THE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN
At 4 p. m. on November 24, 1863, one of the most spectacular battles of the war commenced. General Hooker’s force consisted of the following: Osterhaus’s division of the Fifteenth Corps, Cruft’s (formerly Palmer’s) of the Fourth; Geary’s of the Twelfth—with the exception of such regiments from the last two divisions as were required to protect the communications with Bridgeport and Kelly’s Ferry; battery K of the First Ohio, and battery I of the First New York of the Eleventh Corps, having sufficient horses for but one battery; a part of the Second Kentucky Cavalry, and Company K of the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry. The aggregate number of this force was 9,681. The foregoing statement of the forces is taken from General Hooker’s official report[36], which is remarkably well written, clear in statement and full of essential facts. “At this time the enemy’s pickets formed a continuous line along the right bank of Lookout Creek, with the reserves in the valley, while his main force was encamped in a hollow half way up the slope of the mountain. The summit itself was held by three brigades of Stevenson’s division, and those were comparatively safe, as the only means of access from the next [that is, from the valley in which Hooker’s troops were located] for a distance of 20 miles up the valley was by two or three trails, admitting to the passage of but 1 man at a time; and even these trails were held at the top by rebel pickets.”
The top of Lookout Mountain at this point consists of a perpendicular crest, or palisade of rocks which rises out of the main body of the mountain about a hundred feet. From the foot of this crest the mountain slopes by a gradual descent but with a very broken surface on all sides to the valleys on the east, west, and to the river on the north. An army could operate on this slope only below the crest, from the west to the east, or on the side of Chattanooga, around the northern slope, under the crest. Hooker’s army did not cross the top of the crest; but by taking the slope, the Confederate troops occupying the top, were forced to retreat by the only wagon road reaching to the top on the Chattanooga side. The slope on that side is less precipitous than on the west side where Hooker was. At the foot of the slope on the Chattanooga side flows the Chattanooga Creek and on the west side Lookout Creek, both flowing north, practically parallel with the trend of the mountain, and emptying into the Tennessee River, which runs west at the foot of the northern slope. Hooker continues his report as follows: “On the northern slope midway between the summit and the Tennessee, a plateau or belt of arable land, encircles the crest. There, a continuous line of earth-works had been thrown up, while redoubts, redans, and pits appeared lower down the slope to repel an assault from the direction of the river.”
Geary commenced his movements as instructed, crossed the creek at 8 o’clock a. m., “captured the entire picket of 42 men posted to defend it, marched directly up the mountain until his right rested on the palisades, and headed down the valley.” The Confederate Walthall was in command of the troops immediately opposed to Geary, and Moore’s brigade near the Craven house on the eastern, or northeastern slope. General Stevenson was there in command of all the Confederate troops on the mountain. He placed sharpshooters along the western edge of the crest, and wherever there was depression enough, the artillery by raising the trails of the gun carriages did some execution until Geary’s troops reached the foot of the palisades. The Confederate troops located on the western slope, moved into position, facing Lookout Creek, in order to prevent the Union troops crossing at the bridge; but this disposition subjected them to a flank enfilading fire from Geary’s troops. The other Union troops moved up the Creek, crossed behind Geary’s line, and joined on his left. The batteries had been placed on elevated points, so as to enfilade the route by which the enemy had to march down the slope, and on other points, by which the Confederates had to retreat if they were driven back. The Union line advanced, the artillery opened. The rout of the enemy was complete, many prisoners were taken, and many were killed and wounded. At noon when Geary’s advance rounded the northern slope, his flags were plainly visible from Chattanooga. There had been a fog all morning, which greatly favored Hooker’s movements, preventing the Confederates on top of the crest from directing their shots satisfactorily. As the Union flags appeared on the sky line of the northern slope, and were visible at Chattanooga, this fog settled down upon the lower stretches of the slope and revealed the Confederate lines badly broken and in flight with the compact ranks of the Union soldiers triumphantly advancing