In October 1863, the Confederates, under Braxton Bragg, had pinned down the Union Army in Chattanooga. It was a dismal scene for the Federals under William S. Rosecrans; their supplies were depleting fast and thousands of their horses had perished. It is then that the Federal high command made a big decision. What was it? And, did it change the course of the campaign?
Bragg Lays Siege of Chattanooga
Braxton Bragg had occupied two key pieces of high ground at Chattanooga: Missionary Ridge, a 400-foot-high ridge, and Lookout Mountain, which loomed over Chattanooga and the Tennessee River. Bragg’s army also had control of the rail and water communications into the city.
Meanwhile, Union reinforcements were ordered to Chattanooga to bolster Rosecrans’s force. From Mississippi, William Tecumseh Sherman came with 17,000 men; and Joseph Hooker was sent out with 25,000 men from the Army of the Potomac.
