Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Granger's Corps - Sheridan's Division - Wagner's Brigade
Battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25th, 1863
On the morning of the 25th, the attack on Missionary Ridge is set to begin. General Bragg has called back the troops he had decided earlier to send to Knoxville, and sent them to the north end of the ridge to blunt Sherman's attack.
Sherman attacked all morning and into the afternoon; the path was narrow, forested and steep, and the six Union divisions could not overcome the single large Confederate division (5 brigades) blocking his way. By mid-afternoon, Sherman's attack is exhausted, and Grant seeks to distract a counterattack on Sherman by making a limited attack along the length of the ridge.
The ridge was about 400 feet high, and the Confederate defenders had 3 lines; a set of rifle pits at the base, a second defensive line half way up, and a line with artillery at the top. Grant gave an order to take and hold the rifle pits at the base of the ridge, and then await further orders. The attack was made all along the ridge at the same time.
The line of rifle pits at the base of the ridge was carried in the first attack, with significant casualties. This was as far as the Union troops were meant to go. Once there, however, the Union troops found it impossible to remain, due to heavy fire from above. Rather than retreat, individual regiments and brigades ascended the ridge, following the retreating Confederates, and soon all the Union troops joined in.
Grant, at headquarters, demanded to know who had ordered them up the ridge, and was astonished that no one had; they had gone up on their own. The commanders saw the advance was working and joined in, and the ridge was carried, albeit with significant losses. The 40th Indiana, per the regimental report, suffered 20 killed and 138 wounded; this was 45 percent casualties for the regiment in this single battle.
Brigade Plaque, 112 S. Crest Road, Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga
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There was further pursuit by the Union army but the Confederates moved back into Georgia without further major losses. The Union had more killed and wounded, but the large amount of Confederates captured on the ridge made the Confederate total losses larger.
- Link: War Operations, see Volume XXXI, Chapter XLIII, Part III, Correspondence, pp. 246-270.
- The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. pp. 135-136.
- The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1I, Fredericksburg to Meridian, Shelby Foote, pp. 849-862.
- The Shipwreck Of Their Hopes, The Battle Of Chattanooga, Peter Cozzens.
- Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, pp. 442-451.
- Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, pp. 396-405.
- Events: 1863
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