The Chattanooga section of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park consists of several disparate sections separated by over a century of urbanity.  Two of the lesser-known parts of the park lie at the northern end of Missionary Ridge – the Sherman and the Pennsylvania Reservations.  These two reserves remember the heavy fighting of 25 November 1863 on Tunnel Hill.  Tunnel Hill, so-called for the railroad tunnel for the Chattanooga & Cleveland Railroad.  Here, the better part of the Army of the Tennessee, led by Major General William Sherman, with additional troops provided by the division of Jefferson C. Davis and the Federal 11^th Corps hit the northern flank of Braxton Bragg’s Missionary Ridge position.  The goal was to gain Tunnel Hill and roll up Bragg’s position from that end.

WILLIAM SHERMAN

William Sherman graduated from West Point with the class of 1840.  A 16-year-old cadet, he roomed with George Thomas.  The class of 1840 is full of generals who served on both sides during the American Civil War.  He served in the southeast, fighting in Florida and later stationed in Georgia and South Carolina.  During the Mexican American War, Sherman missed out on the fighting, sent to help administer the newly captured territory of California with fellow lieutenants Henry Halleck and Edward Ord instead.  Halleck and Sherman lived together in a shared house in Monterey from 1847 to 1849.

Resigning his commission in 1853, he spent the next five years working as a bank manager in San Francisco and later New York.  In 1858, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas to work as the office manager for the law firm of his brothers-in-law Hugh and Thomas Ewing Jr.  A year later, he accepted the post of superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy – the future Louisiana State University – a position he held until January 1861 when he resigned with the onset of the Civil War.

He had a varied career within different armies fighting for the Union in the first years of the war, moving from the east where he started out as a brigade commander at First Manassas.  Coming west, a brief overall command position in Cincinnati, Ohio led to his relief from duty and a short-lived return to his Ohio home.

SHERMAN IN THE WEST

Only a few weeks later, he gained assignment to the Army of West Tennessee – transformed into the Army of the Tennessee by March 1862.   Serving in a few assignments in the rear of the army at first, after Fort Donelson fell – February 1862, Sherman gained command of one of the divisions fighting under Ulysses Grant, just in time to take part in the Battle of Shiloh.  Shiloh and especially the subsequent Corinth campaign solidified the friendship between the two generals.  As a team, they worked out the eventually successful campaign to open the Mississippi River to Federal control with the July 4 capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

After the Battle of Chickamauga, Grant was booted upstairs to overall command of all the Western theater.  Replacing him at the top of the Army of the Tennessee was Sherman.  In response to the Federal defeat and subsequent besiegement in Chattanooga, Grant came on scene replacing the commander of the Army of the Cumberland, William Rosecrans, with George Thomas.  At the same time, he called on Sherman to bring his new army to help push back Bragg.

BEST-LAID PLANS

Grant’s first impressions of the Army of the Cumberland made him believe the morale of the army collapsed by the disaster at Chickamauga.  To push Bragg away from Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee, in general, Grant fell back on his proven troops from the Army of the Tennessee.  They would hammer at Bragg’s right flank and roll up his Missionary Ridge positions from the north to the south.  The Army of the Cumberland would tie down the main part of the Confederate line with demonstrations against the main line while Sherman steamrolled down on their flank.  The 11^th and 12^th Corps, brought east from the Army of the Potomac after Chickamauga under the command of Major General Joseph Hooker would also provide a demonstration to pin down Confederate forces operating on Lookout Mountain.

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” said Robert Burns or better, in the later words of Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke condensed over time, “No plan survives contact with the enemy”.  And so, it was with Grant’s plans here at Chattanooga.

SHERMAN’S ROLE

First, Grant wanted Sherman’s force to gather on the north side of the Tennessee River hidden from direct view of the Confederates on Missionary Ridge.  A pontoon bridge would then be laid out at first light to provide the Federals access to the north part of the ridge.  This was already Grant’s second plan of action.  His first, was to send the Cumberlanders straight on against Missionary Ridge 7 November, but Thomas demurred.  He had not procured enough animals to move his army – supply wagons and artillery batteries – for such a move.  Grant accepted Thomas’ reasoning, but in doing so, his feelings toward Thomas hardened.  Also, his feelings of how much the Army of the Cumberland could accomplish were reinforced.

