Third Battle of Chattanooga

Battle of Chattanooga
Part of the American Civil War
Date November 23 – November 25 1863 Location Chattanooga, Tennessee Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States of America	Confederate States of America
Commanders and leaders
Ulysses S. Grant	Braxton Bragg
Strength
Military Division of the Mississippi (56,359 effectives)	Army of Tennessee (44,010)
Casualties and losses
5,824 (753 killed, 4,722 wounded, 349 missing)	6,667 (361 killed, 2,160 wounded, 4,146 missing/captured)

erteuyuiyyutrThe Third Battle of Chattanooga (popularly known as The Battle of Chattanooga, and including the Battle of Lookout Mountain and the Battle of Missionary Ridge) was fought from November 23 to November 25 1863, in the American Civil War. By defeating the Confederate forces of General Braxton Bragg, Union Army Major General Ulysses S. Grant eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South that led to the Atlanta Campaign of 1864.

Background

After their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, the 40,000 men of the Union Army of the Cumberland under Major General William Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee besieged the city, threatening to starve the Union forces into surrender. His pursuit to the city outskirts had been leisurely, giving the Union soldiers time to prepare defenses. Bragg's troops established themselves on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, both of which had excellent views of the city, the Tennessee River (which flows through the city) and the Union's supply lines. Confederate artillery atop Lookout Mountain controlled access by the river, and Confederate cavalry launched raids on all supply wagons heading toward Chattanooga, which made it necessary for the Union to find another way to feed their men.

The Union government, alarmed by the potential for defeat, sent reinforcements. On October 17, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant received command of the Western armies, designated the Military Division of the Mississippi; he moved to reinforce Chattanooga and replaced Rosecrans with Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas. Devising a plan known as the "Cracker Line", Grant's chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith, launched a surprise amphibious landing at Brown's Ferry that opened the Tennessee River by linking up Thomas's Army of the Cumberland with a relief column of 20,000 troops led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, thus allowing supplies and reinforcements to flow into Chattanooga, greatly increasing the chances for Grant's forces. In response, Bragg ordered Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet to force the Federals out of Lookout Valley. The ensuing Battle of Wauhatchie (October 28 to October 29) was one of the war's few battles fought exclusively at night. The Confederates were repulsed, and the Cracker Line was secured.

Bragg weakened his forces by sending Longstreet's corps against Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside near Knoxville. When Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman arrived with his four divisions (20,000 men) in mid-November, Grant began offensive operations.

Initial movements

On November 23, Union forces under Thomas struck out and advanced east to capture a line from Orchard Knob and Indian Hill to Bushy Knob, and including Bald Knob (now the site of Chattanooga National Military Cemetery), placing them halfway to the Confederates' main line at the summit of Missionary Ridge. The advance met little Confederate resistance. Bragg moved Walker's division (under Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist) from Lookout Mountain to strengthen his left flank.

Battle of Lookout Mountain

Battle of Chattanooga

The plan for November 24 was a two-pronged attack—Hooker against the Confederate left, Sherman the right. Hooker's three divisions struck at dawn at Lookout Mountain and found that the defile between the mountain and the river had not been secured. They barreled right through this opening; the assault ended around 3:00 p.m. when ammunition ran low and fog had enveloped the mountain. This action has been called the "Battle above the Clouds" because of that fog. Bragg withdrew his forces from the southern end of the mountain to a line behind Chattanooga Creek, burning the bridges behind him.

Sherman crossed the Tennessee River successfully, then took what he thought was the north end of Missionary Ridge but was actually a completely separate rise known as Billy Goat Hill. The division of Patrick Cleburne was rushed in to reinforce the Confederate right flank at Tunnel Hill on the north end of the ridge. No attack occurred on this flank on November 24.

