Rosecrans' left wing, thus cutting him off from Chattanooga and
throwing him back into the mountain country whence he had come. On the
19th a serious action took place between the Confederate right and
Rosecrans' left under Thomas. On the 20th the real battle began. The
Confederates, in accordance with Bragg's plans, pressed hard upon
Thomas, to whom Rosecrans sent reinforcements. One of the divisions
detached from the centre for this purpose was by inadvertence taken out
of the first line, and before the gap could be filled the Confederate
central attack, led by Longstreet and Hood, the fighting generals of
Lee's army, and carried out by veteran troops from the Virginian
battlefields, cut the Federal army in two. McCook's army corps, isolated
on the Federal right, was speedily routed, and the centre shared its
fate. Rosecrans himself was swept off the field in the rout of half of
his army. But Thomas was unshaken. He re-formed the left wing in a
semicircle, and aided by a few fresh brigades from Rossville, resisted
for six hours the efforts of the whole Confederate army. Rosecrans in
the meantime was rallying the fugitives far to the rear near Chattanooga
itself. The fury of Bragg's assault spent itself uselessly on the heroic
divisions under Thomas, who remained on the field till night and then
withdrew in good order to Rossville. Here he remained on the 21st,
imposing respect upon the victors. On the 22nd Rosecrans had
re-established order, and Thomas fell back quietly to Chattanooga,
whither Bragg slowly pursued. For the subsequent events of the campaign
see CHATTANOOGA. The losses in the battle bear witness to a severity in
the fighting unusual even in the American Civil War. Of 70,000
Confederates engaged at least 18,000 were killed and wounded, and the
Federals lost 16,000 out of about 57,000. The battlefield has been
converted into a national park, and was used during the Spanish American
War (1898) as a place of mobilization for the U.S. volunteers.

CHICKASAWS, a tribe of North American Indians of Muskhogean stock, now
settled in the western part of Oklahoma. Their former range was northern
Mississippi and portions of Tennessee. According to their own tradition
and the evidence of philology, they are closely connected with the
Creeks and Choctaws; and they believe that they emigrated with these
tribes from the west, crossed the Mississippi, and settled in the
district that now forms the north-east part of