Chattanooga Campaign - The Battles For Chattanooga - Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain

Further information: Battle of Lookout Mountain

On November 24, Hooker had about 10,000 men in three divisions to operate against Lookout Mountain: Brig. Gen. John W. Geary's (XII Corps), Brig. Gen. Charles Cruft's (XIV Corps), and Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus's (XV Corps). Acknowledging that this was too large a force for a simple diversion, Grant authorized a more serious effort against the mountain, but did not agree to a full-scale assault. Hooker was ordered to "take the point only if his demonstration should develop its practicability." Fighting Joe ignored this subtlety and ordered Geary "to cross Lookout Creek and to assault Lookout Mountain, marching down the valley and sweeping every rebel from it."

The advance of Cruft and Osterhaus stalled at Lookout Creek, but Geary crossed the stream unopposed further south and found that the defile between the mountain and the river had not been secured. The Union troops were opposed by Brig. Gen. Edward C. Walthall's brigade of Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham's division (temporarily under the command of Brig. Gen. John K. Jackson). Geary swept northeast along the base of Lookout Mountain and pushed Walthall's badly outnumbered men back to the Cravens House, just below the northern end of the mountain.

The men of Brig. Gen. John C. Brown's Confederate brigade on the mountain top found themselves powerless to intervene in the battle raging below the cliffs. Geary's success allowed the other two divisions to cross the creek and push aside the Confederate skirmishers in front of them. Brig. Gen. John C. Moore brought his brigade up around 1:00 p.m. to become embroiled in a fight with Geary and Brig. Gen. Walter C. Whitaker's brigade of Cruft's division. Moore was pushed back and soon joined by Brig. Gen. Edmund Pettus's brigade.

By about 3:00 p.m., thick fog enveloped the mountain. Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, quartermaster general of the Union Army, observing from Orchard Knob, was the first writer to name the action on Lookout Mountain the "Battle Above the Clouds". The two sides blazed away blindly in the fog the rest of the afternoon but few men were hit. During the fight, Hooker sent a stream of "alternate whimpering and blustering" messages to Grant, but got it exactly right when he predicted, "In all probability the enemy will evacuate tonight." Realizing the battle was lost, Bragg ordered the position abandoned. At midnight the fog cleared and, under a lunar eclipse, the divisions of Stevenson and Cheatham retreated behind Chattanooga Creek, burning the bridges behind them.

That night Bragg asked his two corps commanders whether to retreat or to stand and fight. Hardee counseled retreat, but Breckinridge convinced Bragg to fight it out on the strong position of Missionary Ridge. Accordingly, the troops withdrawn from Lookout Mountain were ordered to the right flank.