Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park | BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA

The Battle Above the Clouds

The Battle Above the Clouds

Following the defeat at Chickamauga in late September, 1863, the Union army retreated to Chattanooga and fortified its position against further attack. Confederate General Braxton Bragg, whose army was short on ammunition and had no pontoon boats to cross the Tennessee River into Chattanooga, chose to blockade the city and attempt to starve Union forces into surrender instead of attacking. To do so, Confederates took up high elevation positions at Lookout Mountain (southwest of Chattanooga) and Missionary Ridge—a ridge east of Chattanooga that ran all the way to the Georgia state line—as well as in the valley between the two points and at Lookout Valley, west of Lookout Mountain. This formed a semi-circle around the city. The areas not occupied by Confederate soldiers were mountainous, thus the Union army had no reasonable way to escape from Chattanooga other than by fight…or surrender.

By the end of October, the siege had been going on for a month. In addition to Union soldiers, civilians of Chattanooga were also short of food. Although there was a supply line into the city, it was a long, roundabout route that had been partially washed away during hard rains and was vulnerable to Confederate attacks. A more reliable supply line had to be opened. A plan was devised by the chief engineer of the Army of the Cumberland, Brigadier General William Smith, and it was approved by General Grant, who had arrived in Chattanooga on October 23rd.

Immediately after the defeat at Chickamauga, Union reinforcements had been ordered to Chattanooga: 15,000 men under General Joseph Hooker (coming from Bridgeport, Alabama) and 20,000 men under General William Sherman (coming from Vicksburg, Mississippi). Hooker’s men would be coming though Lookout Valley. The plan was to seize Browns Ferry, a transportation point across the Tennessee River from the west side of Moccasin Bend to the mainland in Lookout Valley. From there, a road through a gap in the mountains led to another point on the Tennessee River where Union boats had access. A successful attack would give the Union a foothold into the valley, and when Hooker’s men arrived, a reliable supply line.

Battle of Chattanooga map

Battle of Chattanooga map

Bragg was aware of Hooker’s pending arrival and ordered more men into Lookout Valley, but the order was ignored by General James Longstreet. He was also unaware of any Union plans to take Browns Ferry, which was guarded by just two Confederate regiments (a regiment typically consisted of 1,000 men, but towards the end of the war, some Confederate regiments didn’t amount to much more than 250-500 men). In the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of October 27, 1863, Brigadier General William Hazen’s brigade floated quietly down river past the Confederate soldiers atop Lookout Mountain and successfully took the ferry area, the road, and the gap in the mountains. A Confederate counterattack was repulsed. Union General John Turchin’s brigade crossed the river from Moccasin Bend to reinforce the newly captured territory. Hooker arrived the next day, and the supply line, known as the “Cracker Line,” was established. The name came from the hardtack crackers that were the staple of a soldier’s rations.

Hardtack cracker display at the Ochs Museum on Lookout Mountain in the Chattanooga Unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Hardtack cracker display at the Ochs Museum on Lookout Mountain in the Chattanooga Unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Sherman’s 20,000 men would not arrive for another two weeks. In the meantime, Bragg was sending Confederate soldiers from Chattanooga, along with General Longstreet, to Knoxville; he felt that Sherman would attack Knoxville before coming to Chattanooga. Eventually, nearly 15,000 men were dispatched. What Bragg did not know was that Grant was formalizing a plan of attack that would allow the army to breakout of the Chattanooga blockade. The route Sherman was taking allowed him to stay hidden from views on Lookout Mountain, so Bragg could never be certain if Sherman was coming to Chattanooga or to Knoxville.

The plan was for Sherman to attack the right flank of the Confederate line at the northern end of Missionary Ridge. General Hooker would attack Lookout Mountain. General George Thomas would attack the center of the line at Missionary Ridge after first taking Orchard Knob, a 100-foot-tall hill that sat between Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge and was defended by only 600 Confederate soldiers.

On November 23rd, Thomas sent 14,000 men towards Orchard Knob, easily overrunning the hill. The hill, taking up a city block, gave great views in all directions, and Grant quickly made it his headquarters. Realizing a fight was at hand, Bragg recalled all troops heading to Knoxville that were no more than a day’s march away.

On the 24th, Hooker’s men began the attack on Lookout Mountain. No fighting actually took place on the mountain top, but instead, on the slopes. Confederates stationed on the actual top of the mountain at Point Park found themselves out of the fight, for while sheer cliffs on the west, north, and east sides of the point made their position impenetrable, they couldn’t get to the slopes below either. Furthermore, cannon at the top could not be angled downward enough to hit Union soldiers on the slopes.

A thick fog engulfed the mountain around 3 PM that day, obscuring the fighting from those below. Because of this, the battle earned the nickname, “The Battle Above the Clouds.” Realizing the battle was lost, Bragg ordered a retreat. Those on top of the mountain had to wait until dark to leave, burning bridges on their way out in order to hinder Hooker’s next mission, an attack on the southern end of Missionary Ridge. The next day Union soldiers planted the U. S. flag on Point Lookout, the very tip of Lookout Mountain. This brought cheers from the men below.

On the same day, Sherman attacked the Confederate’s right flank along the northern end of Missionary Ridge. However, due to an inability to see how the ridge was formed (from a distance, it appeared to a continuous ridge), Sherman ended up atop Billy Goat Hill, a hill that was detached from the rest of the ridge. To his dismay, he found the Confederates entrenched at Tunnel Hill, the actual northern end of Missionary Ridge. A deep ravine stood between the two armies. Sherman’s troops stayed in place for the night.

The next day, November 25th, fighting resumed. Sherman attacked at the northern end of Missionary Ridge, Hooker at the southern end. Thomas attacked in the middle, but only after the others had successfully taken the north and south ends. Both Sherman’s and Hooker’s advances were slow, so at 3 PM Grant ordered Thomas to attack. The Confederates defended the ridge by placing men in rifle pits at the base and additional men at the top of the ridge. Thomas’s men quickly took the rifle pit area but received heavy fire from above. Their orders were simply to take the rifle pits and hold there. However, having been ridiculed for their loss at Chickamauga and now being pummeled from above, they took it upon themselves to charge up the hill, surprising everyone—including themselves—as they overran the Confederate defenses and sent them scurrying down the other side of the ridge and back to Georgia. Not long afterwards, Bragg ordered a wholesale retreat. Chattanooga remained in Union hands for the rest of the war. Sherman began his march through Georgia, with Chattanooga being his main supply and logistic base.

As I toured the battlefield, visiting Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, I couldn’t help but wonder how an army with superior position could lose a battle. As it turns out, the Union victory was simply a numbers game. The Union lost more than double the men of the Confederates and had more than double the wounded, yet routed the Confederates at all points in the battle. Sitting atop a hill as the enemy crawls its way up, there are only so many bullets you can shoot and so many enemies you can kill. The Union simply overwhelmed the Confederates with numbers—nearly 12,000 more men.

The Battle of Chattanooga became known as the “Death Knell of the Confederacy.”

Tablet detailing Confederate losses in the Battle of Chattanooga

Tablet detailing Confederate losses in the Battle of Chattanooga

Tablet detailing Union losses in the Battle of Chattanooga

Tablet detailing Union losses in the Battle of Chattanooga

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Last updated on June 30, 2024
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