The Chattanooga Campaign

2. “Lookout Mountain Frowned Down upon Us”: The Union Army and the Struggle for Lookout Valley

22 2 “lookout mountain froWned doWn upon uS”: The union arMy and The sTruggLe For LookouT VaLLey Stewart Bennett In the dark of night the men of the 73rd Ohio and 33rd Massachusetts Regiments struggled with the difficult terrain up the steep hill, as the bullets flew past. Holding their fire, they moved up through the dark shadows before them and in no time felt the hail of an enfilading volley that staggered the line, dropping men with each tortuous step. As they came closer to the crest of the hill, another volley spewed forth a sheet of leaden hail. This time, however , the Union troops answered with a volley of their own. Private William Fletcher Hughey of the 73rd Ohio recalled the nightmare upon that field of battle: “Men were falling in every direction, screaming and crying in pain. The Maj. gave the order to fix bayonet and charge . . . moving forward amid cheers and yells, firing and falling by scores. We were getting in very close quarters, almost within reach of the points of our bayonets, and feeling as though we were certain of victory and thinking nothing but victory. When alas my hopes were all blasted, and that very suddenly.”1 For Hughey, the 73rd Ohio, and the rest of Major General Joseph Hooker’s Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, it had only been a few days’ march for the men to arrive on this moonlit evening in late October 1863 and to take part in one of the few nighttime battles of the Civil War. This fight on the evening of October 28 continued into the early morning hours of the twenty-ninth and would be remembered as the Battle of Wauhatchie. Even before this battle ensued, much was changing in the western theater of the war. Major General Ulysses S. Grant had just assumed command of the newly created Military Division of the Mississippi. Soon after, he replaced Major General William S. Rosecrans as commander of the Army of the Cumberland in Chattanooga with Major General George H. Thomas and approved a plan to rescue the Union army now trapped within Chattanooga. To attempt a breakthrough “lookout mountain froWned doWn upon uS” 23 of the infamous “Cracker Line” would prove risky, but to do nothing about the present state of affairs would likely cause the loss of the great Army of the Cumberland.2 President Abraham Lincoln expected results, and Grant Amid the chaos typical of one of the war’s rare night attacks, Longstreet’s Confederates lunged into Lookout Valley in a muddled attempt to cut off the recently opened Union Cracker Line, only to be met by an equally confused but ultimately successful repost from Hooker’s Federals. SteWart Bennett 24 had shown through his actions that he was the man to make the needed changes around Chattanooga. Grant took control of the situation and moved forward to break the stranglehold the Confederate Army of Tennessee held over the supply lines to Union forces in Chattanooga. Grant’s plans included a forced Union crossing of the Tennessee River at Brown’s Ferry on October 24 that would correct part of the supply problem. The other part of the plan was to have Hooker move his troops out of Bridgeport, Alabama, cross to the south side of the Tennessee River by way of Whitesides, then proceed to Wauhatchie, and finally up to Brown’s Ferry. This would help to solidify the Union hold on the southern side of the Tennessee River and make Chattanooga more accessible for much-needed Union supplies. Major General John M. Palmer and a division of the Fourteenth Corps would move down the north side of the Tennessee River, cross at Whitesides, and take control of the road to the rear of Hooker’s troops after they had passed.3 The plan to break the cracker line was set. Hooker and his command were on the move. On October 26, Hooker moved his troops out of Bridgeport toward their final destination at Brown’s Ferry. These troops included much of the Eleventh Corps commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard, consisting of two divisions: the Third Division under Major General Carl Schurz and the Second Division commanded by Brigadier General Adolph von Steinwehr. In addition there was a company of the 5th Tennessee Cavalry and only a part of a company belonging to the 1st Alabama Cavalry. These troops were...