Front Lines along the Rappahannock River

Saturday, October 10, 1863

The Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment remained encamped along the Rappahannock River since the end of July, and during this time events had been quiet, but not so in Tennessee. On September 19 and 20 Union General William Rosecrans and Confederate General Braxton Bragg clashed at Chickamauga, Tennessee, resulting in a decisive Confederate victory. As a result the Twentieth Massachusetts was deployed south of the Rappahannock along the Rapidan River from September 18. Today Union General Meade ordered the Twentieth Massachusetts to fall back to the Rappahannock River.¹

References:
¹Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Lebanon, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 2005), 291-92.