with flags flying and muskets glistening in the sun. It was a glorious sight to the Union troops, then in line in front of the works at Chattanooga. The picture presented was a “battle above the clouds,” for the fog obscured all that part of the mountain which was below the conquering lines of Hooker. General Stevenson says in his report, with regard to this affair: “Finding that the fog was becoming so dense that the troops on the northern part of the mountain [meaning Pettus’s brigade on the crest] could not see the enemy moving upon Walthall, I gave orders for Pettus with my only disposable force to move down and report to Brigadier-General Jackson. He started at 12:30 o’clock and reached the scene of action a little past 1 o’clock. * * * This position was held by Moore, Walthall, and Pettus until about 8 p. m.”[37]
Stevenson had six brigades in his command; four of these took part in the fight on the mountain, the other two were placed between Chattanooga Creek and the road up the slope, in order to guard the line of retreat on the east side of the mountain against any advance from Chattanooga. Stevenson reports, that he lost only 380 in his three brigades; he does not state the number of troops he had on the mountain. Hooker rested at 2 o’clock p. m. after passing the point. The settling down of the fog shut off his view of the Chattanooga Valley and prevented his seeing sufficiently the topography to justify him in advancing down into the valley that same evening. He formed his lines on the eastern slope; his right was at the palisades, and his left was near the mouth of Chattanooga Creek. This line he fortified, and reported the fact to the department commander. In this position he enfiladed the enemy’s line in the Chattanooga Valley, and also had communication across the mouth of the creek with the Union forces in the city. At 5:15 p. m. General Carlin’s brigade of Johnson’s division of the Fourteenth Corps, reported to General Hooker after having crossed the mouth of the creek by ferry; he was placed on the right of the line relieving Geary’s troops, which were almost exhausted with fatigue. During the night the enemy withdrew entirely, leaving behind 20,000 rations, and the camp and garrison equipage of three brigades. General Thomas reported, that Hooker captured 500 or 600 prisoners. The Eighth Kentucky Infantry scaled the crest about daylight on the 25th and hoisted the United States flag amid wild and prolonged cheers from the whole army.
At ten o’clock a. m. on the 25th, leaving two regiments to hold the mountain, Hooker started towards Rossville, across Chattanooga Creek and the valley, with Osterhaus’s division of the Fifteenth Corps in the lead. Thus the left of the Confederate Army was completely turned, while the right still held its own. Hooker was too far from the Confederate line of retreat to menace it. To have turned the right first would have been better. Hooker was delayed four hours by a destroyed bridge in crossing Chattanooga Creek. The Tenth Wisconsin Infantry of Carlin’s brigade of Johnson’s division of the Fourteenth Corps participated in this engagement; it was detached from the brigade, and held a fort south of the Crutchfield house on the east side of the mountain; its losses were not reported.
While these operations were occurring on Lookout Mountain under the command of Hooker, Sherman advanced across the Tennessee River at the mouth of the Chickamauga with three divisions of the Army of the Tennessee, and one division (Davis’s) of the Army of the Cumberland, on the morning of the 24th, against the other or extreme right wing of the Confederate line on Missionary Ridge. He advanced and formed his lines on the north end of the ridge; a brigade of Howard’s Corps moved to the left at 9 a. m. on the same day and communicated with Sherman about noon. Later Howard joined Sherman with his two divisions and formed on his right. Carlin’s brigade rejoined his division on the 25th, which was then in the valley half way to Missionary Ridge and on the right of Thomas’s line. Palmer’s and Granger’s corps were held in readiness by Thomas to advance to the foot of the ridge, as soon as Hooker should get into position at Rossville. It was after 2 p. m. that General Hooker effected a crossing of Chattanooga Creek and advanced as above stated. At noon General Sherman was heavily engaged with the enemy in his position, and finding it to be very strong was not making any headway against it. General Baird was, therefore, ordered to march his division within supporting distance of Sherman, and to move promptly.
He reported to Sherman, but the latter told him he could not find room for him and could not make use of his troops. General Baird marched back a distance of about two miles, and arrived at the left of General Thomas’s line at 2:30 p. m.; he was ordered to fall in on the left of Wood, the left division of Grangers Fourth Corps.
