General Braxton Bragg designates “Fighting Joe” Wheeler commander of the Tennessee Army’s cavalry. Wheeler, only 26, has a reputation as a daring and tough fighter—a West Pointer who battled in the West. The Confederacy needs him to maintain control of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers to prevent the invasion of Georgia. By the summer of 1863, the Confederacy is losing the war. The Confederate generals decide to focus “on the last strategic center of the whole Confederacy”: West Chickamauga Creek, nicknamed “the River of Death” by the local indigenous tribes (245). The battle begins on September 19, 1863. Neither side gains an advantage; both sides experience great losses.

In the morning, John Jr. recovers from the grimness of the previous day’s battle, ready to fight again. While riding his horse, he hears the animal neigh and then feels it tremble beneath him. Next, something tears through Johnny’s “right shoulder and the upper part of his back” (248). He dismounts his horse and sees that the animal’s leg is broken. He closes his eyes and shoots his father’s chestnut horse to put it out of its misery. The next day, John Jr. waits a long time to see a doctor who tells him that a bullet pierced his lung.