Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge: Breckinridge and Knoxville
To prevent defeat, Generals Bragg, Hardee, Breckinridge, and others of inferior rank exerted themselves to the utmost. General Bragg, in the centre, was nearly surrounded before he entirely despaired and abandoned the field. General Breckinridge resisted General Hooker as he ascended the ridge at Rossville, availing himself of the fortifications which had been constructed by the national army after the battle of Chickamauga. His first resistance was quickly overcome by the Ninth and Thirty-Sixth Regiments of Grose's brigade. General Cruft's division was then formed in four lines on the summit, and, with the lateral divisions abreast, moved rapidly forward, driving the enemy in turn from several positions. Many of his troops, that fled east or west, were captured by Osterhaus or Geary, and those who tried to escape northward fell into Johnson's hands. As soon as General Hardee heard the noise of battle to his left, he hastened to join his troops under General Anderson, on the right of their central line. But before he could cross the chasm corresponding to the interval between General Sherman's right and General Thomas' left, Anderson's command was thrown into a confused retreat. He then hurried Cheatham's division from the vicinity of the tunnel, and formed it across the summit to resist Baird's division, which had advanced northward, after carrying its entire front, in the assault. In a severe contest, in which Colonel Phelps, a brigade commander, fell, General Baird pressed this fresh division northward from several knolls, but was finally compelled to abandon the conflict by the peculiar strength of a new position and the approach of darkness.
The victory was gained too late in the day for a general pursuit. General Sheridan's division and Willich's brigade of General Woods' division pursued the enemy for a short distance down the eastern slope. Later, General Sheridan advanced and drove the enemy from a strong position, captured two pieces of artillery, numerous small-arms, and several wagons from a supply-train.
During the night General Hardee withdrew his forces from the position which he had persistently held against General Sherman.
Pursuit was made early the next day, and an engagement took place at Ringgold, with skirmishes at other points. General Sherman was sent on a rapid march to Knoxville, to relieve Burnside, whose army was in great danger. This important duty was successfully performed, and Longstreet, who had been besieging Knoxville, withdrew to Virginia.
The official reports of the commanders-in-chief of the two armies do not give their strength. It is probable that General Grant had sixty thousand men in action, and General Bragg forty thousand. The former had thirteen divisions, including two detached brigades, and the latter had eight, with perhaps a corresponding diminution.
General Bragg's loss in killed and wounded is not known. He lost by capture six thousand one hundred and forty-two men, forty-two guns, sixty-nine gun-carriages, and seven thousand stand of small-arms. His loss in material was immense, part of which he destroyed in his flight, but a large fraction, which was uninjured, fell to the national army.
The aggregate losses of the Armies of the Cumberland and Tennessee were seven hundred and fifty-seven killed, four thousand five hundred and twenty-nine wounded, and three hundred and thirty missing. These losses were small compared with those of other battles of similar proportions, and exceedingly small in view of the fact that the enemy generally resisted behind intrenchments.