The Battle of Chattanooga was one of the most dramatic Union victories of the American Civil War and a major turning point in the Western Theater of the conflict. Fought from November 23rd to 25th, 1863, in and around the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, it saw Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant break the Confederate siege of the city and drive General Braxton Bragg’s army from the surrounding heights in a series of stunning assaults. The victory opened the gateway to the Deep South and set the stage for General William Sherman’s famous Atlanta Campaign of 1864.
What Was the American Civil War?
The Battle of Chattanooga took place during the third year of the American Civil War, which was one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of the United States. The Civil War was fought between the Northern states, known as the Union, and the Southern states, known as the Confederacy, from 1861 to 1865. At its heart, the war was driven by the issue of slavery, which had divided the country for decades. Chattanooga was one of the most strategically important cities in the entire Confederacy. Situated on the Tennessee River in eastern Tennessee, it was a vital railroad junction with lines running north toward Nashville, south toward Atlanta, and east toward Virginia. Whoever controlled Chattanooga controlled access to the heart of the Confederacy. The Battle of Chattanooga was the culmination of the long struggle for that city and the events that followed directly from the Confederate victory at Chickamauga in September of 1863.
Battle of Chattanooga – Background and the Siege
Following the Confederate victory at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19th and 20th, 1863, the badly battered Union Army of the Cumberland under General Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga. Bragg followed and positioned his army on the high ground surrounding the city, occupying Lookout Mountain to the southwest and Missionary Ridge to the east. From these commanding positions, Confederate forces were able to cut off most of the Union supply routes into Chattanooga, effectively placing the city under siege. The situation inside Chattanooga quickly became desperate. Union soldiers and their horses were put on severely reduced rations, with soldiers receiving as little as four hard crackers and a quarter pound of pork every three days. Many horses and mules began to die of starvation. The Union army trapped in Chattanooga faced the very real possibility of being starved into surrender.
In response to the crisis, President Lincoln gave overall command of Union forces in the West to General Ulysses S. Grant in October of 1863. Grant arrived at Chattanooga and immediately replaced Rosecrans with General George Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga, as commander of the Army of the Cumberland. Grant also received significant reinforcements, including approximately 20,000 soldiers under General Joseph Hooker sent from the Eastern Theater and 16,000 soldiers under General William Sherman marching from Mississippi.
Battle of Chattanooga – Opening the Cracker Line
Grant’s first priority was to restore the Union supply line into Chattanooga before his starving army became too weak to fight. His chief engineer, General William Smith, devised a plan to open a new supply route. On October 27th, Union forces seized a river crossing at Brown’s Ferry on the Tennessee River, and Hooker’s arriving troops linked up with Thomas’s forces to create a protected supply corridor. The Confederates attempted to cut this supply line in a night attack at the Battle of Wauhatchie on October 28th and 29th, but were driven off. By the end of October, the first supplies were flowing into Chattanooga along what soldiers called the Cracker Line. With the supply crisis resolved, Grant began planning his offensive to break the siege.
Bragg made a significant mistake in early November when he sent General James Longstreet and his corps, approximately one quarter of his army, to attack Union forces at Knoxville, Tennessee. This decision weakened the Confederate position around Chattanooga considerably and reduced Bragg’s army to approximately 46,000 soldiers. Grant took note of the opportunity and finalized his plans to break out of the siege.
Battle of Chattanooga – November 23rd: Orchard Knob
Grant’s plan called for a three-part attack. General Sherman would strike Bragg’s right flank at the northern end of Missionary Ridge. General Hooker would attack Bragg’s left flank at Lookout Mountain. General Thomas would hold the center and make a demonstration to prevent Bragg from shifting forces to either threatened flank. On November 23rd, Grant received reports suggesting Confederate troops might be withdrawing from some of their positions around Chattanooga. To test this and secure better ground for the coming offensive, Grant ordered Thomas to probe the Confederate lines. Thomas sent four divisions forward in what was intended as a reconnaissance. The Union troops quickly overran the Confederate position at Orchard Knob, a small rise between the two armies, and Grant used it as his headquarters for the rest of the battle. The capture of Orchard Knob opened the battle and established a forward position from which Thomas’s forces would launch their later assault.
