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1863-today joe hooker once head of the union army of the potomac in the east,looked to redeem his reputation tarnished at the battle of chancellorsville in may 1863. three days before the battle of gettysburg he asked to be relieved from all the second guessing coming out of washington d.c. it seemed a shock to him when they accepted,and put george meade in his place. he goes home to await new orders. they come when in september,the us goverment decide to send reinforcements to chattanooga- the aop's 11th and 12th corps,hooker is asigned as over all commander of the two corps. fast forward to this day -hookers command is given the task of taking the rossville gap at the south end of missionary ridge at first grants tells him go around lookout mountain but changes the plan to take the mountain. shermans men are advancing towards the cs right,thomas's men are holding the center overlooking the city just to the south and thought to defended strongly by bragg,its a daunting task-just stand at the bottom today and you wonder how its to be done. sheer cliffs,rocky hillsides,thick forrests and brush. the union effort early this morning goes into the fray. started at the western base the veteran troops from the east plus a division from the west under peter osterhaus slowly at 8am cross lookout creek climb up and around to the east side where there is a plateau were the craven family had thier house. pushing back ed walthalls confeds to this spot the us attacks win the day,for the csa on top with artillery coundnt help. the cs commander carter stevenson asked more than a few times for help,it came too late and he has to retreat. so in reality the battle was won on the sides not on the top,and with morning fog,mist,rain and later cannon and gun smoke,both the us below and braggs men on missionary ridge waited to see the outcome. sounds could be heard but visabilty was nil. on this day the outcome was in doubt. fighting ended around 8pm. the next morning when victorious union soldiers[from the 8th kentucky infantry] got to the top of the mountain palasides and raised the us flag. down below they could see the flag,the usa soldiers cheered-next would be missionary ridge which looked pretty formidible in it self. lookout mountain wasnt as big as other battles but the story of the "battle above the clouds"is as famous as any of them- the chattanooga battles are interesting in the fact three major union armies or parts of them fought here,the army of the tennessee,the army of the potomac,and the army of the cumberland. today the aop was heard from.the 25th will see more dramatic events the stuff legends are made from.
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