It will be well at this time to take a rapid view of the entire lines of the Union and the Confederate armies, as they stood facing each other, arms in hand, at 3 o’clock p. m. on November 25, 1863, just before they grappled in a struggle for life and death, and for the permanent possession of the stronghold of the Middle West. So many changes having occurred in the previous three or four days in the Union Army, and equally as many and more important changes occurring on the Confederate side, makes it necessary to pause, just before describing the great spectacular battle of Missionary Ridge, and try to get at least a bird’s-eye view of the position of the numerous divisions and corps.
General Osterhaus had again taken command of his own division, relieving General Charles R. Woods; General Cruft, and General Geary were near enough with their troops to the ridge at Rossville to form the extreme right of the Union line. There was an interval between Geary’s left and Johnson’s right, where Carlin stood after coming from Lookout. Johnson had only two brigades, Carlin on the right, and Stoughton (John H. King’s successor) on the left; Starkweather had been left in the works around the city. Hooker’s and Thomas’s troops were without reserves. Sheridan’s three brigades, F. T. Sherman’s, Harkers’s and Wagner’s were next to the left of Johnson; then Wood’s three brigades, Hazen’s, Willich’s, and Beatty’s; the latter appeared in two lines, being the last in Thomas’s section, and forming the left flank of the line; and then Baird’s three brigades, Turchin’s, Van Derveer’s and Phelps’s.
A mile and a half to the left of General Thomas’s line lay Sherman’s right flank, with no troops in the interval. The latter’s line was composed from right to left of the following brigades, viz.: Buschbeck’s, Ewing’s Matthies’s, Corse’s and A. Smith’s; Raum, was behind Matthies, and two brigades of J. E. Smith’s were in reserve behind the centre. Behind this line, a half mile in the fortified line lay from left to right the brigades of Loomis, Cockerill, Alexander, and Lightburn, and Schurz’s division. Sherman thus had six divisions. The Confederate line from its right, which faced Sherman, was as follows by divisions: Cleburne, Stevenson, Gist, Cheatham, Anderson, Bate, and Stewart. Stewart held the left of Bragg’s line, and his troops were the first to encounter those of Hooker on their way to Rossville from Lookout Mountain. General Hardee commanded the right wing, consisting of the following four divisions: Cheatham, Cleburne, Stevenson, and Walker; General Breckenridge was in charge of the left wing, which was composed of Bate, Stewart, and Anderson. Cheatham’s division faced Baird, Anderson’s Wood; Bate’s Sheridan, and Stewart’s Johnson. Cleburne’s division reached the front of Sherman’s line on the afternoon of the 24th while marching from the Confederates’ left. Before the fight of the 25th occurred, Cheatham’s, Stevenson’s, and Walker’s divisions had prolonged Bragg’s line to within three-quarters of a mile of the tunnel; Smith’s brigade of Cleburne’s division held Tunnel Hill on the 25th against Sherman; the rest of the division was not heavily engaged, but it had the assistance of Brown’s and Cumming’s brigades of Stevenson’s division, and Maney’s of Walker’s. Tunnel Hill was not captured by Sherman’s troops until after the retreat of these Confederate forces on the evening of the 25th, the result of the successful assault in the centre by Thomas.
The whole Confederate line on the left across the Chattanooga Valley was abandoned; Stewart withdrew to the top of the ridge before Hooker reached Rossville. It must be noticed, that General Thomas’s line in the centre, contained only four divisions of the Army of the Cumberland, namely two of the Fourth Corps, and two of the Fourteenth; one division (Davis’s) of the Fourteenth Corps was with Sherman on the left, and one (Cruft’s) was with Hooker on the right. Hooker had three divisions and Sherman six.
Starkweather’s brigade of Johnson’s division was left to hold the original works around Chattanooga; and did so during the assault of the rest of the troops upon Missionary Ridge.
