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The Battle of Chattanooga - Action
September 30, 1863
Beginning at 4:30 AM, Wheeler's cavalry made their way into positions on the hills north of Chattanooga. Quickly laying the pieces of small-caliber artillery at their disposal, primarily horse-drawn mortars and a small number of howitzers, into firing positions, they would fire the first shots of the Third Battle of Chattanooga. Due to a miscommunication, they would begin firing on the city 10 minutes before the massive artillery corps assembled to the south and east of the city would erupt into one of the largest artillery barrages of the war. Finally, after a full hour of firing on the city from all sides, the guns ceased, and both sides prepared for an assault.
Longstreet's movement of Maj. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner's corps put the right flank of the Army of Tennessee nearer to Union positions than Longstreet had intended, and shortly after issuing the order to advance towards the city at 6:00 AM, Buckner was met with surprisingly fierce resistance. Believing it to merely be a Union picket line, and wanting to quickly seize the small hills on the edge of town, Buckner rushed his men forward before reinforcements arrived. Unbeknownst to him, the force he had stumbled upon was not a Union picket line, but in actuality, the left flank of the Army of the Cumberland, under the command of Maj. Gen. Absalom Baird. Despite catching them by surprise and dealing a large number of casualties, Buckner's corps was repulsed. He rallied them and charged two more times, repulsed each time, before being struck in the arm by a stray bullet. Falling off his horse, he was quickly carried to a surgeon in the Confederate camps, while on the field, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne took command of the corps.
Understanding the futility of another attack, and under the assumption that he was facing a force equal to or superior to his own, Cleburne requested reinforcements and pulled back, launching an artillery duel from the more elevated positions to their rear, and letting sharpshooters throw up a screen of fire. Meanwhile, he sent three divisions under Brig. Gen. William Preston to flank around the ridge that the Union left had nestled into.
As Buckner was initially setting off on the Confederate right, Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood and Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham began advancing their corps towards the Union center. Due to miscommunication within Union Maj. Gen. Charles Cruft's corps, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan and Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood were positioned roughly 1.5 miles away from one another, leaving a gap between the two even with both corps' spread widely in the woods around the city. Confederate Brig. Gen. George Maney, discovered this gap soon after an exchange began between Hood's and Cruft's corps' erupted to his left. Cruft, outnumbered by Hood and in a poor defensive position, quickly began fell back to a hill near the city. However, what began as an orderly withdraw quickly turned into panic as Maney's men charged into their right flank. The retreat was only prevented from total disaster by Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's division slowing the attack down at the cost of enormous casualties.
Meanwhile, poor communication within Lt. Gen. D.H. Hill's corps, forces on the Confederate right would not begin advancing until 6:00 AM, well after the battle had begun. By this time, Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer had dug his men in, and initial forays by Confederate Maj. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart's division were repulsed. Hill ordered Stewart to wait until Breckinridge's division arrived before attacking. Again, they were repulsed, but after repeated assaults, and receiving reinforcements from Brig. Gen. John R. Liddell, Confederate forces were finally able to break through the Union right.
As the Army of the Cumberland was slowly being pushed further towards the city itself, Wheeler's cavalry was engaged in a brutal fight with Col. Eli Long's division over control of the bridge across the Tennessee river. Convinced that Wheeler's Corps was a relatively small raiding party, Long refused to burn the bridge, fearing that it would be necessary as an escape route if the Army of the Cumberland needed to escape the city. The numerical superiority of Wheeler's corps began to show, and as it became clear that they weren't dealing with a raiding party, Long hastily retreated, with Confederate forces nearly seizing the bridge before it was set ablaze, trapping Wheeler's men on the other side of the Tennessee river.
Meanwhile, Cleburne rallied his corps, launching another assault on Baird's corps, which was now positioned firmly on Tunnel Hill, as Preston's men assaulted from the north. Baird was determined to hold the hill, and with his superior numbers, managed to withstand repeated assaults from two sides, until two brigades under Brig. Gen. Lucius E. Polk launched an attack from the southern end of the hill, routing Baird and seizing the hill while the remainder of Cleburne's corps chased Baird's men into the city.
Despite severe resistance, Cleburne's men were the first to enter the city of Chattanooga, sweeping through the unfinished fortifications on the northeast side of the city. His men were quickly subject to a counterattack by Long's cavalry, and eventually driven back as the remainder of Cruft's command swung into their left flank. Hill's corps arrived shortly afterwards on the southwestern end of the city, encountering a large number of reserve troops and members of the garrison under Brig. Gen. James B. Steedman. Steedman bravely rallied the garrison a number of times, resisting three Confederate assaults, before being struck by multiple bullets during the fourth assault, which broke through the defenses entirely. Hood and Cheatham, who for much of the battle had been engaged in a drawn-out fight centered around Orchard Knob with the majority of the Army of the Cumberland, launched a final coordinated assault against Union lines, with enormous casualties on both sides before most of D.H. Hill's men swung back south and attacked the Union center from the rear.
Surrounded and outnumbered, Cruft's corps, and with it, most of the remaining Army of the Cumberland, surrendered. Granger, in Chattanooga itself, would formally surrender the Army of the Cumberland to the Army of Tennessee in a meeting in his headquarters. Present Confederate generals were Maj. Gen. John B. Hood, Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham, Lt. Gen. D.H. Hill, and Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne. Present Union generals were Lt. Gen. Gordon Granger, Maj. Gen. Charles Cruft, Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer, and Maj. Gen. Absalom Baird. Longstreet demanded unconditional surrender, with Granger finally agreeing after a few moments of silent contemplation.
