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| Preparing for permanent occupation: military railroad bridge over Chattanooga creek, December, 1863 Bragg was now definitely driven from Tennessee, and his beaten Army lay in winter quarters at Dalton, Georgia, holding the railroad to Atlanta. Longstreet had failed at Knoxville, and after a winter of hardship in the unfriendly mountain regions was to make his way back to Lee for the final struggle. This bridge was the last link in the connection by rail between Nashville and Chattanooga, and the Federal engineers at once set about rebuilding it so that trains might be run into the latter city, which was now made a military post. The original structure was destroyed by Bragg September 7, 1863, when he withdrew from Chattanooga, outflanked by Rosecrans. Grant had saved the Army of the Cumberland and Chattanooga, and Sherman had pressed forward to the relief of Burnside at Knoxville, driving off Longstreet. Chattanooga and Knoxville, now occupied by the Federals, were to become new bases for still greater and more aggressive operations by Sherman against the Confederate Army in Georgia the following year. |
