[480] destroying the bridges behind him. On the 26th, he retreated to Ringgold, where on the 27th he repulsed a pursuing force which then retired. The army then withdrew to Dalton, where, five days later, Bragg, at his own request, was relieved of the command. He lost his campaign primarily when he allowed Rosecrans to reopen the short line of his communications. Sending Longstreet to Knoxville while holding such advanced lines cannot be excused or palliated. It was a monumental failure to appreciate the glaring weakness of his position. His men never really fought except against Sherman on his extreme right, and there they were victorious and retreated unmolested after night. He was simply marched out from his position on Lookout, and he would have been also marched off of Missionary Ridge by Hooker, had not Grant grown impatient. The unwise division of his forces had put it in Grant's power to defeat him by marching with at least 50 per cent less than the usual fighting. Bragg's casualties were but 361 killed and 2160 wounded, about the average of a single corps or one-sixth of those at Chickamauga. But he lost 40 guns. Grant's losses were also but small, on Lookout Mountain and on Missionary Ridge. They were heaviest where Sherman attacked Cleburne's and Breckenridge's divisions, but even there where the fighting was prolonged most of the day, there were no such casualties as there had been at Chickamauga. Grant's total was 753 killed, 4722 wounded, 349 missing. Total 5824. Livermore estimates the forces engaged on each side as follows: —
| Effective Federal infantry and artillery, | 56,359. |
| Effective Confederate infantry and artillery, | 40,929 |
