Chattanooga Campaign

The Chattanooga Campaign is a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War.

Following the defeat of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans' Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg besieges Rosecrans and his men by occupying key high terrain around Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant is given command of Union forces in the West, now consolidated under the Division of the Mississippi.

Significant reinforcements also begin to arrive with him in Chattanooga from Mississippi and the Eastern Theater.

On October 19, Grant removes Rosecrans from command of the Army of the Cumberland and replaces him with Major General George Henry Thomas.

After opening a supply line (the "Cracker Line") to feed his starving men and animals, Grant's army fights off a Confederate counterattack at the Battle of Wauhatchie on October 28–29, 1863.

On November 23, the Army of the Cumberland advances from the fortifications around Chattanooga to seize the minor high ground at Orchard Knob while elements of the Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman maneuver to launch a surprise attack against Bragg's right flank on Missionary Ridge.

On November 24, Sherman's men cross the Tennessee River in the morning, then advance o occupy high ground at the northern end of Missionary Ridge in the afternoon.

The same day, Eastern Theater troops under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker defeat the Confederates in the Battle of Lookout Mountain.

The next day they begin a movement toward Bragg's left flank at Rossville.

On November 25, Sherman's attack on Bragg's right flank makes little progress.

Hoping to distract Bragg's attention, Grant orders Thomas's army to advance in the center of his line to the base of Missionary Ridge.

A combination of misunderstood orders and the pressure of the tactical situation cause Thomas's men to surge to the top of Missionary Ridge, routing the Army of Tennessee, which retreats to Dalton, Georgia, fighting off the Union pursuit successfully at the Battle of Ringgold Gap

Bragg's defeat eliminates the last significant Confederate control of Tennessee and opens the door to an invasion of the Deep South, leading to Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of 1864.