Peering through a pair of field glasses, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest perched in an oak tree on Missionary Ridge, overlooking the Tennessee town of Chattanooga, and observed a Union army in complete disarray. The day before, September 20, 1863, the Confederate Army of Tennessee had smashed the Army of the Cumberland after two days of bloody fighting at Chickamauga, GA., 10 miles due south of Chattanooga. The Yankees were falling back on Chattanooga. From what Forrest could see, the bluecoats were abandoning the town in a headlong rush.
Climbing down from the tree, Forrest dispatched a message to his superiors, recommending that they press the enemy as soon as possible. Despite Forrest’s urging, the Confederate commander, General Braxton Bragg, did little. A second message from Forrest indicating that the Federals were fortifying their position and time was at the essence to strike them did not stir Bragg into action either. With over 18,400 casualties from the two-day battle of Chickamauga, Bragg was in no hurry to pursue the Federals. Eventually he did order troops toward Chattanooga later in the day, only to discover that Forrest been right—the Federals were fortifying Chattanooga. “What does he fight battles for?” the ever-aggressive Forrest wondered aloud.
Nestled in southeastern Tennessee astride the border with Georgia, Chattanooga was surrounded by rugged mountains and ridges. Dominating the town on the east was Missionary Ridge. Southwest loomed Lookout Mountain. West of town and two miles beyond Lookout Mountain lay Raccoon Mountain. North of town was Walden’s Ridge, which ran northeastward for 40 miles. Curving around Chattanooga on three sides was the turbulent Tennessee River, which jutted south, then swung north, creating a peninsula called Moccasin Point, and sped through the deep gorges between Raccoon Mountain and Walden’s Ridge, eventually passing the Union supply depot at Bridgeport, AL.
