Critical+Analysis

Critical Analysis of “The Battle of Lookout Mountain”

 George Henry Boker, playwright and poet, served the United States during the Civil War by writing dozens of patriotic poems to inspire young men to enlist in the army and to fuel and encourage the patriotism of those throughout the North who weren’t fighting but whose support was critical to the war effort. Though his poems were passionate and well written, they did not always reflect proper historical fact and always seemed to make things seem better than they really were. Also, some of the things he wrote were conceptualized by his imagination because he couldn’t be present at every event he wrote about. Boker’s writing may have certainly inspired hundreds of men to enlist in the army and local militias, but his poems portrayed the war in an idealistic way, shining light on victories and casting defeats and the unpleasantness of war into darkness. A close examination of his poem “The Battle of Lookout Mountain”, which describes the assault by General Hooker on the Confederate-held position of Lookout Mountain in order to break the siege on Chattanooga, will show these things to be true.

 The opening line of “The Battle of Lookout Mountain” is: “’Give me but two brigades,’ said Hooker, / frowning at fortified Lookout; / ‘And I’ll engage to sweep yon mountain clear / of that mocking rebel rout.’” (Boker 107). General Joseph Hooker served throughout the Civil War, often with distinction, but is best known for his “stunning defeat” by General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville (Wikipedia.com). However, in the beginning stanza of the poem, Hooker is portrayed as a great Union army general who is very confident that he can win the Battle of Lookout Mountain, reveling in the opportunity to show how great he really is. Reading this poem, unless you have an extensive knowledge of the Civil War, would never reveal the failure of Hooker, let alone the magnitude, leaving the reader with the sense that the best of the military was leading the Union armies.  In reality, things did not go very smoothly with the Battle of Lookout Mountain. Half the time Hooker sent back boastful reports, and the other half were reports of panic. His carefully laid plans were tossed in the midst of battle. River crossings took longer than expected, charges went in when they weren’t supposed to, and the organization of the army fell into disarray several times throughout the battle. The poem gives not even a hint of this.

 Also, Hooker says he needs only two brigades. During the Civil War, a brigade consisted of between 1,000 and 1,500 infantry, implying the use of only 3,000 men. Nowhere in the poem does it speak of a different number, letting the reader assume that Hooker took the “mountain” with less than one division. However, in actuality, General Hooker stormed the mountain with three divisions, about 10,000 men (Wikipedia.com). Though the Confederates holding the “mountain” only numbered around 8,750 (Wikipedia.com), taking the mountain was still an admirable accomplishment, since the Union forces were fighting uphill. Howerer, 10,000 and 3,000 are two very different numbers.

A lot of the descriptive verses were fictionalized by Boker to add more realism to the poem while at the same time making the Union charge seem grand and impressive, more so that it really was. In stanza five, Boker writes: “Then our long line went winding up the moun / tain in a huge serpent-track…Higher and higher the column’s head pushed / onward,” (Boker 108). In reality, Hooker’s forces approached from two directions, and visibility was so bad that the artillery firing on the “mountain” from the mouth of Lookout creek had trouble effectively “saturating” the Confederate lines (Wikipedia.com).

 An excellent example of Boker trying to make things seem better than they really were and buffing up the image of the Union army is this line in stanza six: “And balls and grape-shot rained upon our / column, that bore the angry shower / as if it were no more than that soft dropping / which scarcely stirs the flower,” (Boker 109). This is very unrealistic because any artillery attack is going to have devastating effects on infantry charges. Casualties may have been light and the charge might have continued, but it certainly wasn’t like drops of water striking a flower.

 Finally, at the end of the poem, Boker describes the victory of the men who took Lookout Mountain: “Into the rebel works we saw them moving; / and we—we cheered, we cheered! / And they above waved all their flags before us, / and joined our frantic shout, / Standing, like demigods, in light and triumph / upon their own Lookout!” (Boker 115). This makes it seem like the whole war hung in the balance of this one battle (which it may have, since there were countless close calls throughout the Civil War where the Confederacy might have won), but in fact, this was not a major battle. A war reporter accompanying Grant’s army described the battle as more of a skirmish than a real battle, and General Grant himself wrote that there was “no action even worthy to be called the battle on Lookout Mountain. It is all poetry,” (Wikipedia.com). The Battle of Lookout Mountain was indeed important to breaking the siege on Chattanooga, but Boker has again buffed up this victory to make it shine like Gettysburg.

 George Henry Boker served his country through the pen, writing many poems about the Civil War, which were later published in his book //Poems of the War.// His patriotic writing inspired hundreds of men to enlist in local militias and the Union army. It helped encourage the North and created support for the war. However, not all of his poems were historically accurate and many contained embellishments to make the Union cause seem greater, its armies grander, and its victories more important. His contributions to the war effort are notable, but his contributions to the historic records of the Civil War were not beneficiary to forming a general idea of what the Civil War was like. Boker was a dramatist, and his style was clearly reflected in his poems.