Battle of Missionary Ridge

On November 25, Grant changed his plan and called for a double envelopment by Sherman and Hooker. Thomas was to advance after Sherman reached Missionary Ridge from the north. The Ridge was a formidable defensive position, manned in depth, and Grant believed that a frontal assault against it would be suicidal, unless it could be arranged in support of the flanking attacks by Sherman and Hooker. As the morning progressed, Sherman was unable to break Cleburne's line, and Hooker's advance was slowed by the burned bridges on the creek. At 3:30 p.m., Grant was concerned that Bragg was reinforcing his right flank at Sherman's expense. Hence, he ordered Thomas to move forward and seize the Confederate line of rifle pits—the first of three lines of Confederate entrenchments to his front—and stop there to await further orders.

The Union soldiers moved forward and quickly pushed the Confederates from their rifle pits but were then subjected to a punishing fire from the two remaining Confederate lines up the ridge. Most of Thomas's troops had been at the disastrous loss at Chickamauga and had suffered taunts by Sherman's and Burnside's newly arrived forces. Now they were under fire from above with no apparent plan to advance or move back. At this point, the Union soldiers continued the attack against the remaining lines. This second advance was taken up by the commanders on the spot, but also by some of the soldiers who, on their own, sought shelter from the fire further up the slope. Bragg had placed his artillery and trenches of the infantry along the actual crest of the ridge, rather than the military crest, and they were unable to provide effective fire. The Union advance was disorganized but effective; finally overwhelming and scattering what ought to have been an impregnable Confederate line. As such, the Army of the Cumberland's ascent of Missionary Ridge was one of the war's most dramatic events. A Union officer remembered that

little regard to formation was observed. Each battalion assumed a triangular shape, the colors at the apex. ... [a] color-bearer dashes ahead of the line and falls. A comrade grasps the flag. ... He, too, falls. Then another picks it up ... waves it defiantly, and as if bearing a charmed life, he advances steadily towards the top ...

Grant was initially furious that his orders had not been followed exactly. Thomas was taken by surprise as well, knowing that he would be blamed if the assault failed. But it succeeded. By 4:30 p.m., the center of Bragg's line broke and fled in panic, requiring the abandonment of Missionary Ridge and a headlong retreat eastward to the Chickamauga River (also known as South Chickamauga Creek).

Aftermath

During the night, Bragg ordered his army to withdraw toward Chickamauga Station (currently the site of Lovell Air Field) and the following day began retreating from there toward Dalton, Georgia, in two columns taking two different routes. During the retreat, minor battles were fought at Chickamauga Station, at Shepherd's Run in Hickory Valley, at Cat Creek (Mackey Branch) in old Concord community, and at Graysville, Georgia. The date, November 26, was coincidentally the first official American Thanksgiving Day.

The pursuit ordered by Grant was effectively thwarted at the Battle of Ringgold Gap. Casualties for the Union Army amounted to 5,824 (753 killed, 4,722 wounded, and 349 missing) of about 56,000 engaged; Confederate casualties were 6,667 (361 killed, 2,160 wounded, and 4,146 missing, mostly prisoners) of about 44,000. When a chaplain asked General Thomas whether the dead should be sorted and buried by state, Thomas replied "Mix 'em up. I'm tired of States' rights."

One of the Confederacy's two major armies was routed. The Union held Chattanooga, the "Gateway to the Lower South." It became the supply and logistics base for Sherman's 1864 Atlanta Campaign, as well as for the Army of the Cumberland, and Grant had won his final battle in the West prior to receiving command of all Union armies in March 1864.

See also

• First Battle of Chattanooga
• Second Battle of Chattanooga

References

• National Park Service battle description
• Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command, Little, Brown & Co., 1968, ISBN 0-316-13210-1.
• Catton, Bruce, The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, 1982 ed., American Heritage Publishing, 1960, ISBN 0-517-38556-2.
• Eicher, David J., The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War, Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
• Livermore, Thomas L., Numbers and Losses in the Civil War in America 1861-65, reprinted with errata, Morninside House, 1986, ISBN 0-527-57600-X.

Further reading

• McDonough, James Lee, Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy, University of Tennessee Press, 1984. ISBN 0-87049-630-1.

External links

• Animated History of The Third Battle of Chattanooga
• Civil War website written probably for younger readers but nonetheless with excellent period images of the Chattanooga battlefield. [1]