Civil War Union soldier in Company "E" 25th Illinois Infantry, mustered 31 July, 1863.
Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16.
Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22.
The Battle of Chickamauga, the biggest battle ever fought in Georgia, took place on September 18-20, 1863. With 34,000 casualties, it is generally accepted as the second bloodiest engagement of the Civil War; only the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, with 51,000 casualties, was deadlier. The Army of the Cumberland lost more than 16,000 men killed, wounded, and missing, while Gen. Bragg’s army of roughly 68,000 men sustained more than 18,000 casualties. While the battle was considered a Confederate victory because it pushed the Union army back to Chattanooga rather than letting it proceed into Georgia (it would be the next year before the Union army tried again), Cumberland achieved their objective for the campaign, the capture of Chattanooga.
At the end of September 1863 Union forces were besieged and starving inside Chattanooga, Tennessee. September 24-October 26. When Federal reinforcements finally arrived at Chattanooga in November, Confederate General Bragg tried to divert the Union forces on November 4 by ordering some of his own troops to move north against Knoxville, TN., and hopefully force General Grant to weaken his position at Chattanooga by sending aid in that direction.
Missionary Ridge was one of several engagements that broke the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is best known for the Union soldiers' spontaneous charge uphill into Confederate fire to capture a seemingly impregnable 400 ft. armed position. On the afternoon of November 25, under direction from Ulysses S. Grant, the Union forces prepared to attack the seemingly invincible Confederate position atop Missionary Ridge. The Army of the Cumberland was given the minor task of seizing the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge. Once under fire from the enemy, however, they spontaneously charged up the steep 400 ft. slope and overwhelmed Confederate forces. The siege was broken, and Chattanooga became the Union's logistical base for attacking the South.
March to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 8.
Deserted Dec 11, 1863. Knoxville was 25 miles from home.
Background info:
Married 1858 to Mary Elizabeth Medlock.
Their third child was born 29 March 1863.
Youngest child Baker Schofield Malicoat, born 23 February 1880.