The Battle of Chattanooga (Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge)
November 23-25, 1863

Although the Union Army of the Cumberland (MG William S. Rosecrans, commanding) had been soundly defeated at Chickamauga Creek, Georgia, the victorious Confederate Army of Tennessee (GEN Braxton Bragg, commanding) did not immediately pursue. A demoralized Union army, with its shaken and embarrassed leadership, staggered back on the defenses of Chattanooga. An uneasy Bragg, convinced that his recovering army was unable to attack the city directly, decided to invest Chattanooga from the south and east and starve the Federal garrison into submission. It was a decision that would result in dire consequences for Bragg, his army, and ultimately the Confederacy. After the Chickamauga disaster, U.S. President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton were determined to hold Chattanooga (gateway to the Lower South) and to reorganize the command and structure of the western armies. First, the Union leaders dispatched the XI and XII Corps of the Army of the Potomac (20,000+ men with all of their artillery, horses, and equipment - MG Joseph Hooker, commanding), by rail about 1,200 miles in only 11 days (23 September to 2 October), to reinforce the besieged Rosecrans. This was a masterful logistic feat unequaled until the 20th Century! Next Washington combined the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee to create the Military Division of the Mississippi (16 October), naming the conqueror of Vicksburg, MG Ulysses S. Grant as commanding general (17 October). Grant promptly replaced Rosecrans and promoted MG George H. Thomas - the Virginian who won lasting fame as "The Rock of Chickamauga" - to commander of the Army of the Cumberland. Then Grant set out for Chattanooga, the major trouble spot of his vast new command, to establish a more efficient supply line to the beleaguered city. Utilizing a plan proposed by Rosecrans' staff, Grant soon opened (27-28 October) the "Cracker Line" - an improved supply route (for hard-tack biscuits and other consumables) from the Union controlled railhead at Bridgeport, Alabama to Chattanooga. Finally, with the arrival in mid-November of four divisions of the Army of the Tennessee (17,000+ men, MG William Tecumseh Sherman, commanding), which had been moving slowly eastward from Vicksburg, Mississippi since before Chickamauga, Grant (now with 70,000+ men) was ready to break out of Chattanooga and begin offensive operations. Meanwhile, within the Confederate Army of Tennessee dissension and personality conflicts continued to plague the high command in the days since Chickamauga, as they had after Perryville and Stones River. Sharp and open disagreements between Bragg and his corps commanders over strategy and leadership had a dispiriting affect on army morale and, in all probability, contributed to a lack of tactical initiative during the upcoming battles for Chattanooga. Confederate President Jefferson Davis felt the need to visit the army (mid-October), but in the end he continued to fully support Bragg. The dissident generals were relieved (LTG Leonidas Polk and LTG D.H. Hill were replaced by LTG William J. Hardee and MG John C. Breckinridge) or detached (LTG James Longstreet was sent to attack Union MG Ambrose Burnside's corps in Knoxville, TN), leaving Bragg with only 50,000 effectives around Chattanooga. After a rain delay (20-22 November), Grant was anxious to launch a concerted attack against Bragg's right with Sherman's Army of the Tennessee as the lead. But it would not go entirely as planned! On 23 November Thomas' Army of the Cumberland took Orchard Knob and Indian Hill with a preliminary demonstration against the Confederate center on Missionary Ridge (directly east of Chattanooga) to fix the defenders in position. The next day (24 November) Grant had MG Joseph Hooker's corps attack the Confederate left on Lookout Mountain to keep Bragg from pressing Sherman's divisions (the main attacking force of Grant's plan) as they crossed the Tennessee River north of Chattanooga and massed to assault the greatest concentration of southern troops on Tunnel Hill and Missionary Ridge (Bragg's right). Amidst fog, mist, and rain that was obscuring most of the fighting from observers on both sides, the Union infantry stormed the unexpectedly weak defensive works (units of Breckinridge's Corps) on the north slope of the mountain. By nightfall Hooker had won the Battle of Lookout Mountain, popularized as "the battle above the clouds", forcing Bragg to hastily reorganize his defenses along Missionary Ridge. Yet on the northern end of the ridge (Tunnel Hill) near the river, Sherman's army found the going exceedingly rough. Bragg had entrenched his best brigades (Hardee's Corps) on this his right flank, including the division of popular, Irish-born MG Patrick Cleburne - the "Stonewall of the West." Grant and Sherman, determined to follow the original strategy, renewed the attacks on 25 November and fought into the afternoon but made no progress. The resolute Union battle plan to take Missionary Ridge appeared to be in jeopardy. Then, at this critical juncture, a remarkable, unplanned charge by four divisions of Thomas' Army of the Cumberland carried the ridge and the day for the Union. In mid-afternoon Grant ordered Thomas' army to demonstrate once more against the center of the Confederate line (Breckinridge's Corps) at the base of Missionary Ridge. Grant wanted to relieve the pressure against Sherman on the embattled northern end of the ridge. Thomas' divisions took the lower breastworks as planned, and then, without orders, continued onward and upward until they swept the crest. Believing his defensive positions to be impregnable, Bragg had spread his lines on the center of the ridge too thinly. His engineers also erred by concentrating the main defenses along the topographical crest (or highest point) and not the military crest (usually a lower point, offering better observation and fields of fire). Shouting "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!" the soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland, returned the rout of two months previous, completing the "Miracle of Missionary Ridge." Stubborn rear-guard actions allowed Bragg's beaten army to retreat across Chickamauga Creek toward Dalton, Georgia and winter quarters, 25 miles southeast of Chattanooga. Completely dejected, Braxton Bragg offered his resignation (28 November), which a weary Jefferson Davis accepted on 30 November. After Chattanooga the Union armies in the West prepared to divide the Upper and Lower South by marching through Georgia to the sea. Estimated Casualties: Union - 5,800+; Confederate - 6,600+.

Notes:

  1. Numbers in parentheses reflect estimated strength of armies or units.

  2. Estimated casualty figures are totals for killed, wounded, missing in action, and taken prisoner.

  3. Alternative names of battles and campaigns appear in parentheses.

  4. Military and naval rank abbreviations in text: LT - Lieutenant, CPT - Captain, MAJ - Major, LTC - Lieutenant Colonel, CDR - Commander (Navy), COL - Colonel, BG - Brigadier General, MG - Major General, RADM - Rear Admiral (Navy), LTG - Lieutenant General, VADM - Vice Admiral (Navy), and GEN - General.

  5. Army Organization: Although authorized and actual strength and the rank of the commanding officer often varied, the standard military unit during the War was the infantry regiment (1,000 men, COL commanding) which was comprised of 10 companies (100 men each, CPT commanding). 3-4 Regiments = 1 Brigade (3,000-4000 men, BG commanding). 3 (sometimes 4) Brigades = 1 Division (9000-12,000 men, BG or MG commanding). 2-4 (usually 3) Divisions = 1 Corps (18,000-24,000+ men, MG - North and MG or LTG -South commanding). 2 or more Corps = An Army (usually 20,000-100,000+ men - MG, LTG, or GEN commanding). 2 or more Armies = An Army Group (usually 100,000+ men - MG, LTG, or GEN commanding).

Sources:

Photographs courtesy of The Generals of the American Civil War Website.

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