On Tuesday, November 24, 1863 three Union divisions commanded by General Joseph Hooker began a difficult climb up Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, near Chattanooga. Confederate defenders offered resistance at Cravens’ Farm, an outcropping of fairly level, mountainside land, but by the end of the day were driven off Lookout Mountain to the safety of nearby, strategically fortified, Missionary Ridge.
In this battle referred to as the “Battle Above the Clouds” because of the thick fog banks, while suffering few casualties, Union troops under William Tecumeh Sherman seized what he thought was the north end of Missionary Ridge.
However, he soon discovered that a substantial ravine separated him from that objective and Tunnel Hill, site of an important railroad tunnel. Sherman’s error revealed to the Confederates the true direction of the Union drive.