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The Battle of Chattanooga
November 23-25, 1863
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Bend in the Tennessee River as seen from atop Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga
A important Civil War battle occurred at Chattanooga, Tennessee in late November of
1863. Beginning
in late October, the
Confederate Army under the command of General Braxton Bragg had laid siege to
Major General William
Rosecrans Union Army at Chattanooga, which was a strategic Confederate rail
road junction.
Union General Ulysses S. Grant took command of the Western Army on October 17 and
immediately
moved to reinforce
troops at Chattanooga. Grant replaced Rosecrans with Major General George Thomas
and began establishing
a new supply line to the city. The Union Army was prepared to mount a offensive
with the arrival of
Generals Joseph Hooker and William T.Sherman along with their divisions.
The Union attack began on November 23 and by the next day they had captured Lookout
Mountain.
On November 25 Union
forces captured a very strong Confederate position at Missionary Ridge. The
following days saw the
southern army retreating into Georgia.
Chattanooga became the gateway to the lower south and served as the supply and logistics
base for
General Shermans
Atlanta Campaign.
The final number of dead or missing was 12, 485: 5, 815 on the Union side and 6,670
on the Confederate
side.
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Tennessee River bridge being rebuilt by federal engineers, March 1864.
Created by MM 5/99 Revised July 29, 1999 KMM.