SHERMAN’S MARCH

So, he waited for Sherman to arrive.  While Sherman’s March to the Sea in 1864 after the fall of Atlanta gets much more publicity, the march of the Army of the Tennessee from Memphis and northern Mississippi over roads deteriorating with autumn rains stands just as impressive if not more so.  The men covered well over 300 miles along the way – farther than the March to the Sea.

Sherman’s men finally reached Chattanooga 21 November, but the condition of the roads spread his divisions out.  His first three divisions made it across the pontoon bridge at Brown’s Ferry before that bridge came apart due to high river levels and Confederate floating debris downriver to jam up the bridge.  One of Sherman’s divisions, that of Brigadier General Peter Osterhaus did not.

Grant wanted to launch Sherman’s attack on 21 November subsequently delayed until the next day, but Sherman’s men were not ready.  The pontoon bridge came apart on 22 November stranding the men of Osterhaus.  Grant now delayed his attack plans further giving Sherman the division of Jefferson C. Davis from the 14^th Corps of the Army of the Cumberland to make up for the loss.  Hooker, now with a significant number of troops at his disposal, was given the opportunity to demonstrate against Lookout Mountain thereby threatening the Confederate left.  At the same time – 24 November – Sherman would cross against the Confederate right and catch Bragg’s men between two closing jaws.

24 NOVEMBER

Hooker succeeding in driving the Confederates off Lookout Mountain in an action later described by Grant as an action not “worthy to be called the battle of Lookout Mountain.  It is all poetry.”

Sherman’s men got across the river, first on boats and subsequently on a quickly built pontoon bridge.  That morning, he had with his three divisions 16,600 men on the scene with the division of Jefferson C. Davis still waiting to come across the bridge.  At dawn, the time Sherman scheduled to push off against Tunnel Hill, Major General Patrick Cleburne had only three of his four brigades in place to defend – about 4,000 men.  The Texas brigade of James A. Smith were the only defenders standing directly on Tunnel Hill.  But Sherman hesitated, having his men fortify their own positions near the river.

As the morning slipped away, Grant observing the inaction from Orchard Knob, started to become slightly impatient, “considerable movement has taken place on top of the ridge toward you … [but] until I do hear from you I am loath to give any orders for a general engagement.”

FINALLY, AWAY FROM THE RIVER

It was not until 1330 before Sherman finally ordered an advance with each of his three divisions marching abreast – Morgan Smith on the left, John Smith in the center and Hugh Ewing on the right.  Davis’ division remained in reserve and the 11^th Corps brigade of August Buschbeck protected the right flank of Ewing.

Sherman’s movement finally caught the attention of Braxton Bragg who ordered Cleburne’s brigades to Tunnel Hill.  At 1500, the Federals scaled the hill in front of them thinking they were on top of the north end of Missionary Ridge.  But they were not.  They climbed a separate hill – Billy Goat Hill – instead.  There was another sharp valley separating them from Tunnel Hill proper.  Even with Cleburne bringing in more troops, the Federals probably could have taken the hill if they had not stopped.  Sherman decided “the ground we had gained, however, was so important that I could leave nothing to chance, and ordered it to be fortified during the night.”  Grant’s major engagement would have to wait for the next day.  The rifle pits dug that day and evening can still be seen on Billy Goat and the adjoining Angora Hill.

25 NOVEMBER – PHASE ONE

On the Confederate side, the Federal actions of 23 October against Orchard Knob convinced Bragg to recall the two divisions of Patrick Cleburne and Bushrod Johnson he had sent north.  Those troops were to reinforce James Longstreet to push the Federals out of Knoxville and eastern Tennessee.   Stripping 11,000 troops from his force around Chattanooga suddenly seemed like a very bad idea with the Union army suddenly very active in front of him.  He managed to turn around all but 2,500 placing them in reserve to watch for Grant’s next move.

With the next day – 24 November – came those next moves with Hooker successfully wresting Lookout Mountain away.  But Bragg also noted Sherman and his four divisions threatening his right flank, as well.  There on Tunnel Hill, he countermanded the movement of Cleburne’s division.  Instead of moving north towards Longstreet, the four brigades of Cleburne returned with orders to fortify the hilltop.  They began arriving just as Sherman made his move atop Billy Goat Hill setting the scene for the next day.