At 1 p. m. on the 12th, C. A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, who was in Chattanooga, sent this dispatch to the Secretary of War at Washington, “In our front here [meaning Thomas’s front], Confederate rifle-pits are fully manned, preventing Thomas gaining ridge.” At 4:30 p. m. he sent another dispatch showing how misleading the former dispatch was: “Glory to God. The day is decisively ours. Missionary Ridge has just been carried by a magnificent charge of Thomas’s troops, and rebels routed.” The reader must not lay much stress on the time given, at which the various movements were made; this is a mere guess in most instances. Seldom did an officer think of looking at his watch, at the moment any orders were given to make an important movement. The original Army of the Cumberland, referred to by Dana, were the troops General Grant thought would not fight, because they had been so roughly handled at Chickamauga.[38] It was quite a natural conclusion. The entire Union Army was in line at about 3:30 p. m., ready for any commands which might be given by Grant, Thomas, Sherman and Hooker. The array of soldiers in the Union ranks from the three armies, those of the Potomac, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, was formidable, commanded by such heroes as Grant, Thomas, Sherman, Hooker, Sheridan, and Howard. Thomas’s four divisions had about 18,000 in rank and file, Hooker’s about 9,000, and Sherman’s about 24,000.
It is not likely that Bragg had more than 30,000; but his position was sufficiently strong to almost equal Grant’s advantage in numbers. The Confederate Army was concentrated on a 500 feet ridge, which had a very steep and rough surface, sloping towards the Union lines at an angle of about forty-five degrees. This ridge had a fortified line on the top, manned by veteran infantry and artillery, and a thinner line of infantry at its foot in a series of deep rifle-pits; in front of the latter was a swarm of skirmishers. The army was still in command of Braxton Bragg, a commander of great experience; and of two wing commanders, Hardee a veteran of the old regular army, and Breckenridge a former vice-president of the United States. Its division commanders were, as a rule, soldiers of the old regular United States Army, and were very capable officers. That army had two months before (or thought it had) won the battle of Chickamauga, and it was now fighting—at least in the centre where Thomas’s troops faced them—the same troops they claimed to have defeated a short time ago. It had every advantage of position at this time, and it had success in the past to fire the hearts of its soldiers, and arouse in them confidence in their ability to hurl back their old foe, who had the audacity to assault so formidable a stronghold.
Standing on any of the Union forts at Chattanooga, especially on Fort Negley or Fort Wood, or better still on Orchard Knob, where Grant and Thomas remained during the 25th, one would have not only a rear view of the Union Army as it stood, but also a front view of most of the Confederate force. From the top of Missionary Ridge, where Bragg had his headquarters, the whole panorama was magnificent. The lines of blue, and their array of glittering muskets, could be seen from there in front. The backs of the troops were turned on Chattanooga. “Their faces were to the foe.” Bragg had a view of them which Grant and Thomas missed, and if he could have had an hour undisturbed by the conflicting emotions aroused in him by the pending conflict, if he could have watched through his field-glass the valorous mien, the confident air, and the evident determination of these veteran soldiers, to “feed fat the ancient grudge” against the old foes they had met at Mill Springs, Perryville, Stone’s River, and Chickamauga, he would surely have read in these characteristics the doom of the defeat which an hour later overwhelmed him and his little army, and from which it never sufficiently recovered to win another battle. Had he been half as much of a philosopher, as he was a soldier, he would have foreseen, what afterwards was expressed by one of his ablest generals (D. H. Hill), that the holding of Chattanooga “sealed the fate of the confederacy.”
The living, moving lines of soldiers, presented to the view of the two opposing commanders, stationed at vantage points above the valley in which the Union Army was then formed, although a most interesting picture, was more impressive because of its background of magnificent mountains, rivers, and hills. On the west rose great Lookout Mountain, 1,500 feet above the level of the valley; while across the valley, east of Lookout, Missionary Ridge stretched from the north to the South, rising 500 feet and crowned by the lines of grey soldiers, every movement of whom could be seen from Orchard Knob.
