In the aftermath of the Civil War battle at Chickamauga, the Union General William Rosecrans was reassigned, and General George Thomas was given command of the Army of the Cumberland. Reinforcements arrived from Vicksburg, and Union troops built up a three-mile defensive line around the city. Chattanooga was of vital strategic importance as a supply and transport base, and Thomas was ordered to hold it at all costs.
The Confederate General Braxton Bragg, meanwhile, had established a strong position just outside of Chattanooga. Deciding that he did not have enough men to attack Thomas’s lines directly, Bragg instead decided to occupy a number of positions around the city, threatening to cut off its supply lines and force the Federals to withdraw. Within weeks, the Union army was desperately short of food and supplies. Thomas responded by sending a force to seize Brown’s Ferry, which opened up a new supply pathway to Nashville. As fresh supplies of hardtack and coffee began to arrive, it became known as the “Cracker Line”.
In October, General Ulysses S Grant, fresh from his win at Vicksburg, arrived in Chattanooga to take command. With the Confederate siege now effectively broken and with Union reinforcements still arriving, the advantage had shifted to the Federals, and the always offensive-minded Grant immediately began planning an attack to drive Bragg back.
Grant divided his forces into three groups, led by General Thomas, General William T Sherman, and General Joseph Hooker. On November 23, Grant received intelligence information that Bragg was pulling troops from the center of his line to reinforce his right flank, and a portion of Thomas’s force under General Thomas Wood was sent to make a probing attack on some advance posts at Orchard Knob, near the center of Bragg’s lines. His orders were to not engage, but to withdraw as soon as he had made contact and established the strength of the Confederate line there.
Unexpectedly, though, the 600 Confederates on the hill, outnumbered over two to one, broke and retreated to Missionary Ridge, and Grant decided to keep Wood’s 14,000 troops there and to launch an attack the next day. On the afternoon of the 24th, while Thomas reinforced Orchard Knob, Hooker attacked the left side of the Confederate lines at Lookout Mountain. During the fighting a heavy fog bank rolled in, filling in the valley while the top of the mountain poked above it. The action became known as “The Battle Above the Clouds”. Though the Confederates still held the mountain as darkness fell, their position had become untenable, and they withdrew during the night to join Bragg at Missionary Ridge. Bragg himself considered withdrawing from the Ridge, but in the end concluded that it was the strongest place to make a defensive stand, and decided to stay and await Grant’s attack.
And indeed on November 25, with Sherman’s troops (who had been delayed in crossing the Tennessee River) now in place, Grant launched an all-out assault. Hooker attacked from Lookout Mountain into the Confederate flank, but was held off: similarly, Sherman’s drive onto Tunnel Hill, at the other end of Bragg’s lines, also stalled. To force Bragg to withdraw some of the troops from his flanks, Grant ordered Thomas to send a force towards the Confederate center at Missionary Ridge.
The Union troops were only supposed to advance as far as the Confederate rifle pits, but once they got that far they came under heavy fire from Missionary Ridge. Deciding that they had no choice but to continue the advance to avoid being pinned down and trapped, the Federal units began driving up the hill without orders towards the Confederate lines at the top. The impromptu attack proved to be decisive. Bragg was driven off the ridge, withdrew from the battlefield, and retreated all the way to Georgia. Within months, having lost the confidence of his superiors and his men, he resigned his command.
After the battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee was firmly under Union control, and the way was open for a Union move into the heart of the Confederacy. In March 1864, President Lincoln gave Grant command of the entire Union Army, and Sherman used Chattanooga as the jumping-off point for his march on Atlanta. From now on, the war had only two basic goals: the destruction of General Robert E Lee’s army in Virginia by Grant, and the destruction of General Joseph Johnston’s army in Georgia by Sherman.
Today, most of the Chattanooga battlefield is gone. The area around Lookout Mountain, including the Cravens House, is preserved as a part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
Some photos from a visit to Lookout Mountain.
For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and am traveling around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I have visited. :)