COUNTERMOVES

The defenses along Missionary Ridge were split between Major General John Breckinridge whom Bragg gave command of the center and left and Lieutenant General William Hardee to whom Bragg gave control of the Confederate right.  Hardee, Breckinridge, and Bragg met together on the evening of 24 November to discuss whether they should remain on Missionary Ridge in light of the Federal successes on Lookout Mountain.  Additionally, they considered Sherman’s crossing of the Tennessee River which threatened the Confederate right.  The three decided to stay and fight if needed the next day, though Hardee was for a retreat and Bragg eventually saw the need to draw back.  Hardee gave notice if he was expected to hold down the right on Tunnel Hill, he would need more reinforcements.  With the loss of Lookout Mountain, the men of Carter Stevenson and William H. T. Walker were ordered to reinforce Hardee.

Grant did not know Sherman had failed to capture Tunnel Hill.  He figured the Confederate right had been breached and Bragg’s army would retreat the following day.  He ordered Sherman to advance at first light on the 25^th.  Thomas was to plan on a direct assault at the same time while Hooker would make his way to the south end of the Confederate line on Missionary Ridge at Rossville Gap.  From the gap, he would then push his way north along the ridge.

FIRST ATTACKS

OPENING SITUATIONS

Sherman still had four divisions at hand, almost 24,000 men.  He also had Adolphus Buschbeck’s brigade posted on his right, on loan from the 11^th Corps.  Morgan Smith’s division set up on Billy Goat Hill with the divisions of John Smith and Hugh Ewing extending the Federal line to the right from there.   Opposing him, Carter Stevenson’s men extended Cleburne’s line south along Missionary Ridge, though at dawn, only one brigade had reached the scene with the others still marching over from the top of Lookout Mountain.  Cleburne’s brigade of Colonel Mark Lowrey extended his line onto another ridge to the north of Tunnel Hill.  Stevenson’s men would help protect the right side of Tunnel Hill better as the morning progressed.  When all of the Confederate forces eventually arrived, they boasted about 13,000 strong.

The first light was spent by Sherman in reconnoitering his situation better.  His first attack did not go forward until 0700.  He sent the brigade of John Corse forward to attack straight up the north ridge of Tunnel Hill while Joseph Lightburn sent the 30^th Ohio forward in support.  Corse had 900 soldiers while the 30^th Ohio added another 170 with another 30 from the 4^th West Virginia.  In other words, Sherman attacked with only 1,100 men from his 24,000.

CORSE AND LIGHTBURN LEAD THE WAY

Cleburne had earlier moved the Texans of James Smith to move to the southern crest of Tunnel Hill.  When you walk towards that summit from the path taken by Corse and Lightburn’s men you can see the problem.  Not only were they undermanned for such an attack, but 250 yards of open ground sloping upwards to the main Confederate position with breastworks set up lay in front of the Federals.

failure

Corse’s men were able to capture the Confederate skirmish rifle pits which had been the original defense line here on Tunnel Hill.  Several attacks floundered against the rifles and cannons atop the southern crest.  Realizing they were too few, they sent word to Sherman to ask for more men.  Sherman then sent word to Grant at 0800 asking for support.  The 11^th Corps was ordered to march to his support which relieved Sherman enough to refuse the help of another division – Absalom Baird’s – from Thomas’ force.  With the 11^th Corps coming forward, Sherman’s force swelled to over 30,000. 

Corse’s men were ordered to push forward again at 1100 with the same results.  The men of the 40^th Illinois and 46^th Ohio were among those of the 1100 failed attack.  Corse next sent the 6^th Iowa and the 103^rd Illinois forward charging through the ranks of the earlier stymied Federals.  The attack failed again with Corse, himself, wounded in the leg by a shell fragment.  His repulse left Sherman more unsure of himself.  At 1245, he sent Grant a message, “Where is Thomas?”

ON THE WEST SIDE

At 1030, John Loomis was ordered to attack in concert with the attempts of Corse and Lightburn’s men.  They charged up the west side of the hill to the north of the rail tunnel.  His lines were mown down as they charged up the hill.  Loomis also did not have enough men to extend his left flank to connect with the rest of the men of Ewing’s division. 

Colonel Timothy O’Meara leading the left flank regiment for Loomis’ brigade died next to the Glass Farm set at the bottom of the hill to the west.  In the meantime, the gap to the left allowed the 39^th and 56^th Georgia to get on their flank making things even worse.  Pinned down and threatened on his left flank, men from Buschbeck’s brigade came forward to try and fill in on Loomis’ left.

bUSCHBECK, MATTHIES AND RAUM COME UP IN SUPPORT

Buschbeck sent two regiments – 27^th and 73^rd Pennsylvania – forward.  They climbed the hill to within twenty yards of the Confederate lines but could go no further.  The commanders of both regiments – Major Peter McAloon of the 27^th and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Taft of the 73^rd – were mortally wounded.

