The Limits Of Obedience: Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood’s Performance During The Battle Of Chickamauga

This thesis is a historical analysis of the order that Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood received from Major General William Rosecrans during the Battle of Chickamauga. There are many questions concerning Wood’s actions on 20 September 1863. Wood’s obedience to this written order created the gap into which Lieutenant General James Longstreet drove his right wing. This thesis will discuss the circumstances surrounding this order and the effect it had on the battle. It will investigate the limits of obedience and disobedience and will seek to determine if Wood should have disobeyed, or at least questioned, this critical order issued by General Rosecrans.