November 27, 1863
On December 26, 1862, Major General William S. Rosecrans led the Union Army of the Cumberland out of Nashville, Tennessee with orders to capture Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga was an important railroad junction that connected the upper Confederacy with the Deep South.
On December 26, 1862, Major General William S. Rosecrans led the Union Army of the Cumberland out of Nashville, Tennessee with orders to capture Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga was an important railroad junction that connected the upper Confederacy with the Deep South. Between Rosecrans and Chattanooga was Lieutenant General Braxton Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee.
The two armies clashed in a series of battles over the next nine months and Rebels consistently retreated south. On September 9, Bragg abandoned Chattanooga and led the Army of Tennessee through the mountains into northern Georgia. Although Rosecrans achieved his objective of capturing Chattanooga, he decided to pursue Bragg's army into Georgia. Stung by criticism that he received for abandoning Chattanooga, Bragg counterattacked at the Battle of Chickamauga (September 19-20, 1863). The victorious Confederates drove the Federals back toward Chattanooga, forcing them to occupy the defensive works previously constructed by the Rebels. Bragg seized the high ground overlooking Chattanooga (Lookout Mountain, Seminary Ridge and Raccoon Mountain) and laid siege to the city.
Reacting to the Army of the Cumberland's dire situation, Northern authorities sent twenty thousand soldiers commanded by General Joseph Hooker, and sixteen thousand men led by Major General William T. Sherman to help lift the siege. Officials placed General Ulysses S. Grant in command of all Northern soldiers in the vicinity of Chattanooga and also replaced Rosecrans with General George Thomas as the commander of the Army of the Cumberland.
As reinforcements began to arrive in late October 1863, Grant embarked upon an operation to alleviate the Army of the Cumberland's supply problems. By October 28, Grant's men managed to open a narrow supply line that became known as the "Cracker Line." As conditions improved for the Federal troops in Chattanooga, Grant began planning a breakout. On November 23, fourteen thousand Federals led by Brigadier-General Thomas J. Wood easily overpowered six hundred Confederate defenders and captured Orchard Knob, outside of Chattanooga. The next day, Hooker's men attacked Confederate forces on Lookout Mountain, forcing a rebel retreat. On November 25, Grant ordered a general assault on Missionary Ridge. Still stinging from their defeat at Chickamauga, Thomas's Army of the Cumberland routed the center of the Confederate line forcing Bragg to withdraw his army south into Georgia. Grant ordered Hooker to pursue the fleeing Confederates with 12,000 Union soldiers
Bragg decided to reassemble his retreating army at Dalton, Georgia, about 30 miles south of Chattanooga. To do so, he needed to stall Hooker long enough to get his artillery and supply wagons out of harm's way. Bragg designated Major General Patrick Cleburne's division as his rearguard. Near midnight on November 25 Bragg ordered Cleburne to deploy his division at a narrow railroad cut in the mountains near the town of Ringgold, Georgia, north of Dalton. Bragg instructed Cleburne "to hold this position at all hazards, and keep back the enemy until the artillery and transportation of the army are secure." Early the next morning, Cleburne did a masterful job positioning his troops to defend Ringgold Gap. With only two canon and 4,100 troops at his disposal, Cleburne ordered his men to wait until Hooker's soldiers were almost upon them before firing their weapons. As the leading elements of Hooker's force neared the gap, the Confederates unleashed a withering volley that sent the unsuspecting Yankees reeling back. Unable to use his superior numbers against the defenders in the narrow gap, Hooker resorted to trying to outflank the Rebels, but Union assaults on each Confederate flank failed. Around noon, Cleburne ordered his men to retreat after receiving word that all of Bragg's stores had safely reached Dalton. By 2 p.m. the Federals occupied Ringgold, but at a high cost. Hooker reported casualties of 432 men (killed, wounded, captured/missing) compared with Confederate losses of 480. Eyewitnesses to the battle, however, claimed that Union losses were much higher than Hooker reported. Even Grant noted an apparent discrepancy at the bottom of his official battle report.
Regardless of the accuracy of the casualty reports, Cleburne was successful in delaying Hooker's advance for over five hours, allowing Bragg's army to reassemble. After the Battle of Ringgold Gap, Grant terminated the pursuit. Both armies went into winter quarters, bringing the Chattanooga Campaign to an end.
Among the Ohio units involved in the Chattanooga Campaign, including the Battle of Ringgold Gap, were:
Infantry units:
2nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
3rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
6th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
7th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
11th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
14th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
15th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
19th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
21st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
24th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
30th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
33rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
35th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
36th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
37th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
38th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
41st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
46th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
47th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
49th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
51st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
52nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
54th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
55th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
59th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
61st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
64th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
65th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
69th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
70th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
73rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
74th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
82nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
89th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
92nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
93rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
97th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
99th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
101st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
105th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
108th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
113th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
121st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
124th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
125th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
4th Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry (primarily recruited in Ohio)
7th Company Ohio Independent Sharpshooters
Cavalry units:
1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
3rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
5th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
Artillery units:
1st Regiment Ohio Light Artillery
4th; Regiment Ohio Light Artillery
6th Regiment Ohio Light Artillery
18th Regiment Ohio Light Artillery
Related Entries
- Battle of Lookout Mountain
- Braxton Bragg
- Battle of Wauhatchie
- William Starke Rosecrans
- Chattanooga Campaign
- William Tecumseh Sherman
- Ulysses S. Grant
- George Henry Thomas
- James Longstreet
- Battle of Orchard Knob
- Battle of Chickamauga
- Battle of Stones River
- Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Joseph Hooker
- 35th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 33rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 54th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 59th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 59th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 69th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 70th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 61st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 51st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 51st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 65th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 101st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 4th Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry
- 105th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 108th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 125th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 121st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 124th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 97th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Patrick Ronayne Cleburne
- 92nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 89th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 64th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 73rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 74th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 82nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 93rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 4th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 24th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 55th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 52nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 49th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 46th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 47th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 38th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 41st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 30th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 36th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 37th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Army of the Cumberland
- 5th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
- 1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
- 3rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
- Thomas John Wood