James F. Rill, a longtime student of the Civil War — the Union command in particular — will offer a lesson in history Monday at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library.
The Chattanooga Area Historical Association will be joined by the library’s Local History and Genealogy Department in presenting Rill’s lecture on “The Second Day at Chickamauga, Sept. 20, 1863.” Rill will describe the events largely from a Union perspective.
The second day at Chickamauga represented an overwhelming Confederate victory. From the Union perspective, according to Rill’s studies, it was a day of command foibles, confused orders based on erroneous information, disputes over responsibility and after-action controversy about who said what to whom and when. It was also a day of striking heroism that saved the Union army from total catastrophe. The battle, careers and aftermath turned on these events and exchanges. There are many “but-for” conjectures that emerge, he believes.
Event organizers promise that the analysis of the battle’s significance will be “the grist of an intriguing discussion.”
A lawyer based in the Washington, D.C., area, Rill has toured numerous battlefields of the war, including Chickamauga, Chattanooga and the Tullahoma Campaign. He is a unit commander for the Civil War Preservation Trust.
The meeting will take place in the central auditorium at 1001 Broad St. There is no admission charge for the presentation. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information, contact Smith Murray at 266-5592.