All Hell Can't Stop Them: The Battles for Chattanooga-Missionary Ridge and Ringgold, November 24-27, 1863

by David A. Powell

Overview

To many of the Federal soldiers watching the Stars and Stripes unfurl atop Lookout Mountain on the morning of November 25, 1863, it seemed that the battle to relieve Chattanooga was complete. The Union Army of the Cumberland was no longer trapped in the city, subsisting on short rations and awaiting rescue; instead, they were again on the attack.

Ulysses S. Grant did not share their certainty. For Grant, the job he had been sent to accomplish was only half-finished. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee still held Missionary Ridge, with other Rebels under James Longstreet threatening more Federals in Knoxville, Tennessee. Grant’s greatest fear was that the Rebels would slip away before he could deliver the final blows necessary to crush Bragg completely.

That blow landed on the afternoon of November 25. Each of Grant’s assembled forces—troops led by Union Generals William T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, and Joseph Hooker—all moved to the attack. Stubbornly, Bragg refused to retreat, and instead accepted battle. That decision would cost him dearly.

But everything did not go Grant’s way. Despite what Grant’s many admirers would later insist was his most successful, most carefully planned battle, Grant’s strategy failed him—as did his most trusted commander, Sherman. Victory instead charged straight up the seemingly impregnable slopes of Missionary Ridge’s western face, as the men of the much-maligned Army of the Cumberland swarmed up and over Bragg’s defenses in an irresistible blue tide.

Caught flat-footed by this impetuous charge, Grant could only watch nervously as the men started up . . .

All Hell Can’t Stop Them: The Battles for Chattanooga—Missionary Ridge and Ringgold, November 24-27, 1863—sequel to Battle Above the Clouds—details the dramatic final actions of the battles for Chattanooga: Missionary Ridge and the final Confederate rearguard action at Ringgold, where Patrick Cleburne held Grant’s Federals at bay and saved the Army of Tennessee from further disaster.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611214130
Publisher:	Savas Beatie
Publication date:	02/28/2019
Series:	Emerging Civil War Series
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	509,445
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

David A. Powell is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (1983) with a BA in history. His work has appeared in many magazines, and he has published more than fifteen historical simulations. David’s work on the epic Chickamauga Campaign is legendary, and he is nationally recognized for his tours of that important battlefield. He is the author of many books, including The Chickamauga Campaign trilogy, The Maps of Chickamauga, and Failure in the Saddle. David and his wife Anne live with their brace of bloodhounds in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments viii

Prologue xiii

Chapter 1 Grant Plans a Battle 1

Chapter 2 Sherman Stumbles 9

Chapter 3 Fatal Indecision 17

Chapter 4 Raid on Cleveland 25

Chapter 5 The Fight for Tunnel Hill 35

Chapter 6 Sherman Tries Again 51

Chapter 7 Storming the Ridge 63

Chapter 8 The Fight at Rossville 81

Chapter 9 Cleburne Saves the Army of Tennessee 95

Chapter 10 Grant Ascending 107

Touring the Battlefield 113

Appendix A The Best-Planned Battle? 129

Appendix B End-Game in East Tennessee 137

Appendix C A Monumental Struggle William Lee White 145

Appendix D A Corps is Formed Eric J. Wittenberg 151

Order of Battle 160

Suggested Reading 172

About The Author 176

Editorial Reviews

"Powell scores a success with this outstanding dual-purpose guided history of interest and use to all Civil War enthusiasts. "

America's Civil War Magazine