Chattanooga, Tennessee
November 23-25, 1863
From the last days of September through October 1863, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army laid siege to the Union army under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans at Chattanooga, cutting off its supplies. (Rosecrans had been defeated at Chickamauga Creek, Georgia, and retreated to Chattanooga.) On October 17, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant received command of the Western armies; he moved to reinforce Chattanooga and replaced Rosecrans with Maj. Gen. George Thomas, the Union hero of Chickamauga. A new supply line was soon established (the so-called "Cracker Line") across Moccasin Point west of the city by Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, Thomas' chief engineer. Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman arrived with his four divisions in mid-November, and the Federals began offensive operations under Grant's command. On November 23, Union forces struck out with Sherman coming around the left flank (north of Chattanooga), Hooker on the right, and Thomas up the middle (see map 1). Sherman's advance on the north end of Missionary Ridge was stalled and repulsed, but Hooker's men captured Orchard Knob and Lookout Mountain on November 24 (see map 2). On November 25, Thomas sent his four divisions in a bold assault across an open field, over the entrenched Confederate lines, and straight uphill into the seemingly impregnable Confederate position on Missionary Ridge (see map 3). Missionary Ridge stands 600 feet above Chattanooga with a gradient of more than 45 degrees. Thomas had 53 regiments, over 18,000 troops, deployed in a 3-mile wide line. They charged straight through Confederate rifle pits and a mile uphill in the face of enemy fire, dramatically executing a new tactic. Instead of the traditional close-order charge, each regiment formed a wedge and the men scaled the ridge, dodging from one piece of cover to the next, timing their advance over exposed ground to the firing tempo of the defenders. At the crest they broke through a line of fifty artillery pieces firing grape and case. It was a stunning attack, and Bragg's army panicked, broke, and fled in the direction of Atlanta, leaving 2,500 casualties and 4,000 prisoners behind. Only the strong rearguard led by Patrick Cleburne saved Bragg's army. One of the Confederacy’s two major armies was routed. The Federals held Chattanooga, the “Gateway to the Lower South,” which became the supply and logistics base for Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta Campaign. A short time later, Grant was called to Washington and given command of the entire Union Army.
© 2004 David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College