General Grant’s most excellent plan on the 24th was that Thomas’s troops should bear to the left, join with the right of Sherman after his forces had advanced to the tunnel, through which the railroad from Chattanooga to East Tennessee ran, and together they should make an assault with the whole union line. Thomas’s troops were in line until 3:30 p. m. on the 25th, waiting for Sherman to capture the hill over the tunnel. General Sherman had begun the fight early in the morning of the 25th by advancing Corse’s brigade; the latter moved down the southern slope of the second hill which had been gained the day before, and under a galling fire advanced against Cleburne’s fortified position. This position was very strong, however, and Corse could not drive the enemy from the hill. Then other brigades were brought up, but they did not succeed in loosening Cleburne’s firm hold. General Grant observing this from Orchard Knob sent the rest of Howard’s Corps to Sherman’s aid at 10 a. m. Howard had two divisions, Steinwehr’s and Schurz’s. It was evident, that Bragg endeavored most vigorously to keep Sherman from turning his right. Had Sherman succeeded in his effort, he would have been in Bragg’s rear and able to menace his line of retreat at Chickamauga station, which was immediately in the rear of the right flank. There was no evidence, however, that Bragg was weakening his lines in front of Thomas; although he had already sent the forces, which Hooker had defeated the day before on Lookout, to his right wing; and these proved to be amply able to hold so strong a natural fortress without any further reinforcements. When General Sherman received Howard’s two divisions, he renewed his efforts to take Tunnel Hill; he made a charge and received one in return, which broke some of John E. Smith’s brigades.
It appears that Grant did not contemplate any attack by Thomas on the centre, when he at noon ordered Baird to report to Sherman; for with Baird’s he had already detached nearly half of Thomas’s troops to Sherman and Hooker. With Baird gone, Thomas had only eight brigades to Sherman’s seven divisions; General Hooker had seven brigades as far from General Thomas’s right, as General Sherman’s were from the latter’s left.
General Grant and General Thomas were together when these orders were given on the 25th; they were in accordance with Grant’s original plan, that Bragg’s defeat should be accomplished by Sherman’s turning the enemy’s right. Grant must therefore have consulted with Thomas concerning this maneuver. Whether General Thomas expressed his opinion on the 25th with regard to making the attack in some other place than at Sherman’s line, is not known; but it will be seen, that the success of the day pivoted around Thomas, because of the invincible position of the enemy at Tunnel Hill, and the valor of the old Army of the Cumberland. This is no disparagement to General Grant’s original idea; his plans were generally correct and successful, and this one was fine in conception, but it shows definitely, that the “best laid schemes, o’mice and men, gang aft a’gley.”
General Grant boldly made his third deviation from his original outline planned for the battle. Seeing the improbability of Sherman advancing his present line to join with Thomas’s left, as contemplated, he ordered an independent assault by Thomas’s troops alone; this order was given at 3 p. m. This section of the Union line was covered by two lines of skirmishers; and was confronted by something less than four divisions of the enemy, namely, a part of Stewart’s on the Confederate left, which was facing Hooker’s line under General Breckenridge’s personal direction. The signal for the advance was to be six shots from a battery (perhaps Bridge’s), on Orchard Knob. General Grant’s report will best tell what occurred, viz.: “Thomas was accordingly directed to move forward his troops, constituting our center, * * * with a double line of skirmishers thrown out, followed in easy supporting distance by the whole force, and carry the rifle-pits at the foot of Missionary Ridge, and when carried to reform his lines, on the rifle-pits with a view to carry the top of the ridge. These troops moved forward, drove the enemy from the rifle-pits at the base of the ridge like bees from a hive—stopped but a moment until the whole were in line—and commenced the ascent of the mountain from right to left almost simultaneously, following closely the retreating enemy, without further orders. They encountered a fearful volley of grape and canister from near thirty pieces of artillery and musketry from still well-filled rifle-pits on the summit of the ridge. Not a waver, however, was seen in all that long line of brave men. Their progress was steadily onward until the summit was in their possession.”[39]
When the summit was reached by the Union troops, the scene of confusion and flight of the Confederate forces, down the eastern slope of the ridge, was wonderful to behold.
