The Civil War in the West, 1863

The campaign of 1863 in eastern Tennessee was primarily a struggle for the small city of Chattanooga, on the banks of the Tennessee River in the mountainous southeastern corner of the state. For most of the year, Union and Confederate forces maneuvered and fought for this key rail junction, and for the vital resources in the region that surrounded it, including food, horses, copper, and niter. Union forces also intended to cut rebel lines of communication between Virginia and the western states, and to block provisions from being transported to Confederate forces in the Eastern Theater. Moreover, whichever side had possession of Chattanooga and its rail lines controlled access to Atlanta, Georgia, the heart of the South’s industrial production. Federal forces also sought to control eastern Tennessee, a stronghold of Southern Unionism, which U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had long sought to liberate