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The Battle at
Wauhatchie

Oct. 29 at 12:30 am

 

 

 



Micah Jenkins

Wauhatchie

Troops

Casualties

Union

1500

216

Confederate

1500

356

Smith's Hill

Troops

Casualties

Union

3000

86

Confederate

1700

43

Totals

Troops

Casualties

Union

4500

302

Confederate

3200

399


John Geary

 

 

Down the Mountain

fter dark on the 28th, about 3,200 Confederates under Generals Jenkins and Law moved down and across the northern talus of Lookout Mountain. They crossed Lookout Creek a mile north of Wauhatchie. About 1700 men under Law were placed on Smith's Hill and another hill overlooking the road that connected Hooker’s main force with Geary. The remainder, under Col. John Bratton, went to attack Geary.

Jenkins and Law were about the same age and rivals for division command. Jenkins was in overall command partly because he had a few months seniority, but primarily because he had Longstreet's favor.

Wauhatchie

The attack on Geary started shortly after midnight. In the darkness, the Yankees formed a horseshoe shaped defensive battleline around the knoll were the cannon battery stood. Neither side knew how many troops their opponent had.

Apparently, the Confederates thought the Union force was smaller than it was. The Yankees, on the other hand, thought the Confederate force was larger than it was.

The battle was fought with soldiers firing at the gunpowder flashes of the opposing side. The Union soldiers only carried 60 rounds of ammunition, and after two hours of fighting they began to run out. With the Confederates closing in, many desperately went through the pockets of fallen comrades, searching for ammunition.

Smith's Hill

When Hooker heard the firing at Wauhatchie, he ordered six brigades to Geary’s aid. But the force got lost in the dark and then ran into and had to fight the Confederates on Smith's Hill. In the darkness, Union Col. Orland Smith lead his brigade up the hill that now bears his name. Through the heavy underbrush and thick timber, his men approached Law's fortified position at the top of the hill. Despite heavy casualties and considerable confusion, his brigade took the hill.

After three hours of vicious fighting and two hours before sunrise, the Confederates retreated back across Lookout Creek. The primary result of this battle was to increase the already high tension in the Confederate command, especially between Bragg and Longstreet.

At sunrise, General Geary found the body of his son on the knoll, Lt. Geary died next to the battery he commanded.

On the other side, the Confederates were busy blaming each other for the debacle. Eventually, Law (perhaps the least responsible) took most of the blame.

The Yankees had broken the siege. Bragg now faced the reality that (1) his strategy of starving the Yankees into submission had failed and (2) he now faced two Union Armies. It appears, however, that Bragg was more concerned with the fighting within his ranks than he was with fighting Grant.

 
Longstreet's Exit
Sherman's Entrance

 
Primarily as a result of the infighting and tension between Bragg and his top commander, Bragg ordered Longstreet to attack Knoxville. On November 5, Longstreet left for Knoxville with 15,000 men reducing Bragg’s forces in Chattanooga to about 32,000. The Union forces facing Bragg at this time numbered about 45,000 and were about to increase.  Longstreet

At this time, General Ambrose Burnside and the Union's Army of the Ohio occupied Knoxville. Knoxville was a vital railroad link connecting the Army of Northern Virginia with the Army of Tennessee and most of the South.

In mid-November, Sherman with the Union's Army of the Tennessee arrived in Chattanooga. They came down Lookout Valley taking the same route as Hooker a few weeks earlier. Most crossed the river at Brown's Ferry, but the pontoon bridge was destroyed before they could all cross.

The Confederates destroyed the bridge by throwing logs in the river and launching rafts with timed explosives upstream.

The about 20,000 soldiers that did cross camped just across the river from Chattanooga out of view of the Confederates on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. By doing this, they lead Bragg to believe that Sherman was going after Longstreet (toward Knoxville). Those that didn't get across joined Hooker in Lookout Valley.

 

 

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