Battle of Wauhatchie

Map of the engagement at Wauhatchie, Tenn.
by Julius Bien & Co.

Date	October 28, 1863 (1863-10-28) – October 29, 1863 (1863-10-29)
Location	Hamilton County, Tennessee 35°00′07″N 85°22′48″W / 35.002°N 85.380°W / 35.002; -85.380Coordinates: 35°00′07″N 85°22′48″W / 35.002°N 85.380°W / 35.002; -85.380
Result	Union victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Joseph Hooker
John W. Geary

Micah Jenkins

Units involved

XI Corps
XII Corps

Jenkins's Brigade, Longstreet's Corps

Casualties and losses

420

408

The Battle of Wauhatchie was fought October 28–29, 1863, in Hamilton and Marion Counties, Tennessee, and Dade County, Georgia, in the American Civil War. A Union force had seized Brown's Ferry on the Tennessee River, opening a supply line to the Union army in Chattanooga. Confederate forces attempted to dislodge the Union force defending the ferry and again close this supply line but were defeated. Wauhatchie was one of the few night battles of the Civil War.

After their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, Union forces under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee besieged the city, threatening to starve the Union forces into surrender. Bragg's troops occupied Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, both of which had excellent views of the city, the river, and the Union's supply lines. Confederate troops launched raids on all supply wagons heading toward Chattanooga, which made it necessary for the Union to find another way to feed their men. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant relieved Rosecrans of his command and replaced him with Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas. Grant's first priority upon reaching Chattanooga was to resupply the Union army.

Grant and Thomas initiated the "Cracker Line Operation" on October 26, 1863. It was designed to open the road to Chattanooga from Brown's Ferry on the Tennessee River with a simultaneous advance up Lookout Valley, securing the Kelley's Ferry Road. Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, Chief Engineer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, who conceived the overall Cracker Line plan, was assigned the task of establishing the Brown's Ferry bridgehead. He was assigned two infantry brigades from the 3rd Division, XIV Corps, to accomplish this: the 1st Brigade under Brig. Gen. John B. Turchin and the 2nd under Brig. Gen. William B. Hazen.

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