As the Federal Army of the Cumberland moved to cut supply lines from Atlanta, the Confederate Army withdrew from Chattanooga without a fight, retreating chiefly south through Rossville Gap on the LaFayette Road. General D.H. Hill wrote that the movement out of Chattanooga began on the night of September 7, with his corps leading on the LaFayette Road, and that after Confederate cavalry lost the position on Lookout Mountain, Union forces moved into McClemore's Cove, prompting orders to picket the gaps in Pigeon Mountain, with General Cleburne assigned that duty and Breckinridge left at LaFayette in charge of army trains. General Braxton Bragg stated that Confederate troops moved on September 7 and 8 and took position from Lee and Gordon's Mills to LaFayette, while forces on the Hiwassee and at Chickamauga Station went by way of Ringgold, with cavalry left to observe Chattanooga and infantry and cavalry left at Ringgold to hold the railroad against raids. Colonel John T. Wilder observed that Bragg fell back to LaFayette, Georgia, to interpose in Rosecrans' front while leaving cavalry brigades at Chattanooga and at Friar's Island ford, and that on September 9 Union forces forced a passage of the river there as the Ninety-Second Illinois entered Chattanooga by way of Lookout Mountain. Bragg wrote that once his movement was known, the Union corps nearest Chattanooga was sent into the city and soon began moving on the Confederate rear by the roads to LaFayette and Ringgold. Rosecrans' chief of staff, General James A. Garfield, reported on September 8 that Chattanooga had been evacuated and would be occupied the next morning, with forces ordered to cross the river and join the pursuit; after reaching Chattanooga, officers established observation and communications from Lookout Mountain and Rossville to department and army corps headquarters.

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington