Ross's Landing

The Union army's efforts to capture the strategic rail center of Chattanooga succeeded at Ross's Landing. Following a series of dramatic marches and feints, elements of Gen. William S. Rosecrans's army appeared on Stringer's Ridge across the river on August 23, 1863. Union shells whizzed into the city and the Confederate fortifications on nearby high ground and bluffs. The shelling, coordinated with shows of force in Hamilton Valley, was intended to convince Confederate commanders that the Federals meant to cross the Tennessee River north of Chattanooga. In fact, they intended to cross south of Chattanooga and then approach from Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain well behind the Confederates. By September 7, the Confederates had deciphered the plan and evacuated the city. On September 9, three Union soldiers rowed across the river at Ross's Landing and seized the ferry. According to a soldier in the 57th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, a horse ferry-boat left by the enemy was used in crossing the river, and before night the colors of the 97th Ohio were planted on a fort near Cameron Hill. The other regiments soon followed, and that night the command bivouacked on the green close to the river, gaining possession of Chattanooga.

Chattanooga, Tennessee · United States