Gen. W. T. Sherman arrived near
Chattanooga late in November, 1863.
It was important to get his army over the river without being discovered.
To attract the chief attention of the
Confederates in another quarter,
Hooker was ordered to attack them on the northern face of
Lookout Mountain.
His entire force consisted of nearly 10,000 men. The main Confederate force was encamped in a hollow half-way up the mountain, and the summit was held by several brigades.
Their pickets held a continuous line along
Lookout Creek, with reserves in the valley.
Hooker moved to the attack on the morning of Nov. 24.
Geary, supported by
Cruft, marched to Wauhatchie and crossed
Lookout Creek there, while the rest of the troops crossed in front of the
Confederates on temporary bridges.
A heavy mist enveloped mountain and plain.
Geary crossed at eight o'clock, seized a picket-guard of forty men, and extended his line to the foot of the mountain.
Gross's brigade seized the bridge below the railway crossing, and
T. J. Wood's brigade crossed half a mile above.
Two
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batteries had been planted on a hill near, and by eleven o'clock
Hooker was endeavoring to drive the
Confederates from the mountain.
His adversary in immediate
command before him was
General Walthall.
Hooker's guns all opened at once on the breastworks and rifle-pits along the steep wooded acclivity.
The brigades just mentioned formed a junction, and, sweeping everything before them, captured the rifle-pits, allowing but few men to escape up the mountain.
At the same time the troops scaled the rugged heights, cutting their way through felled trees, and driving the
Confederates from the hollow to a plateau well up towards the crest and forcing them around towards the
Chattanooga Valley.
At the same time
Freeland's brigade was rolling them up on the flank.
The struggle on the mountain-sides, in a dense fog (or, rather, a cumulus cloud) that hid the combatants from view, was fierce.
It was, literally, a “battle in the clouds.”
At considerably past noon the plateau was cleared, and the
Confederates were flying in confusion down the precipitous ravines and rugged slopes towards the
Chattanooga Valley.
All the morning, while the battle was raging, so thick was the cloud on the mountain that only at intervals could the straining eyes of spectators at
Chattanooga and on
Orchard Knob, listening to the thunders of the artillery, catch a glimpse of the lines and banners.
Hooker established his line on the easterly face of the mountain; so that, by an enfilading fire, he completely commanded the
Confederate defences, stretching across the
Chattanooga Valley to
Missionary Ridge.
A National battery on
Moccasin Point, 1,500 feet below the
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crest of
Lookout Mountain, had dismounted a gun in a battery on that crest.
