In the general engagement Grant's plan of battle had been for Sherman with five divisions to make the main attack, sweep everything before him down the ridge, and when he had the rebels in full retreat, the Army of the Cumberland was then to aid in the pursuit, after patiently waiting until the fighting was over.Hooker, under Grant's original plan, was to simply hold Lookout Valley secure, and when the enemy was driven by Sherman, he too was to join in the pursuit.
All the fighting of the battle was to be done by Sherman and all the glory thereof was to be his.In Sherman's memoirs we are favored with Grant's views of the Army of the Cumberland when Sherman first reported in person to Grant at Chattanooga, to learn of his plan and the part he, Sherman, was to take.Sherman says that Grant told him "that the men of Thomas's army had been so demoralized by the battle of Chickamauga that he feared they could not be got out of their trenches to assume the offensive," and that "the Army of the Cumberland had so long been in the trenches that he wanted my troops to hurry up to take the offensive FIRST, after which he had no doubt the Cumberland Army would fight well." So, under Grant's plan, the Army of the Cumberland was to stand by and be taught a grand object lesson how to fight, as given by Sherman.During the course of the engagement the plan was modified twice.Under the original plan, Sherman was to make a demonstration up Lookout Valley, in the expectation that Bragg would strengthen his left at the expense of his right, thereby making Sherman's part of the plan so much the lighter as the line on his battle front was weakened.
To carry this out Hugh Ewing's division was sent to Trenton, but this accomplished nothing.Grant fearing that Bragg's right might be too strong for Sherman to give his lesson to the Army of the Cumberland properly, finding Osterhaus's division cut off from Sherman, ordered it to report to Hooker, who was directed to take it and Geary's division with Cruft's division of the Fourth Corps and make a demonstration on the rebel left at Lookout Mountain, to attract the attention of Bragg while Sherman was getting into position to take "the end of Missionary Ridge as far as the tunnel."Hooker, on the day previous, learning that Howard's corps was going into Chattanooga, and probably into the fight, asked to be allowed his right to be with his troops under fire.Under his original order he was simply to hold Lookout Valley, which he did not relish if part of his command should engage the enemy.When his orders came to "make a demonstration" he determined he would take Lookout Mountain and drive Bragg's left out of his works.With less than ten thousand troops, over two-thirds of whom were the Army of the Cumberland, Hooker fought his "Battle above the Clouds," that will last in history forever, and grow in fancy and song as the years roll on.Hooker took Lookout Mountain and drove the rebel left to Rossville, over five miles, before Sherman reached the tunnel.
He made Sherman's task none the easier, however, because Bragg then threw the two divisions Hooker had whipped upon Sherman's front.
Then, when Sherman had been fighting for nearly two days, and had failed to make the headway Grant's plan contemplated, the plan underwent another modification.On the 25th, Grant ordered Thomas to move out his troops from the centre, to make another "demonstration"in Sherman's behalf, so he could take the tunnel in accordance with the original plan.Thomas was ordered to take the first line of rifle-pits and hold his command there, while Bragg was expected to draw off part of his troops from Sherman's front and strengthen his line in front of the "demonstration." Thomas's orders to his corps and division generals were given in accordance with Grant's instructions, and as the orders reached the brigade and regimental commanders, as far as the officers were concerned the movement was only to be a "demonstration." When the troops reached the rebel line, captured it, and then found themselves under the heavy fire from the enemy's lines on the heights above, without orders, and even against orders, the soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland, who were "so demoralized that they would not fight," pressed up the face of the ridge under the deadly musketry fire that greeted them, with cannon in front, to the right and the left, raking with converging fire, and won for General Grant the battle of Missionary Ridge, driving Bragg away from Sherman's front and thus enabling him to take the tunnel as ordered.Whenever the victory of Missionary Ridge shall be narrated on history's page, this gallant charge of the brave men of Wood's and Sheridan's divisions, with those of Baird and Johnson on their left and right, will always be the prominent feature of the engagement as told in the coming years, and will be the last to lose its glory and renown.
