The Battle of Ringgold Gap

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MILITARY · HISTORICAL MARKER

Historical Marker Database · Dale K. Benington

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Military

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THE STORY

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After the Chickamauga fighting ended on September 20, 1863, and Union General William S. Rosecrans withdrew toward Chattanooga, people in the Catoosa area faced ruin, with little food or stock left, and the Confederate victory soon gave way to defeat after General Braxton Bragg lost at Missionary Ridge in November. On November 25, 1863, Confederate forces retreated through Ringgold toward Dalton with Federal troops pursuing, and Bragg assigned General Patrick Cleburne, an Irish-born Arkansan, to serve as rear guard. Following skirmishes on November 26, including one with General William T. Sherman's advance column near Graysville, Cleburne camped about 4,000 men near Ringgold Gap west of South Chickamauga Creek and before sunrise received orders to hold the gap at all costs. His men formed defensive lines in timber near White Oak Mountain, the Ringgold Depot, Taylor's Ridge, and the gap, concealing infantry and artillery from the approaching Union force of Brigadier General Peter J. Osterhaus under Major General Joseph Hooker. On November 27, as Hooker entered Ringgold, Osterhaus sent forward about 400 Missourians under Brigadier General Charles R. Wood toward the gap, where they were driven back by Texans under Major William Taylor, who captured between 60 and 100 of them. At the same time, 278 Illinois soldiers were sent through the gap toward the Isaac Jobe house, and Cleburne ordered his artillery to hold fire until they reached the farm, then struck them heavily. Cleburne's troops held White Oak Mountain and Ringgold Gap until the army trains were safely away, then withdrew on orders. Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant arrived during the fighting and ordered the Confederates dislodged but not pursued farther. Federal attempts throughout the day to scale White Oak Mountain were repelled, and Union forces gained the gap and mountain only after Cleburne's men left the field. Cleburne reported 20 dead, 190 wounded, and 11 missing, while Hooker reported 65 dead, 424 wounded, and 20 missing. Afterward, wounded filled the Jobe house, the Catoosa House, the courthouse, and the bank, and Grant, Hooker, and Sherman studied maps at the Ringgold Depot before staying at the William L. Whitman house. The Confederate Congress later recognized the valor of the Confederate troops in a resolution of January 22, 1864. During the winter of 1863-64, Federal troops occupied Chattanooga and Catoosa County while Confederate forces from nearby camps continued raids until the opening of Sherman's March to the Sea in May 1864. Under Union control, Ringgold suffered severe destruction, and William H.H. Clark wrote that the town was left a ghost town of soot-covered chimneys. Accounts from Ophelia Gordon and Union Major James Austin Connelly reflected the bitterness, losses, and strained encounters of occupation. Before Sherman's campaign began, Clark estimated that Catoosa County filled with 100,000 Union soldiers, after which local families tried to rebuild their shattered lives. Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was born in Ovens, County Cork, Ireland, on March 16, 1828, came to America in 1850 after service in the British Army, settled in Helena, Arkansas, and became a lawyer after working as a druggist. After Arkansas seceded in 1861, he entered Confederate service with the Yell Rifles, rose to major general, and commanded Cleburne's Division in the Army of Tennessee until his death at Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864. He also advanced a January 1864 proposal in Dalton to arm slaves and grant freedom to loyal Negroes, an idea that drew mixed reaction, had the support of General Robert E. Lee, and was adopted at the end of the war.

PHOTOS

Photo: Dale K. Benington