Battle of Hoover's Gap

Tullahoma Campaign

Date	June 24, 1863 (1863-06-24) – June 26, 1863 (1863-06-26)
Location	Bedford County, Tennessee and Rutherford County, Tennessee
Result	Union victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

William Rosecrans

Alexander P. Stewart

Units involved

XIV Corps

Stewart's Corps

Casualties and losses

583

unknown.

The Battle of Hoover's Gap (24 June 1863) was the principal battle in the Tullahoma Campaign of the American Civil War, in which Union General William S. Rosecrans drove General Braxton Bragg’s Confederates out of Central Tennessee. Rosecrans’ feigned move on the western end of the Confederate line had left the eastern mountain passes lightly defended, and Colonel John T. Wilder's mounted infantry achieved total surprise when they attacked Hoover's Gap. Success was attributed both to Rosecrans’ brilliant deception tactics and the high morale of Wilder’s ‘Lightning Brigade’, equipped with the new Spencer repeating rifle, which totally disoriented the enemy.

Following the Battle of Stones River, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, commanding the Union Army of the Cumberland, remained in the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, area for over five months. In an effort to block further Union progress, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, commander of the Army of Tennessee, established a fortified line along the Duck River from Shelbyville to Wartrace. On the Confederate right, infantry and artillery detachments guarded Liberty, Hoover's, and Bellbuckle Gaps through the Highland Rim (near Beechgrove, Tennessee). Rosecrans's superiors, fearing that Bragg might detach large numbers of men to help break the Siege of Vicksburg, urged him to attack the Confederate positions.

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