With Buschbeck’s men tied down on the slopes above, two more brigades came up in support.  First came the regiments of Charles Matthies.  Getting word of the need for support needed, the 93^rd Illinois commander, Colonel Holden Putnam, got permission to charge uphill.  Putnam soon died and his regiment pinned down like the Pennsylvanians.  Guiding more men forward – 5^th Iowa and the 26^th Missouri – Matthies was wounded forced off the field.

About 1400, a new Union brigade – Colonel Green Raum – was ordered to move up through the Federals on the hill and continue the attack.  Just as they began trudging up the hill, Cleburne, reinforced by Hardee, sent out a seven-regiment counterattack.  Raum, himself, was included among the Federal wounded.  The attack was successful enough to send all of the Federals tumbling down the hill leaving the scene atop Tunnel Hill secure for the time being.

ENDGAME

Fearing a stronger counterattack, Sherman ordered the men to start digging in.  Advising Grant of his orders, the reply he received at 1630 was “Thomas has carried the hill … No is the time for you to attack with vigor.  Do so.”

With the Confederate defeat further to the south on Missionary Ridge, Cleburne was forced to withdraw from Tunnel Hill.  Sherman held off on pursuit until the next day.

VISITING THE SHERMAN RESERVATION

A quick note, the NPS warns care should be taken of cars parking in the small lot just to the south side of Tunnel Hill. Crime seems to be a problem even in daytime. I have been here twice, early mornings on a Sunday each time without any problems. The only thing I noted, other than being the only person out and about, was I was glad I wore shoes that did not get too wet from the heavy dew on the grasses of the hill.

There is parking for a few cars on the south end of the Reservation – the largest parcel of the National Battlefield in the Missionary Ridge area.  A road continues up past a few houses into the woods of Tunnel Hill which you can walk on, or a path also leads from the south end of the reservation to the top of the hill.  Either way, you come out around the Iowa State Monument but continue north to the north edge of the hill to begin monument viewing.

Regimental monuments are limited to those from Ohio or Illinois and the tall Iowa State Monument. Tablets tell the story of the various brigades and batteries on each side. Parking is limited to a couple of cars on the south side of the reservation along Old Lightfoot Road. From there you walk up what is a northern extension of North Crest Drive through a gate to what used to be a small parking lot just below the hill crest – maybe a quarter mile to the north of your car. The National Park Service is considering reopening the gate and maybe replacing a few of the tablets that have gone missing over the years. Again, car bashing has been a problem in the past due to the isolated nature of this area.

FAR NORTH

ALEXANDER’S BRIGADE

The farthest north tablet remembers the brigade of Jesse I. Alexander.  Alexander began the war as the colonel of the 59^th Indiana.  Before the war he had led Indianans in the Mexican War and held political office as a state senator.  Elevated to brigade command by the time of the Vicksburg campaign, he led his men to Chattanooga siting them on Billy Jack Hill during the morning and early afternoon of 25 November.  The 48^th Indiana and 63^rd Illinois came forward around 1000 to support Lightburn’s Brigade on the north end of Tunnel Hill.  Late in the day, the 63^rd relieved the 30^th and 37^th Ohio near the tablet.  Close at hand is the big block monument of the 63^rd Illinois.

gILES SMITH’S BRIGADE

Next comes monuments and the tablet dedicated to the brigade of Giles Alexander Smith – one of many commanders with the last name of Smith here.  Giles Alexander Smith started the war as a captain in the 8th Missouri, fighting at Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth. Promoted to colonel and then brigadier general after Vicksburg, he led a brigade consisting of his old 8th Missouri, along with the 6th Missouri, the 55th, 116th and 127th Illinois, the 57th Ohio and 1 battalion of the 13th U.S. Regulars. His brother, Morgan Lewis Smith was the division commander – the original colonel of the 8th Missouri. 

On November 25, Giles Smith’s brigade was ordered to march out east along the Western and Atlantic Railroad.   

