Spring 2005

Looking westward from atop Missionary Ridge on Nov. 23, 1863, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg could see the ridge of Lookout Mountain, the far end of his very long line. He knew that Federal troops were massing out of sight to the west of the ridge, but the position seemed strong. Rocky cliffs protected the top of the ridge from attack on the north and west sides. A road climbed the east side to the top, where Gen. Carter Stevenson surveyed the situation. The bench where most of the battle occurred is the fairly level area half-way up the right end.

From the top, the worried Stevenson could see the Federal guns on Moccasin Point across the bend of the Tennessee River commanding his entire position. His own guns atop the palisades would prove to be no match for the heavy Union artillery massed against him.

Closer in, he could also see the bench and the Cravens farmhouse where he had eight regiments quartered, protected by some rudimentary breastworks. (farmhouse not visible here)

Looking west on November 23, 1863, he saw a large mass of Union troops across Lookout Creek at the base of the ridge, Osterhaus busily placing more artillery positions on those little knolls. Stevenson had a picket line down there by the stream, plus another line on the west edge of the bench, but his strength was no match for Hooker's: six brigades against two divisions and two brigades.

The men in Stevenson's upper picket line had cobbled together crude trenches in the rocks, but these were inadequate. They expected the Federal attack up the mountain from the west, to the right of the frame, but in fact it came first from the south, straight ahead in this shot.

On the morning of 24 November Stevenson's regiment of sharpshooters on top of the ridge looked down this precipice to the west, but could not see anyone to shoot at because of ground fog and low clouds. Geary's Federal division swept by them from left to right, coming up to the bench at the north end and flanking the surprised upper rebel picket line.

Osterhaus's division charged up the mountain to join Geary as he swept by and rounded the north end of the ridge. The terrain was steep and rocky, a difficult climb.

The Confederates on the bench were driven past the Cravens farmhouse, which overlooks Chattanooga. When not obscured by heavy fog, the firefight was clearly visible to watchers in the valley below. Geary, backed by Osterhaus, swept Stevenson's command back toward the road on the east side of the mountain (to the right).

The Confederates' final position was in the forest beyond this field, southeast of the house on the bench. There the battle stagnated for hours in the fog. On Bragg's orders, the rebels evacuated the mountain about midnight and moved to Missionary Ridge.