MISSIONARY RIDGE, NOVEMBER 25.
The decisive blow of the battle was at hand. Grant’s orders for the morning of November 25 were as follows: “Sherman was directed to attack at daylight. Hooker was ordered to move at the same hour, and endeavor to intercept the enemy’s retreat, if he still remained; if he had gone, then to move directly to Rossville and operate against the left and rear of the force on Missionary Ridge. Thomas was not to move until Hooker had reached Missionary Ridge.”
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on Lookout Mountain, 1863. Grant is in the lower left corner. Courtesy National Archives.
Missionary Ridge from a Union trench. From Elson, The Civil War Through the Camera.
Sherman began his attack, as directed, just after sunrise. His troops attacked Cleburne’s Division frontally, but without success. All night the Confederates had worked at strengthening their position on Tunnel Hill which now formed the Confederate right. These field works gave good protection to Cleburne’s men from enemy fire. The stubbornly fighting Confederates held their positions against repeated attacks by superior numbers. This fight continued until 3 p. m., and is a notable example of the value to a greatly outnumbered defending force of field works on a good position. Some Union troops did make a lodgment on the slopes of Tunnel Hill in the afternoon, but a Confederate charge drove them off. Cleburne’s soldiers held the hill.
In the meantime, Hooker was in trouble—not with the enemy, but with Chattanooga Creek. He started for Rossville bright and early to get into position to strike Bragg’s left. Stevenson’s men, who had evacuated Lookout Mountain during the night, had burned the bridge across Chattanooga Creek and had done all they could to obstruct the roads that Hooker needed to march to Rossville. Hooker lost 3 hours building a bridge across the creek and it was late afternoon before his men took their places on Missionary Ridge.
From his post on Orchard Knob, Grant realized that Sherman’s attacks had failed to gain their objective and that Hooker had been delayed in reaching his assigned position. To relieve some of the pressure on Sherman, Grant ordered Thomas to move out against the Confederate center on Missionary Ridge.
The ridge that lay before the Union troops was rough and steep. It rose from 200 to 400 feet higher than the level ground at its base. Its steep slopes were broken by ravines, strewn with boulders, and dotted with stumps, the latter reminders of recently felled timber. The first line of Confederate breastworks was at the foot of the ridge. Some unfinished works had been built half-way up the slope. Finally, a third line of works was built on the natural, instead of the military, crest of the hill. Thus, Confederate fire from the crest could not cover some of the ravine approaches.
Four Union divisions—Baird, Wood, Sheridan, and R. W. Johnson, from left to right—started toward the ridge. The hard charging Union soldiers soon overwhelmed the gray defenders in the rifle pits at the base of the ridge. Scarcely halting, and generally without orders to continue, the men in blue charged up the ridge. They followed the retreating Confederates so closely from the rifle pits that the Confederates on the crest in many places hesitated to fire for fear of hitting their own men. It was not long before units of the Army of the Cumberland pierced the Confederate line in several places and sent Bragg’s veterans reeling in retreat down the east slope of the ridge toward Chickamauga Creek. Sheridan pushed forward in pursuit of the retreating army, capturing men, artillery, and equipment. Even though the Confederate center had disintegrated, Hardee held his position on the Confederate right until darkness, and then began his withdrawal with Cleburne’s Division covering the retreat. Bragg’s army crossed Chickamauga Creek during the night, carrying out a surprisingly successful retreat.
A skirmish line and regimental line behind it—Union troops drilling at Chattanooga, circa January 1864. This gives a conception of how the soldiers of the Civil War ordinarily fought. A skirmish line moved ahead of the main regimental line, which charged upon order. The Union attack on Missionary Ridge must have looked something like this to watching Confederate soldiers. From Miller, Photographic History of the Civil War.
During the evening of the 25th, Grant issued orders to Thomas and Sherman to pursue Bragg. The next morning, Sherman advanced by way of Chickamauga Station, and Thomas’ troops marched on the Rossville Road toward Graysville and Ringgold. In the vicinity of Ringgold, Cleburne’s Confederates held a strong position on Taylor’s Ridge covering Bragg’s retreat. Cleburne’s men repulsed a Union attack, inflicting heavy casualties, until Bragg’s army had successfully withdrawn southward, and then they followed. Union troops then occupied Taylor’s Ridge. There the pursuit stopped.
This decisive Union victory raised the siege of Chattanooga.
The following tabulation of strength and casualties at the Battle of Chattanooga is based on Livermore’s studies:
| Army | Total Strength | Total Casualties | Killed | Wounded | Missing | Percent Casualties |
| Union | 56,360 | 5,824 | 753 | 4,722 | 349 | 10 |
| Confederate | 46,165 | 6,667 | 361 | 2,160 | 4,146 | 14 |
Relief of Knoxville
Meanwhile, in East Tennessee, Burnside attempted to hold Longstreet in check by abandoning territory and skirmishing when necessary, but avoiding any serious fight. This took Longstreet farther away from Chattanooga and lessened his opportunity to assist Bragg. Burnside gained precious time by using these tactics. Grant’s plan was to “whip” Bragg and then help Burnside.
