Chattanooga TN024

supportedunresolved Cist says Grant took Bragg's notice to remove non-combatants as cover for a withdrawal and on the 23d ordered Thomas to develop the Confederate lines. Bragg says the Federals formed their lines in plain view just beyond range, and that he learned while congratulating his troops that the line was broken on his right.

Attributed knowledge from interested accounts; no message log inspected.

supportedunresolved Cist says heavy rains and bad roads let Sherman bring only one division into position by the 21st, so Grant delayed the attack, and that a 1,350-foot pontoon bridge was built over the Tennessee. Bragg says nearly all the artillery on the broken left was abandoned and his chief of artillery reported forty pieces lost.

Movement and material statements from interested accounts; no return inspected.

supportedunresolved Cist says Grant's plan made Sherman's attack on the north end of Missionary Ridge the main effort, with Hooker to hold Lookout Valley and later to demonstrate, and that on the 25th Thomas was ordered to carry the first line of rifle-pits and halt. NPS says the Federals captured Orchard Knob and Lookout Mountain on November 23–24.

Stated plans from an interested history and a summary; not a causal estimate.

supportedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Union victory. NPS says one of the Confederacy's two major armies was routed. Cist says the ridge was carried in six places ('sis' in OCR); Bragg says all the left except part of Bate's division was routed in rapid flight, while Hardee's command retired in good order.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 12,485 (US 5,815; CS 6,670); the live field reads 12,482 (US 5,815; CS 6,667). Cist gives Sherman's reported loss as 1,989 (1,492 after removing Osterhaus's 497) and Thomas's as 529 killed, 2,281 wounded and 141 missing, with an aggregate that reads 3,951 in the unverified OCR, though the components sum to 2,951 (a computation here; OCR misreading versus misprint unresolved), and says the Army of the Cumberland captured 40 guns and 5,471 prisoners. Bragg says his killed and wounded were very small but his prisoners and stragglers larger.

Original casualty returns were not inspected; preserve totals, categories, cutoffs and differences. No canonical reconciliation or casualty-based opening count; related actions must not be added without resolving population overlap. Cist's aggregate as read in the OCR does not match its components. In the same OCR paragraph Sheridan's aggregate reads 1,256 against components summing to 1,286, and the two-division total 2,287 equals 1,286 + 1,001. The print was not checked. Cist's Sherman and Thomas figures both include Howard's command and are not summed here.

disputedunresolved Bragg says it was unexplained why Walthall's brigade on Lookout was not sustained by Stevenson, blames the shameful conduct of troops on the left, and credits Hardee and Cleburne. Cist says the soldiers went up the ridge without orders and even against orders, quotes Grant's remark that it was all right if it turned out all right, and argues Grant's plan had reserved the fighting for Sherman. The frozen commanders are General Bragg and Major General Grant; the live heading gives Lieutenant General Grant and Major General Bragg.

Judgments are attributed to interested accounts; the frozen commanders do not receive automatic sole credit, and the live ranks are not adopted.

unknownunresolved

No inspected return establishes matched personnel at a common opening boundary. The frozen side-specific numerical strength bounds are blank (missing_numeric_strength). No figure in this pass is adopted as a simultaneous opening force.

supportedunresolved The frozen force field names the Military Division of the Mississippi and the Army of Tennessee without counts; the live field reads zero. Bragg wrote to Davis on November 20 that the enemy was at least double his strength, and in his report says he was greatly outnumbered. Cist gives Sherman some 8,000 men in two divisions across the river by the 24th and Hooker less than 10,000 at Lookout Mountain.

Relative claims and part-force figures; none is adopted as matched opening strength. Live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedinherited Cist says the Confederates had four lines of breastworks: the first taken on the 23d, a second at the foot of Missionary Ridge, a small line halfway up a steep ascent of some five hundred yards covered with rocks and fallen timber, and the heaviest works on the crest with some fifty guns. Bragg judged the position one a line of skirmishers ought to have held, and says the attackers reached the crest exhausted by the climb.

Draft hypothesis relative to the frozen record's opening on November 23. Cist's 'originally four lines', the first taken on the 23d, and the natural slope place the works and ground before the record opens. Construction by Bragg's army before the campaign is neither credited nor excluded here. Bragg's skirmisher and exhaustion statements are his November 30 post-assault judgments, cited to describe the ground, not inherited state. Occupation and defence on the day are commander decisions not credited here. No map verification.