After marching for some distance, they were recalled to the hill near where along with most of Lightburn’s brigade they all watched the day’s actions from. At the end of the day, Smith’s brigade went forward relieving the men of Corse’s brigade here on the north end of Tunnel Hill. Here you find the monuments to the 127th and 116th Illinois and the 57th Ohio. The 55th Illinois is farther forward showing that they were in the front lines. Even with the relative lack of action seen by the brigade, Giles Smith was wounded in the one sharp engagement of the previous day late in the afternoon – 24 November. The brigade was led on 25 November by Colonel Nathan Tupper of the 116th Illinois.

COCKERILL’S BRIGADE

Walking southwest through the furrow in the woods, next is a tablet to the brigade of Joseph Cockerill.  Brigadier General Joseph Cockerill led the 3rd brigade of Hugh Ewing’s division. Ewing, brother-in-law of Sherman, elected to keep Cockerill in reserve on 25 November or as Sherman noted in his after action report, “…the brigades of Colonels Cockerill, Alexander and General Lightburn were to hold our hill as the key point.”

Cockerill was a surveyor early in his adult life moving on to the law later. He served one term in the U.S. Congress representing Adams County just before the war. Starting the war as colonel of the 70th Ohio, he had served with Sherman for a long time. His regiment fought hard at Shiloh.  Advanced to brigadier general since Vicksburg. The tablet for the brigade sits flanked by iron markers for the 53rd and the 70th Ohio. All three tablets face towards Billy Goat Hill where the men spent the day 25 November. The Ohio markers recently replaced after the originals had gone missing.

LIGHTBURN’S BRIGADE IN THE WOODS

A little side trail to the left takes you to the memorials of the Lightburn Brigade.  Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn grew up in Lewis County Virginia, in the middle of what became West Virginia. Lightburn was a boyhood friend of Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson attending the same church. Both applied to West Point with neither getting the appointment initially. The candidate who did get the appointment had second thoughts. He allowed Jackson to get the appointment when he opted out. Lightburn enlisted in the Army serving through the Mexican War until 1851. In the years just before the war, he became a Baptist minister. Lewis County was a largely Unionist area but while Lightburn stayed with the Federal government, Jackson would serve Virginia and the South. Lightburn became the colonel of the 4th Virginia (US) which later became the 4th West Virginia in August 1861.

Two of his younger brothers served in the same regiment while another brother joined the CSA. After initial campaigns in the West Virginia area, Lightburn gained promotion to brigadier general. He got a brigade in the Army of the Tennessee in time for the Vicksburg campaign. After Chattanooga, Lightburn would continue to serve mostly at the brigade command level until suffering a head wound during the siege of Atlanta. He returned to the ministry after the war serving until his death.

Lightburn makes a tentative attack

On 25 November, Sherman elected to attack Tunnel Hill using Corse’s brigade as his main instrument instructing Lightburn to support Corse on the east side of the hill with a strong regiment. Lightburn sent the 30th Ohio along with some 30 extra men from the 4th West Virginia all under the command of the 30th’s Colonel Theodore Jones. Told to move out immediately, Jones pushed up the east side of Tunnel Hill with some 200 men aiming for the four 12-pounders of Swett’s Mississippi Battery.

The Rebel gunfire and canister made it too hot for Jones’ men. Their attack was supposed to be at the same time as Corse’s main attack, but Corse tarried, and Jones had the total attention of the Confederates on Tunnel Hill. Requesting reinforcements, the 37th Ohio came up about 9 am about the same time Corse’s skirmishers were approaching from the north. Unable to push higher on the hill, Jones’ men remained in place down the hill where the two markers for the Ohio regiments would be if they weren’t missing. Only the tablet supports remain in place. Nearby the brigade tablet.

cORSE’S BRIGADE

Corse’s men arrived a little later than those of Lightburn who were pinned down due to their small numbers. Jones swayed Corse’s thinking an immediate direct assault would run into a crossfire trap between Confederates atop and on the left. Corse sent a message to Sherman requesting reinforcements at about 1000. Sherman knew time was getting late by this point. He told Corse to “make that charge immediately … If you want more men, I will give you all you want; if you want artillery, I will give you that.” The Union guns did open up on Tunnel Hill, but Corse did not have enough time for reinforcements to arrive before launching his attack.

corse charges

At about 1100 the attack began. They reached the crest of Tunnel Hill but no further stumbling back from the concentrated Confederate fire from above. A Confederate counterattack captured some of the Federals before they in turn were pushed back to the summit where they began from, brigade commander James Smith and the colonel of the 6th/10th/15th Texas, Roger Mills were both among the wounded.