Beginning at 4:30 AM, Wheeler's cavalry made their way into positions on the hills north of Chattanooga. Quickly laying the pieces of small-caliber artillery at their disposal, primarily horse-drawn mortars and a small number of howitzers, into firing positions, they would fire the first shots of the Third Battle of Chattanooga. Due to a miscommunication, they would begin firing on the city 10 minutes before the massive artillery corps assembled to the south and east of the city would erupt into one of the largest artillery barrages of the war. Finally, after a full hour of firing on the city from all sides, the guns ceased, and both sides prepared for an assault.
Longstreet's movement of Maj. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner's corps put the right flank of the Army of Tennessee nearer to Union positions than Longstreet had intended, and shortly after issuing the order to advance towards the city at 6:00 AM, Buckner was met with surprisingly fierce resistance. Believing it to merely be a Union picket line, and wanting to quickly seize the small hills on the edge of town, Buckner rushed his men forward before reinforcements arrived. Unbeknownst to him, the force he had stumbled upon was not a Union picket line, but in actuality, the left flank of the Army of the Cumberland, under the command of Maj. Gen. Absalom Baird. Despite catching them by surprise and dealing a large number of casualties, Buckner's corps was repulsed. He rallied them and charged two more times, repulsed each time, before being struck in the arm by a stray bullet. Falling off his horse, he was quickly carried to a surgeon in the Confederate camps, while on the field, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne took command of the corps.
Understanding the futility of another attack, and under the assumption that he was facing a force equal to or superior to his own, Cleburne requested reinforcements and pulled back, launching an artillery duel from the more elevated positions to their rear, and letting sharpshooters throw up a screen of fire. Meanwhile, he sent three divisions under Brig. Gen. William Preston to flank around the ridge that the Union left had nestled into.
As Buckner was initially setting off on the Confederate right, Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood and Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham began advancing their corps towards the Union center. Due to miscommunication within Union Maj. Gen. Charles Cruft's corps, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan and Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood were positioned roughly 1.5 miles away from one another, leaving a gap between the two even with both corps' spread widely in the woods around the city. Confederate Brig. Gen. George Maney, discovered this gap soon after an exchange began between Hood's and Cruft's corps' erupted to his left. Cruft, outnumbered by Hood and in a poor defensive position, quickly began fell back to a hill near the city. However, what began as an orderly withdraw quickly turned into panic as Maney's men charged into their right flank. The retreat was only prevented from total disaster by Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's division slowing the attack down at the cost of enormous casualties.
Meanwhile, poor communication within Lt. Gen. D.H. Hill's corps, forces on the Confederate right would not begin advancing until 6:00 AM, well after the battle had begun. By this time, Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer had dug his men in, and initial forays by Confederate Maj. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart's division were repulsed. Hill ordered Stewart to wait until Breckinridge's division arrived before attacking. Again, they were repulsed, but after repeated assaults, and receiving reinforcements from Brig. Gen. John R. Liddell, Confederate forces were finally able to break through the Union right.
As the Army of the Cumberland was slowly being pushed further towards the city itself, Wheeler's cavalry was engaged in a brutal fight with Col. Eli Long's division over control of the bridge across the Tennessee river. Convinced that Wheeler's Corps was a relatively small raiding party, Long refused to burn the bridge, fearing that it would be necessary as an escape route if the Army of the Cumberland needed to escape the city. The numerical superiority of Wheeler's corps began to show, and as it became clear that they weren't dealing with a raiding party, Long hastily retreated, with Confederate forces nearly seizing the bridge before it was set ablaze, trapping Wheeler's men on the other side of the Tennessee river.
Meanwhile, Cleburne rallied his corps, launching another assault on Baird's corps, which was now positioned firmly on Tunnel Hill, as Preston's men assaulted from the north. Baird was determined to hold the hill, and with his superior numbers, managed to withstand repeated assaults from two sides, until two brigades under Brig. Gen. Lucius E. Polk launched an attack from the southern end of the hill, routing Baird and seizing the hill while the remainder of Cleburne's corps chased Baird's men into the city.
Despite severe resistance, Cleburne's men were the first to enter the city of Chattanooga, sweeping through the unfinished fortifications on the northeast side of the city. His men were quickly subject to a counterattack by Long's cavalry, and eventually driven back as the remainder of Cruft's command swung into their left flank. Hill's corps arrived shortly afterwards on the southwestern end of the city, encountering a large number of reserve troops and members of the garrison under Brig. Gen. James B. Steedman. Steedman bravely rallied the garrison a number of times, resisting three Confederate assaults, before being struck by multiple bullets during the fourth assault, which broke through the defenses entirely. Hood and Cheatham, who for much of the battle had been engaged in a drawn-out fight centered around Orchard Knob with the majority of the Army of the Cumberland, launched a final coordinated assault against Union lines, with enormous casualties on both sides before most of D.H. Hill's men swung back south and attacked the Union center from the rear.
Surrounded and outnumbered, Cruft's corps, and with it, most of the remaining Army of the Cumberland, surrendered. Granger, in Chattanooga itself, would formally surrender the Army of the Cumberland to the Army of Tennessee in a meeting in his headquarters. Present Confederate generals were Maj. Gen. John B. Hood, Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham, Lt. Gen. D.H. Hill, and Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne. Present Union generals were Lt. Gen. Gordon Granger, Maj. Gen. Charles Cruft, Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer, and Maj. Gen. Absalom Baird. Longstreet demanded unconditional surrender, with Granger finally agreeing after a few moments of silent contemplation.
- Pulmonic_Consonant
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