In the fall of 1863, during the Civil War, Union General George H. Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland joined the armies of Generals Grant, Sherman, and Hooker to assault the Confederate held Missionary Ridge, near Chattanooga. The Union targeted Chattanooga because of its railroad connection to Atlanta; this attack occurred soon after the Battle of Chickamauga, a Confederate victory.

To work around the ridge’s fortified slope, Grant ordered most Federals to attack the flanks of General Bragg’s Confederates while the Cumberland pressured the ridge’s front. On November 25, 1863, Union signal guns sounded at 3:00 PM, beginning the battle. As Confederates stalled Sherman at the ridge’s right, Grant ordered the Cumberland to push the Confederate center, the most fortified section. The Cumberland defeated the Confederates in rifle pits at the ridge’s base. The rebels “threw down their arms” and retreated, pulling back their men to a second line “four hundred feet” up the ridge. Sherman observed that the pits were taken “in ten minutes’ time.”

The Federals rested in the rifle pits. Meanwhile, the retreating Confederates rallied and fired on the Union soldiers. “The air was literally thick with grape, canister, and bursting shell,” observed Sherman. Thomas’ men charged against the Confederates against Grant’s orders. Up an incline of  “forty degrees, broken by rocks and fallen timber,” the Federals broke the Confederate defense, reducing them to, as Sherman described, “fast-receding lines of grey, broken and dispirited.” Bragg escaped capture, fleeing on horseback. By 4 P.M., the Federals received orders to return to their camp.

The chaos of Missionary Ridge affected even non-soldiers. John S. Kountz, a drummer boy for the 37th Ohio Infantry, dropped his drums and charged forward. He later recorded, “During the battle I was hit by rifle ball above the knee and the wound bled until the ground under me was covered in blood.” William Schmidt received the Medal of Honor for rescuing Kountz. Schmidt recalled, “When I rescued him he was nearer the rebel works than any of the killed or wounded of the regiment.” Kountz had his leg amputated and lived the rest of his life away from the war.

        The victory at Missionary Ridge, improving Union morale, gave them a “44. Cannon with limbers and [wagons of ammunition] ...feed for horses, Clothing and shoes etc.” Missionary Ridge closed the Chattanooga campaign and led to Sherman’s famous Atlanta campaign as railroads connected Chattanooga and Atlanta.  

Credits and Sources:

Researched and written by John Sheehan, Andres Malave, and Kevin Kelly, students at the Westminster Schools.

 

Aldrich, C. Knight, eds. Quest for a Star: the Civil War Letters and Diaries of Colonel

Francis T. Sherman of the 88th Illinois. Voices of the Civil War 1. Knoxville, TN:

University of Tennessee Press, 1999.

 

Barnard, George N., ed. Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign. New York, NY:

Dover Publications, 1977

 

Gold, David, and James B. Kennedy, eds. Memoirs of a Dutch Mudsill: the "war

memories" of John Henry Otto, Captain, Company D, 21st Regiment, Wisconsin

Volunteer Infantry. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2004.

 

Hoffman, John, ed. The Confederate Collapse at the Battle of Missionary Ridge: the

Reports of James Patton Anderson and his Brigade Commanders. Dayton, OH:

Morningside, 1985.

 

Korn, Jerry. The Fight for Chattanooga: Chickamauga to Missionary Ridge. The Civil

War. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1985.

 

Malave, Andres. Photograph. January 7, 2016. JPEG.

 

Missionary Ridge.1865. From Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division,

Washington, D.C.  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012646938/ (accessed

January 24, 2016).

 

Sheehan, John. Photograph. January 7, 2016. JPEG.

 

Sneden, Robert Knox. The Battle [of Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1864] [sic].

Watercolor. 1863-1865.