Corse brought up the 6th Iowa and 103rd Illinois to attack through the men of the 40th Illinois and the 46th Ohio which both had faltered in the first attack. The results were similar though the Rebels suffered too. Many of the gunners of Swett’s Mississippi Battery atop the hill were wounded and infantrymen were impressed to work the guns. Cleburne brought up Calvert’s Arkansas Battery and the 2nd/15th/24th Arkansas infantry to augment the hold atop the hill.

IOWA REMEMBERS

The State of Iowa placed two monuments at either end of Missionary Ridge remembering the Iowan contribution to the Federal victory. Most Iowans fought as a part of the Iowan Brigade commanded by Colonel James Williamson at Rossville Gap to the south. Other Iowan regiments included the 6th Iowa (Corse’s brigade), 17th Iowa (Raum’s brigade), and the 5th and 10th Iowa (Matthies’ brigade). These men fought under Sherman in the actions up at Tunnel Hill where this Iowa State monument stands.

MATTHIES’ bRIGADE

Colonel Karl Matthies was a veteran of the Prussian army winning a commission through his actions in the Polish insurrection. He came to America in 1849 after the revolutions sputtered out.  He became a liquor merchant in Burlington, Iowa. With the war he enlisted as a captain with the 1st Iowa rising two months to lieutenant colonel of the 5th Iowa. Not long after, Matthies gained appointment as colonel leading the regiment at both Iuka and Corinth.

Boosted to brigade command in time for the Vicksburg Campaign and here at Tunnel Hill  he led the 3rd brigade of John Smith’s division. John Loomis was looking for any men to cover his exposed left flank following his inadvertent moves taking him too far to the west and south. He got permission from his division commander, Hugh Ewing, to grab Matthies’ men. A little after 1 pm, Matthies’ men came forward – 10th Iowa on the left, then the 93rd Illinois, 26th Missouri and the 5th Iowa. The Glass farm was on the brigade’s right as they approached across open fields for the last half mile before reaching the base of Tunnel Hill.

UP THE HILL UNDER FIRE

They were under fire from not only the guns on Tunnel Hill – when they could fire – but from the batteries of Captain Max van den Corput, Rowan’s Georgia battery and Baxter’s Tennessee battery, all under the command of Captain William Carnes who had lost his own battery earlier in the woods at Chickamauga. The brigade settled down along a road at the foot of Tunnel Hill to the left of Glass Farm somewhat sheltered from the guns above.

Like Bushbeck’s men, Matthies had veered too far to the left to cover Loomis’ flank regiment – 90th Illinois. The 5th Iowa became forced to extend their battle line into that of a skirmish line to cover the extended distance. As Matthies tried to extend his line to the right, Colonel Holden Putnam of the 93rd Illinois requested his men go up slope to help the survivors of the 27th Pennsylvania. Matthies told Putnam to go ahead cautiously. Putnam sent his men forward up the steep slopes while he sat mounted on a big black horse. Grabbing the colors, he shouted at his men to never forsake them. A bullet to the head put a quick end to his challenge and a static firefight ensued with the 2nd and 15th Arkansas.

To help the 93rd Illinois – their monument gives you a good idea of how high and how close to the top of the hill they were fighting – Matthies next sent up the 26th Missouri and the 10th Iowa. His regiments got misdirected and in trying to sort things out, Matthies was hit in the head passing command to Colonel Benjamin Dean of the 26th Missouri.

RAUM’S BRIGADE

With Matthies’ brigade now pinned down, the other brigade of John Smith’s brigade led by Colonel Green Raum came forward.  Colonel Green Raum was an Illinois lawyer before the war. He started as a major with the 56th Illinois rising to colonel in 1862. Serving under William Rosecrans, his regiment played a vital role in the battle of Corinth. Promoted to brigade command after Vicksburg, Raum led his men on the afternoon of 25 November to help Matthies’ brigade high on the slopes of Tunnel Hill at about 1430 pm.

Splitting his command into two, he sent up the 80th Ohio and 17th Iowa – both commanded by the 17th’s Colonel Clark Wever, another citizen from Burlington, Iowa – while he kept the 10th Missouri and 56th Illinois down at the bottom of the hill to await circumstances. Wever’s men got up the hill at about 1500.

CONFEDERATE COUNTERATTACK

An hour later given the go-ahead, the men prepared to charge. At the same time, Cleburne’s men countered with their own attack, sending everyone forward. The key to the attack seen with the 6th/10th/15th Texas Consolidated striking the right flank of the 5th Iowa, rolling up the Federal line from there. About to push forward, the 17th Iowa found men of the 93rd Illinois in front of them collapsing and running through their ranks followed by Cumming’s Georgians. The 17th decided to double quick back down the hill themselves saved only by the lack of ammunition in the Rebel guns by this point.