General Thomas in his report,[40] says: “Our troops advancing steadily in a continuous line, the enemy, seized with panic, abandoned the works at the foot of the hill and retreated precipitately to the crest, where they were closely followed by our troops, who, apparently inspired by the impulse of victory, carried the hill simultaneously at six different points, and so closely upon the heels of the enemy, that many of them were taken prisoners in the trenches. We captured all their cannon and ammunition before they could be removed or destroyed.”
In the meantime Hooker was advancing toward Thomas’s right with his line stretched across the ridge, at right angles to it. Stewart’s troops, seeing their left threatened by Hooker, tried to escape down the eastern slope toward Ringgold, but encountering there Osterhaus’s troops, moved northward along the base; here they ran into Johnson’s division, and more than a thousand were captured. After General Baird’s division had gained the summit, Stewart wheeled his division to the left, across the crest, and advanced toward the troops, resisting General Sherman. He had not advanced far before he met Cheatham’s forces in line across the crest; the contest here lasted until after dark. During the night all the Confederate forces retreated across the Chickamauga, burned the bridges, and continued their flight to Taylor’s Ridge, near Ringgold, the nearest heights across the Chickamauga Valley, sixteen miles in a straight line southeast. General Sheridan, after halting a few moments on top of the ridge to reform his troops, pushed on to Chickamauga Creek; he captured 300 prisoners, 13 cannon, and a train of 12 wagons.
Mr. C. A. Dana sent a dispatch to the Secretary of War at 10 a. m. November 26, which contained the following paragraph: “The storming of the ridge by our troops was one of the greatest miracles in military history. No man who climbs the ascent by any of the roads that wind along its front can believe that 18,000 men were moved up its broken and crumbling face unless it was his fortune to witness the deed. It seems as awful as a visible interposition of God. Neither Grant, nor Thomas intended it. Their orders were to carry the rifle-pits along the base of the ridge, and capture their occupants; but when this was accomplished, the unaccountable spirit of the troops bore them bodily up those impracticable steeps, over the bristling rifle-pits on the crest, and the thirty cannon enfilading every gully.”
General Grant says in his report that he intended the lines should be readjusted and ascend the ridge if they were successful at the base. The reports of the corps and division commanders indicate that some of them misunderstood the orders. The men advanced without special orders, however, when they found the position at the foot of the ridge too much exposed to the plunging fire of the enemy. In some instances they were even called back to the foot after proceeding part way up the hill. The assault was made, however, and was so successful, that no one was court-martialed; no one was bold enough to repudiate the responsibility for its initiation. General Grant did not hesitate to modify his original plans from time to time, when inevitable circumstances showed him that some other movement than the one laid down was essential to success. This characteristic is the quality of a great general.
The artillery also under command of General Brannan did fine service during the assault. The large guns in Forts Wood, Sherman, Cheatham, and battery Rousseau directed their fire first upon the Confederate line at the foot of the ridge, as did four light batteries in front of Chattanooga. When the Union line was ascending the ridge, this artillery turned their shots to the entrenched Confederate line on top. The enemy’s artillery and musketry seemed largely to have over-shot the Union lines; the records do not show that the Union troops suffered as heavy losses during the time they were under fire, as the enemy’s apparently advantageous position would warrant. It is also probable that the audacity of the blue coats in assaulting the top of the ridge surprised the Confederates and induced nervousness, wild shooting, terror, confusion, and flight.
The Union troops did not advance up the ridge as if on parade; but conformed more or less to the contour of the ground; the line appeared to an onlooker as a zigzag one; but the standards were always where they ought to be, and there were no stragglers. They did not fire their muskets to any extent while advancing, although they received a constant wild fire from the enemy. It was an assault by the musket bearers, and it is not likely they received many orders from their officers. As soon as the Union troops gained the crest at one point, although it appeared as if the six different points were gained simultaneously, it greatly assisted the rest of the troops, who were so near the crest. The Confederates began to fall back as soon as the first Union troops gained the top. General Bragg tried to send his troops from a less threatened point to one more in danger, but his attempt failed, because his men saw better than he seemed to do that all was lost when one point was carried. This observation applies only of course to the isolated line on the right and left of Bragg’s headquarters, which was attacked by General Thomas’s troops. His troops further to the right, beyond an unoccupied space—such as Cheatham’s division—were not affected that way, because they turned on left wheel, and attacked Baird’s division on the crest.
