattanooga.  General Ulysses S. Grant soon arrived with reinforcements, allowing the Union to reverse the results of Chickamauga and score a lasting victory in the region that November.
 
The first day's action, fought in densely wooded terrain, became a classic "soldier's battle" in which generalship counted for little and the outcome was decided by fierce small-unit encounters.  Texas units in the Georgia battle included Hood's Texas Brigade, Ector's Brigade, Deshler's Brigade, and Terry's Texas Rangers.  As Hood's Brigade went into battle they called to a regiment of exhausted Tennesseans, "Rise up, Tennesseans, and see the Texans go in!"  When they in turn came staggering back from the woods after being repulsed by Union cavalry, a Tennessean was waiting to yell, "Rise up, Tennesseans, and see the Texans come out!"  Among the Texas casualties in the battle were Gen. James Deshler, who was killed, and John Bell Hood, who lost a leg.
 
“Still they advance, and still we shoot them down, and still they come.”    — Capt. Samuel T. Foster, 24th Texas Cavalry (Dismounted), CSA
 
Texas troops fought in almost every major sector of the sprawling Chickamauga battlefield, from the first attacks on September 18 on the bridges spanning the creek to the final attack on Snodgrass Hill on September 20.  Fortunately, many of the survivors left vivid descriptions of battle action, the anguish of losing friends, the pain and loneliness of being so far away from home, and their often-colorful opinions of their generals.
 
Private William J. Oliphant, 6th Texas Infantry, Deshler’s Brigade, wrote:  “A field was burning and we were ordered to charge through it….Bowing our heads and grasping our guns firmly we plunged into this vortex of hell.  On emerging from the fire and smoke, yelling like demons, we dashed at the federals and soon had them flying.  It was a fearful place.  The heartrending appeals of the wounded, some of whom were scorching, the hissing bullets and screeching shells, made it an experience never to be forgotten.”
                                                                                
The monument was dedicated in 1964 and is located near the Lockett House on Virginia Route 619, on the left when traveling south.