The Rebel counterattack crashed into the front and flank of the badly stretched out 5th Iowa. Routed, they lost 106 men of their 227 strong regiment – 82 captured. The collapse led to the withdrawal of the rest of the brigade along with Raum’s men, of whom many had already marched up the steep slopes. The battle for Tunnel Hill was over. Besides the brigade tablet along North Crest Road, again the monument of the 93rd Illinois sits on the steep slopes of the hill not far from the top. The 93rd lost 65 other men killed or wounded besides Colonel Putnam along with another 27 captured. A marker exists for the 26th Missouri which came up on the right of the 93rd. 

bACK IN THE DIRECTION THEY CAME

The 80th Ohio withdrew, as well, though not in as much haste for they had more warning. The 10th Missouri and 56th Illinois volleyed at the Rebels as they came down the hill and stabilized the Federal rout. Raum, hit in the leg in the fight, came off the field. Command passed to Colonel Francis Deimling of the 10th Missouri – Wever was also wounded by this time. Deimling then withdrew the brigade ending the battle here at Tunnel Hill.

Raum would return to brigade command, helping to hold the supply line open as the Federals moved off towards Atlanta. Reinforcing Resaca in October of 1864, he helped push away John B. Hood’s attempt on the base there. After the war, Raum served as a Republican congressman and later as US Commissioner of Internal Revenue from 1876 to 1883 and as US Commissioner of Pensions from 1889 to 1893 as well as authoring several books. The monuments of the 56th Illinois and the 80th Ohio along with the brigade tablet stand to the north of that of the 93rd Illinois. The 17th Iowa is inscribed on the Iowa State Monument, a little farther to the north. The monument to the 80th Ohio is probably close to where they fought. But the monument of the 56th Illinois is down at the bottom of the hill.

CONFEDERATES ATOP TUNNEL HILL

The explanatory tablets and artillery guns also tell the Confederate story up here atop Tunnel Hill. Major General Patrick Cleburne originally only had one brigade to defend the hill with on 24 November. He also hoped to defend Billy Jack Hill to the north, but the Federals beat him to that position. Luckily, the Federals delayed after that, content to dig in atop that hill. Cleburne gained more time to find and bring more troops and artillery onto the scene. His men created some basic fortifications from behind which to defend.

He placed the brigades of Brigader general Mark Lowrey and Colonel Daniel Govan off to the east to cover his right flank. Atop the hill, he put the Texas brigade of Brigadier General James A. Smith. Smith put his 6th/10th/15th Consolidated regiment on his left, the 7th Texas of Colonel H. B. Granbury in the middle next to Swett’s Mississippi Battery – four guns commanded by Lieutenant H. Shannon – and the 17th/18th/24th/25th Texas dismounted Cavalry Consolidated on the right. Calvert’s battery – commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Key – originally placed atop the railroad tunnel next to the three regiments of Brown’s brigade which had been atop Lookout Mountain the day before.

DEFENDING AGAINST CORSE

Corse’s main attack around 11:30 am got within 50 steps of Swett’s battery putting out of action many of the gunners before a Confederate counterattack drove Corse back – Brigadier Smith and Colonel R. Q. Mills of the 17/18/24/25 Texas both going down with wounds and Colonel Granbury taking command of the brigade. The 2/15 Arkansas Consolidated of Major E. Warfield came up from Govan’s position to back stop the battery further atop Tunnel Hill.

Cleburne next took two guns of Swett’s battery and brought forward the guns of Calvertt – four guns – and put them all under the command of Lieutenant Key. Warfield then went out to meet the attack of Matthies’ brigade. Ammunition problems forced the Confederates to throw large rocks down the hill. Brigadier general Alfred Cumming brought up his brigade with the 39th Georgia moving alongside Warfield’s Arkansans.

COUNTERATTACK SEALS THE DEAL

With ammunition a major problem and numbers beginning to diminish, Warfield proposed a counterattack and it was Cumming who provided the wherewithal. The 56th Georgia followed by the 36th Georgia went forward and the 6/10/15 joined in along the left flank of the Georgians. It was the Texans who rolled over the right flank of the 5th Iowa which cause a chain reaction in the rest of the Federal line on the west side of Tunnel Hill.

