Orchard Knob
November 23, 1863
Estimated casualties: 1,100 U. S. 600 C. S. A. 

With the siege lifted (more) and the Union soldiers resupplied, Ulysses S. Grant was ready to breakout of Chattanooga. On November 23, 1863, troop movements began, with General Joseph Hooker moving into the valley west of Lookout Mountain. William Tecumseh Sherman (bio) gathered his men a short distance north of the city. George Thomas moved the Army of the Cumberland to the fortifications south and east of the city.

Over the two months that Thomas's men had been trapped in the city they built extensive defenses in a line between Fort Negley and Foot Wood, which at the time were outside the city limits to the east. The first step in the breakout of Chattanooga was to extend the defensive perimeter by taking a small hill roughly halfway between the city and Missionary Ridge, where the bulk of Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee lay in wait.

Orchard Knob Taken on November 23, 1863.

Grant knew the advance of his men would be a spectacle for the Rebel soldiers on Missionary Ridge. A spectacle he wanted them to see. Two divisions of the Army of the Cumberland moved into position (Sheridan's to the right, Wood's to the left) while the rest of the Granger's corps held the trenches, with another corps behind them. Two more divisions supported the advance. From Missionary Ridge this must have been a sight to behold.

As Grant would write in his memoirs, "By this time [2pm] the clouds had lifted so that the enemy could see from his elevated position all that was going on." The men, lined up as if to parade, began to move towards the picket line on Orchard Knob with heavy artillery being fired. There was an intense struggle for the hill and the surrounding area. The forward line of the Confederates was forced to withdraw.

The battle at Orchard Knob moved the Union Army a mile closer to the entrenched Rebel Army on top of Missionary Ridge. Although artillery fire from both sides continued throughout the rest of the day, this was the end of the fighting on November 23rd. Attention now turned south, towards Lookout Mountain

Upon taking the ridge General George Thomas conceived the idea for a cemetery. Today the National Cemetery at Chattanooga holds the graves of some 37,000 American veterans.

Taking Orchard Knob as he did was a brilliant maneuver on the part of Grant. It gave him a place from which he could view the battle of Missionary Ridge in relative safety. It also forced Bragg to keep his center strong while Sherman and Hooker attacked his flanks on November 25.

The intimidation of the Confederate Army worked exactly as Grant planned. During the battle of Missionary Ridge Bragg's Army of Tennessee would break ranks from a relatively strong position.

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Additional information:
Battle of Chattanooga links Courtesy of Roadside Georgia

Follow the Blue and Gray Trail

The Battle above the Clouds

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