The Battle of Chattanooga

The Battle of Chattanooga was a 3-day engagement, November 23 to 25. As planned by the Union officers, victory was to be won by a flanking movement against the Confederate right wing on the north end of Missionary Ridge. If this position were carried, Union troops in the center were to join in an effort to sweep the Confederates from their base of supplies and communications and to defeat them. The engagement, however, developed much differently. While the main force was maneuvered into position, a demonstration attack was made on a Confederate outpost at Orchard Knob, about a mile in front of Missionary Ridge. This advance movement was successfully carried out on 3 November 23 but it warned the Confederates of danger on that right flank and prompted them to strengthen their positions.

On the next day, while the maneuvering force was still getting into position, the Union officers tried another demonstration, this time to divert the Confederates on their left. Moving along the slopes of Lookout Mountain from the western side, Union troops gradually drove back the few Confederate defenders. At Cravens Farm, however, they met stubborn resistance from an entrenched line of troops. Here the fighting was most serious, the Confederates finally being dislodged and forced to retreat to a new line 400 yards beyond. At this point the fighting ended, and although the Confederates had not yet been driven from the mountain, their position was in danger. Rather than risk being cut off from the main line of forces on Missionary Ridge, the Confederate commander, General Bragg, evacuated all troops from Lookout Mountain and the valley below. When Union soldiers scaled the palisades the next morning, they found the mountain deserted.

On the third day, the Union Army resumed the attempt to gain a foothold on the north end of Missionary Ridge, which it had previously failed to take, but all attacks were repulsed by the Confederates. The forces on Lookout Mountain were ordered to advance across Chattanooga Valley to attack the Confederate left flank, but they advanced slowly. Meanwhile, in order to relieve the situation on both Union flanks, other troops were thrown against the Confederate rifle pits along the base of Missionary Ridge. In a rush these Union soldiers carried the rifle pits. Then in their enthusiasm, without waiting for further orders, they charged up the mountain slopes and broke the Confederate positions. This precipitated a general retreat of the Confederate Army across the border into Georgia. Complete control of Chattanooga and its approaches had at last been won by the Union.

Tennessee River from Point Park, Lookout Mountain.