The loss to the three brigades of Cleburne reported as 42 killed, 178 wounded and 2 missing. The reward for Cleburne’s outstanding defense of Tunnel Hill was retreat, of course, since the rest of the Confederate line along Missionary Ridge had not been as resolute.

CONFEDERATE TABLETS ON THE HILL AND IN THE FAR SOUTH

Atop Tunnel Hill, are tablets for the brigades of James A. Smith, Cumming, Maney and Lewis. The artillery batteries of Swett’s Mississppi battery and Calvert’s Arkansas remembered, as well. At the south end of the hill are tablets describing the actions of Brown’s brigade, Barret’s Missouri battery, Hardee’s Corps and Douglas Texas battery. One isolated tablet for Lowrey’s brigade hides in the woods below the missing memorials for Lightburn’s Ohio regiments – east of the Iowa State Monument. Cleburne’s division tablet sits along North Crest Drive near the Matthies’ brigade tablet.

Several tablets explain the support positions of brigades led by Brigadier General Marcus Wright and Daniel Govan. These tablets are found near the trailhead off the end of Durand Avenue. That trail emerges onto the crest of Tunnel Hill going past the 54th and 47th Ohio tablets. The tablet for Govan is missing at the present time. There is another tablet relating to the brigades of Cleburne’s division dispatched here to the east side of Tunnel Hill. Another tablet for the brigade of Mark P. Lowrey is found to the right (when walking from Durand) of the 54th and 47th Ohio tablets.

deep south

In the far south of the regiment, you will find tablets talking about the Confederate Tennessee brigade of Brigadier General John Brown.  Brown was a Whig supporter before the war.  He supported the 1860 candidacy of Joh Bell.  With secession fever sweeping across middle Tennessee, he and his brother decided to join the Confederacy.  Originally enlisting as a private, Brown was soon the colonel of the 3^rd Tennessee with brigade command over three Tennessee regiments.  That brigade belonged to those Confederates surrendering at Fort Donelson. Brown served as a POW for six months before he gained release from a prisoner exchanged.  After the war, Brown served as governor of Tennessee from 1870 until 1874.

Beyond this tablet are guns and tablets relating to the batteries of Overton Barrett’s Missouri Battery and James P. Douglas’ Texas Battery.  A tablet also explains the efforts of Lieutenant General William Hardee’s Corps here in the northern part of Missionary Ridge.

PENNSYLVANIA RESERVATION

The small Pennsylvania Reservation was where men of both John Loomis and August Buschbeck tried to push up Tunnel Hill.  Loomis’ brigade mainly covered the right flank of Sherman’s efforts here on Tunnel Hill.  Their left flank uncovered because of a lack of men.  Here, Buschbeck’s men became inserted. Both the 90^th and the 26th Ilinois have monuments.  The monument of the 73^rd Pennsylvania of Buschbeck’s brigade is also here.

TAFT AND THE 73RD PENNSYLVANIA

Another monument relating to these areas is the grave of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Taft, commander of the 73rd Pennsylvania at the Chattanooga National Military Cemetery. Taft led the 73rd and the 27th Pennsylvania in an assault up the west side of Tunnel Hill. They made it just short of the top before Rebel fire pinned them down. Almost out of ammunition, Taft, himself, tried to bring up more, but like the three messengers he sent down before, he, too, died in the effort.

Taft had been a part of the 143rd New York joining Grant’s army in September, a part of the 11th Corps. Colonel William Moore had been the commanders of the 73rd Pennsylvania but wounds he had received at Chancellorsville forced him to retire from the field on 22 November. Taft came over to lead the regiment. Things got worse for the 73rd after Taft went down.

A Confederate counterattack surrounded many of the men around the area where the Pennsylvania Reservation is today. Ninety-nine men of the regiment ended the day captured. By the end of the battle, attrition left a first lieutenant in command. Major Peter A. McAldoon, leading the 27th Pennsylvania also lay mortally wounded. The 73rd Pennsylvania and the 27th both have monuments at Gettysburg on East Cemetery Hill – the 27th has another one on Coster Avenue in the town. Here you will find the monument of the 73rd while the 27th has a monument at nearby Orchard Knob.

BILLY GOAT HILL

Billy Goat Hill was purchased by the Trust for Public Lands in 2005 with an eventual eye on making the area part of the Sherman Reservation centered across the way on Tunnel Hill.