Battle of Chattanooga – November 24th: Battle of Lookout Mountain
On November 24th, General Hooker’s forces attacked Lookout Mountain, the towering height on the Confederate left that rose over 1,100 feet above the Tennessee River. Much of the fighting took place in heavy fog and mist that obscured the battlefield from the watching armies below. Because the battle was largely hidden by clouds, it became known as the Battle Above the Clouds. Hooker’s forces worked their way up the steep slopes and around the Confederate defenders, eventually forcing them to abandon the mountain and fall back during the night. When Union soldiers raised the American flag over the summit of Lookout Mountain on the morning of November 25th, the watching soldiers below cheered. The capture of Lookout Mountain removed the threat to the Union right and positioned Hooker to advance toward the Confederate rear.
Battle of Chattanooga – November 25th: Battle of Missionary Ridge
The decisive day of the battle came on November 25th, 1863. Grant’s plan called for Sherman to deliver the main blow against Bragg’s right flank at the northern end of Missionary Ridge, while Thomas held the center and Hooker advanced from Lookout Mountain against the Confederate left. The plan did not unfold as intended. Sherman’s assault on the northern end of Missionary Ridge was stopped cold by the Confederate division of General Patrick Cleburne, one of the most skilled division commanders in the entire Confederate army. Despite his numerical advantage, Sherman made little headway throughout the day and his men suffered significant casualties.
Hooker’s advance from Lookout Mountain was delayed for hours when Confederate troops burned the bridge over Chattanooga Creek, forcing his men to wait for a crossing. With both flanks stalled, Grant ordered Thomas to advance his men in the center and assault the Confederate rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge. The intention was to create a diversion that would pressure Bragg and prevent him from sending more troops to help Cleburne on the northern end of the ridge. What happened next became one of the most remarkable moments of the entire Civil War.
Thomas’s men advanced and quickly captured the Confederate rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge. Then, without orders and against the plans of their commanders, the soldiers kept going. Still under fire from the Confederate positions high on the ridge above them, and motivated in part by the humiliation of their defeat at Chickamauga just two months earlier, the men of the Army of the Cumberland began climbing the steep slopes of Missionary Ridge directly toward the Confederate main line. Grant, watching from Orchard Knob, was astonished. He reportedly turned to Thomas and asked who had ordered the men up the ridge. Neither man had. The charge up Missionary Ridge was entirely spontaneous. Despite the steep terrain and the Confederate positions above them, the Union troops reached the top of the ridge and broke through the Confederate line. The Confederate defenders, confused by conflicting orders and caught off guard by the audacity of the charge, collapsed. Bragg’s army abandoned Missionary Ridge and retreated rapidly toward Georgia.
Battle of Chattanooga – Casualties and Aftermath
The Battle of Chattanooga resulted in approximately 5,824 Union casualties and approximately 8,000 Confederate casualties, including over 40 artillery pieces captured. Bragg’s army retreated into Georgia in disorder. Grant considered pursuing the Confederates but ultimately decided against a full pursuit, consolidating the Union victory at Chattanooga instead. Bragg, deeply humiliated by the defeat and having lost the confidence of his generals, resigned his command on November 30th, 1863. He was replaced by General Joseph Johnston.
The consequences of the battle were enormous. Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General in March of 1864 and given command of all Union armies, a direct result of his success at Chattanooga and Vicksburg. General Sherman took command of Union forces in the West and launched the Atlanta Campaign in the spring of 1864, using Chattanooga as his base. The fall of Atlanta in September of 1864 was a direct consequence of the Union victory at Chattanooga, and Sherman’s subsequent March to the Sea followed shortly after.
Significance of the Battle of Chattanooga
The Battle of Chattanooga was one of the most significant Union victories of the American Civil War. It reversed the Confederate victory at Chickamauga, eliminated the Confederate presence in Tennessee, and opened the door to the Union’s drive toward Atlanta and the heart of the Confederacy. The battle is also remembered for the extraordinary spontaneous charge up Missionary Ridge, one of the most dramatic moments of the entire war, in which ordinary soldiers acted on their own initiative and achieved a result their generals had not planned for and barely believed possible. One Confederate soldier later called the Battle of Chattanooga the death knell of the Confederacy, and it is difficult to argue with that description. From Chattanooga, the Union marched south and the Confederacy had no way to stop it.
