Today is Nov. 24. There is relative quiet in Chattanooga. But on Nov. 24 in 1863, Union armies filled the valley of Chattanooga, surrounded by Confederate troops on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.
Union Gen. Joe Hooker’s men crossed Lookout Creek, to the west of Lookout Mountain. They encountered 1,500 Confederates, under Gen. E.C. Walthall, spread in a thin line among ravines, boulders and fallen logs.
Hooker inquired of commanding Union Gen. U.S. Grant, “May I take the height?” Grant replied, “If you can.”
The Union troops went forward, like spokes of a wheel, around the lower slope of Lookout Mountain. Confederates exchanged fire with them, and then were ordered to retreat toward Missionary Ridge.
The Union soldiers went forward and upward, under fire, into white clouds and mist rising from the Tennessee River. The Confederates retreated past the home of the Cravens family. The Union soldiers quickly moved upward, seizing the point of Lookout Mountain. As the weather cleared, the U.S. flag could be seen flying in the breeze at the mountain’s point.
Thus went “The Battle Above the Clouds” on Nov. 24, 1863.
The next day, Nov. 25, Union troops moved across the valley toward Missionary Ridge. They faced Confederate soldiers in trenches and behind breastworks — one line a few yards east of today’s Glenwood Drive, a second line of trenches halfway up the ridge and the third along the top.
Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and his men had moved from North Chattanooga, crossing the Tennessee River on a pontoon bridge, advancing toward the north end of Missionary Ridge.
From Lookout Mountain, Union Gen. Hooker’s soldiers moved eastward, toward the southern end of Missionary Ridge, toward Rossville.
From Orchard Knob (between today’s Third and Fifth streets), Union troops under Gen. George Thomas ordered his soldiers toward Missionary Ridge.
Being fired upon by the Confederates, the advancing Union troops broke into a run, charging up the ridge.
Grant, on Orchard Knob, turned to Thomas: “Who ordered those men up the ridge?”
Thomas said that he had not. Grant reportedly muttered that somebody would suffer — if the attack were not successful.
But it was.
As Union troops were mixed among the Confederates on the slope of the ridge, some Confederates ceased fire. In other situations, the firing was too hot for the Union troops to retreat, so they charged upward.
The Union forces seized the top of the ridge as Confederates retreated to the east, toward today’s Lovell Field.
Thus Union troops won the battle on Nov. 25, 1863!
Confederate Gen. D.H. Hill later was to observe, “Chattanooga sealed the fate of the Confederacy.”