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Battle of Chattanooga 2.docx Download Battle of Chattanooga 2.docx
Greetings, I hope you had a good break.
On July 3, 1863, General lee has been defeated at the three-day battle of Gettysburg and the confederate army has retreated across the Potomac River. Just to keep things in perspective, there were almost as many American casualties at Gettysburg in the three days of fighting (around 51,000) as there was in the 16 years Americans fought in Vietnam (58,220).
It is now time for us to focus on the war in the west. As you know, General Grant has taken Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, through a series of battles and the Union forces now have control of the Mississippi river. The confederacy is cut in half. The Confederate army of the Tennessee under General Brag is facing Union General Rosecrans who holds Chattanooga.
It is your task to read up on the progress of the war by researching the battles of Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and the second battle of Chattanooga. Study this as this series of battles is an interesting story, full of bravery, honor, determination and miracles. Study the details and try to keep the progress of all armies in the field during September through November of 1863. Play these details over in your mind to view the progress and hardships of these armies. Be as detailed in your answers as you can.
- Why was general Brag unpopular with his subordinates?
- How did Brag succeed at Chickamauga?
- What happened to general Rosecrans after the battle of Chickamauga and the role that general Grant played in giving victory to the Union forces?
- What was the assignment of general Grant after his success at Chattanooga?
- Who were other key figures in this series of battles?
- Who was the “The Rock of Chickamauga” and how did he get that name?
- What was the “Battle above the clouds”?
- Who gave the order to take the rebel lines on Missionary Ridge?
Battle of Chattanooga
The first battle
The first part of the Battle of Chattanooga was a minor battle occurring from June 7 to June 8,
1862. In late spring 1862, the Confederacy split its forces in Tennessee into several small
commands in an attempt to complicate Federal operations. The Union army had to redistribute its
forces to counter the Confederate command structure changes. Major General Ormsby M.
Mitchel received orders to take his division to Huntsville, Alabama, to repair railroads in the
area. Soon, he occupied more than one hundred miles along the Nashville & Chattanooga and
Memphis and Charleston railroads. In May, Mitchel and his men fought with Major General
Edmund Kirby Smith’s men.
After Mitchel received command of all Federal troops between Nashville and Huntsville, on May
29, he ordered brigadier general James Negley with a small division to lead an expedition to
capture Chattanooga. This force arrived before Chattanooga on June 7. Negley ordered the 79th
Pennsylvania Volunteers out to reconnoiter. It found the Confederates entrenched on the
opposite side of the river along the banks and atop Cameron Hill. Negley brought up two
artillery batteries to open fire on the Confederate troops and the town and sent infantry to the
riverbank to act as sharpshooters. The Union bombardment of Chattanooga continued throughout
the 7th and until noon on the 8th. The Confederates retaliated, but it was uncoordinated and
sloppy. On June 10, Smith, who had arrived on the 8th, reported that Negley had withdrawn, and
the Confederate loss was minor. This attack on Chattanooga was a warning that Union troops
could mount assaults at will.
The second battle
The second part of the Battle of Chattanooga began 50 miles northwest of Chattanooga where
Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee had 47,000 men stretched across a line preventing a direct
Union advance. Major General William S. Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the
Cumberland, believed he did have enough men and brilliantly moved as if he were going to
attack Bragg’s left flank. Then he quickly reversed himself and went in the opposite direction.
Before the Bragg realized what Rosecrans was up to, Rosecrans was at his rear on his right flank.
Rosecrans bluffed and attack and then slipped off in the opposite direction. Completely
bewildered, Bragg had to retreat and moved his army all the way to Chattanooga. For more than
a month, Rosecrans tried to find a way to get at Bragg’s forces. Unexpectedly Rosecrans found a
crossing of the winding Tennessee River and found nothing was between his army and Bragg’s
except Lookout Mountain, southeast of Chattanooga. On August 16, 1863, Rosecrans, launched
a campaign to take Chattanooga. Again, Rosecrans decided against a direct move. He went
southeast looking for a pass through a series of gaps in Lookout Mountain.