The Union troops, which were called back to the foot of the ridge by those officers who thought their orders carried them only thus far, caused Bragg to believe that they had been repulsed by the fire of his troops; he rode along his line congratulating them, when he was informed that his line was broken further to the right, and the Union forces had crowned the ridge. The victory was gained too late in the evening to ensure an effective pursuit. The enemy had all night, after crossing the Chickamauga, in which to move undisturbed his troops and wagon trains; he made the distance between himself and the pursuing force as great as possible before morning. General Grant was apparently justified in waiting for Hooker to arrive at Rossville before he ordered Thomas’s advance, but he was not justified in waiting so long as he did for Sherman’s expected capture of Tunnel Hill. Yet who could hope or believe that Thomas’s troops could successfully assault so formidable a position as they did? Hooker was delayed four hours in crossing Chattanooga Creek. If Grant had sent Howard’s Corps at 10 a. m. on the 25th to Rossville in Hooker’s place, instead of sending it to Sherman, and as soon as it was in position, ordered Thomas, Howard, and Sherman to advance in unison, the same result would have occurred at one or two o’clock as was secured much later, and then the four and a half or five hours of daylight would have been sufficient to injure the Confederate Army very greatly before it could have crossed the Chickamauga. But it is very easy to look back and criticise. On the battlefield there may be reasons, apparent to a commander, why these supposable movements could not be made that are not so palpable to a historian, who may lose sight of all the complex situations, the inside knowledge of the commander, and his fearful responsibility to the country.
The pursuit was taken up on the morning of the 26th by General Hooker’s troops and Palmer’s Fourteenth Corps. Hooker attacked the enemy in a strong position at Ringgold Gap on Taylor’s Ridge; he lost heavily without inflicting corresponding injury on the enemy. The Fourth Corps was marched back to the city on the morning of the 26th to make preparations for the relief of Burnside at Knoxville.
On the 27th, the pursuit was abandoned at Ringgold, twenty-three miles by rail south of Chattanooga. General Grant telegraphed from that place at 2 p. m. to General Halleck at Washington, D. C.: “I am not prepared to continue pursuit further.” The official reports neither give the strength of the Union Army nor of the Confederate Army. At the time of the attack on Missionary Ridge the Union Army outnumbered largely the Confederate Army. A large part of this disparity in numbers was offset by the extraordinarily strong position of the Confederate forces, and the fact that the Union Army was the aggressor. Could Bragg have commanded the resources that Grant did, he would have gladly availed himself of them in order to outnumber the Union Army; no false notions of chivalry prevented either army from availing itself of any great advantage in battle, which is habitually taken where war is waged. The Confederate boast at the beginning of the war that one Confederate could out-fight five Yankees—as all northern troops were called by the Confederates—was rather incompatible with their complaint after the war, that they were crushed only by weight of numbers.
Military skill will sometimes win battles against numbers; this was not the case in the battles around Chattanooga, however. Bragg does not give his losses in his official report; but he lost to the Union Army in prisoners 6,142 men, 42 pieces of artillery, 69 gun carriages, and 7,000 stands of small arms. He destroyed much other material before and during his flight.
The Union less was 5,286 killed and wounded, and 330 missing. These losses seem small compared with other battles of less importance—Chickamauga for instance; but it must be remembered that the sacrifice for the continued possession of Chattanooga by the Union Army includes also all the losses of the conflicts of the Tullahoma campaign, of Chickamauga, Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, Orchard Knob, and Missionary Ridge. When it is considered how much these battles meant, in their causal effect on the final suppression of the rebellion itself, their value becomes apparent.