Gen. Joseph Hooker and his staff. Hooker is sixth from the right. Courtesy National Archives.
After Missionary Ridge, with Bragg in full retreat, Thomas prepared to send Granger’s Corps and detachments from other commands, about 20,000 men altogether, toward Knoxville. In addition, Sherman was to march along the Hiwassee River to protect Granger’s flank. Grant reports that upon “Returning from the front on the 28th, I found that Granger had not yet got off.... I therefore determined ... to send him [Sherman] with his command, and orders ... were sent him at Calhoun to assume command of the troops with Granger, in addition to those with him, and proceed, with all possible dispatch, to the relief of Burnside.”
Steamboat with supplies for Union Army being warped up narrows of Tennessee River between Bridgeport, Ala. and Chattanooga. Courtesy National Archives.
Skirmishing was more or less continuous around Knoxville. Burnside followed the original plan of buying time by giving up ground and fell back toward Knoxville, withdrawing into the city during the night of November 16-17. Longstreet drew up before the city the next day, and on the 29th made his initial attack against the Union position at Fort Sanders. The assault was repulsed and before it could be renewed Longstreet received word of Bragg’s defeat on Missionary Ridge. The Confederate commander deemed it necessary to maintain a threatening position before Knoxville until the approaching Union relief columns were but a day’s march distant. On December 4, Longstreet began his retreat toward Virginia. Sherman arrived on the 6th, and preparations for the pursuit of Longstreet were soon under way. Burnside’s command moved out in pursuit of Longstreet’s force; Granger’s Corps became the garrison of Knoxville; and Sherman’s command returned to Chattanooga.
Effects of the Battle of Chattanooga
The battles around Chattanooga must be considered as ending in one of the most complete victories of the war. Bragg’s army was defeated, men and material captured, and the Confederates driven south. The mountainous defense line which the Confederacy hoped to hold had been pierced and large sections of it were in Union control. Chattanooga, the railroad center, was now in Union hands and the interior line of communication from this section of the Confederacy to Richmond, by way of Knoxville, was destined to remain in Union control for the remainder of the war. Not only Chattanooga, but Knoxville and the rich, food-producing East Tennessee section was lost to the Confederacy. With this came relief for the Union sympathizers in East Tennessee. Virtually all of Tennessee was now under Northern control.
The fortunes of war brought changes to both commanders. Bragg asked to be relieved from his command and went to Richmond to become military advisor to Jefferson Davis. President Lincoln promoted Grant, in March 1864, to command of all Union armies in the field. Grant then left Chattanooga for the East, to lead the attack against General Lee in Virginia.
The War After Chattanooga
In the spring of 1864, the Union armies began to move into the heart of the Confederacy. Grant attached himself to the Army of the Potomac (General Meade) and began operations against Lee; Sherman moved against Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in Georgia.
The Army of the Potomac launched a campaign against Richmond. In the bitter battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, in May 1864, Grant reduced Lee’s offensive power. After being repulsed at Cold Harbor, Grant moved against Petersburg and a 10-month siege finally forced Lee to evacuate the city. Lee moved westward to Appomattox Court House where on April 9, 1865, Grant forced him to surrender.
While Lee and Grant fought it out in Virginia, Sherman, using Chattanooga for his base of supplies, conducted a strenuous campaign against the Army of Tennessee, first under Johnston and then Hood, finally entering Atlanta on September 2. In November, Sherman began his famous “march to the sea,” reaching Savannah in late December. From there he struck northward through the Carolinas and forced the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston’s army on April 26. By June all isolated Confederate forces had laid down their arms.
Chattanooga from Point Park, Lookout Mountain. The Cravens House and portion of “Battle above the Clouds” battlefield around it lies in the foreground.
CHICKAMAUGA BATTLEFIELD
① PARK HEADQUARTERS ② FLORIDA MONUMENT ③ KENTUCKY MONUMENT ④ BATTLELINE ROAD ⑤ POE ROAD ⑥ GEORGIA MONUMENT ⑦ BROTHERTON HOUSE ⑧ WILDER MONUMENT ⑨ SNODGRASS HILL Ⓐ JAY’S MILL, OPENING ATTACK, SEPT. 19 Ⓑ CONFEDERATE HEADQUARTERS, SEPT. 20 Ⓒ UNION HEADQUARTERS, SEPT. 19 Ⓓ SOUTH CAROLINA MONUMENT
Park Administration and Museum Building.