The second battle of Chattanooga began on August 21, 1863, as the opening battle in the
Chickamauga Campaign. Colonel John T. Wilder’s brigade of the Union 4th Division, XIV
Army Corps, marched to a location northeast of Chattanooga where the Confederates could see
them, reinforcing General Braxton Bragg’s expectations of a Union attack on the town from that
direction. On August 21, Wilder reached the Tennessee River opposite Chattanooga and ordered
the 18th Indiana Light Artillery to begin shelling the town. The shells caught many soldiers and
civilians in town in church observing a day of prayer and fasting. The bombardment sank two
steamers docked at the landing and created a great deal of consternation amongst the
Confederates. This continued periodically over the next two weeks, the shelling helped keep
Bragg’s attention to the northeast while the bulk of Rosecrans’ army crossed the Tennessee River
well west and south of Chattanooga. When Bragg learned on September 8, that the Union army
was in force southwest of the city, he abandoned Chattanooga and moved his army into Georgia
and met up with two divisions of General James Longstreet’s Army of Northern Virginia.
Rosecrans moved his army through the mountain passes in search of Bragg, whom he believed
was in full retreat. Reinforced with Longstreet’s divisions, Bragg began moving against
Rosecrans to counterattack. Too late Rosecrans realized he was in trouble. On September 18, at
Chickamauga Creek 12 miles southeast of Chattanooga, Bragg’s men fell upon Rosecrans’s and a
three-day battle erupted. Chickamauga is a name the local Native Americans gave to the creek
which translates as “River of Death.” Historians called it one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
The Confederates succeeded in routing the Union forces, with the exception of General George
Thomas, whose men quickly filled a hole in the Union line and prevented Longstreet’s forces
from causing the battle to become a complete Union disaster. His quick action earned Thomas
the sobriquet, “The Rock of Chickamauga.” A reported 17,800 confederate soldiers became
casualties that day, while union losses were 16,600 men. Rather than press his advantage, at the
end of the third day, on September 20, Bragg allowed the Union Army to retreat to Chattanooga.
The third battle
The third part of the Battle of Chattanooga (popularly known as The Battle of Chattanooga)
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 Southern United States that would lead to the Atlanta Campaign of 1864.
Prelude to battle
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 river, and the
Union’s supply lines. Confederate troops 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
Major General 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 Major General 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, 1863) 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 Major General Ambrose
Burnside, near Knoxville. When Major General William T. Sherman arrived with his four
divisions (20,000 men) in mid-November, Grant began offensive operations.
November 23: Initial movements
On November 23, Union forces under Thomas struck out and advanced east to capture a line
from Orchard Knob to Bushy Knob, placing them halfway to the summit of Missionary Ridge.
The advance was made in broad daylight and met little Confederate resistance. Bragg moved
Walker’s division from Lookout Mountain to strengthen his right flank.
Third Battle of Chattanooga
The plan for November 24 was a two-pronged attack—Hooker against the Confederate left,
Sherman against 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” due to
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, but his assault was then delayed and the
division of Patrick Cleburne was rushed in to reinforce the Confederate right flank. However, no
attack occurred.
November 25: 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 Battle of Missionary Ridge from the
north. The Ridge was a formidable defensive position, manned in depth, and Grant knew 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 try to seize the first of three lines of
Confederate entrenchments to his front. The Union soldiers moved forward and captured the first
line, but were subjected there to punishing fire from the two remaining Confederate lines up the
ridge. Most of these units had been at the disastrous loss at Chickamauga and had suffered the
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. Without orders, the Union soldiers continued the
attack against the remaining lines. They advanced doggedly up the steep slope, shouting
“Chickamauga, Chickamauga!” until they finally overwhelmed and captured the remaining
Confederate lines. Bragg had misplaced his artillery on the crest of the ridge, rather than the
military crest, and it was unable to provide effective fire. Nonetheless, the Army of the
Cumberland’s ascent of Missionary Ridge was one of the war’s most dramatic events. A Union
officer recalled 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 his head would be on the chopping block 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 into Georgia.
Aftermath
During the night, Bragg ordered his army to withdraw toward Dalton; Grant was unable to
organize an effective pursuit. 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 46,000. 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, and Grant had won his final battle in the west prior to receiving command of
all Union armies in March 1864.
References
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Catton, Bruce. The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War. New York
Bonanza Books, 1982, 1960. ISBN 0517385562
Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York
Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0684849445
McDonough, James Lee. Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy. Knoxville,
Tennessee The University of Tennessee Press, 1984. ISBN 0870494252