The large image below shows my best reconstruction of the successful Confederate rear guard action at Missionary Ridge. North is to the top.
My primary source for the fighting is Wiley Sword's "Mountains Touched With Fire," Chapter 38. A confederate viewpoint is that of Lt. Col. James Turner, 30th TN (from Voices of the Civil War - Chattanooga). Lt. Col. Turner took over for the wounded Col. Tyler. Elements of Tyler's command were on the right of the first line of Confederate defenses, with elements of Finley's on the left, and the 6th Florida forming a line to the rear. If anyone has more detailed information please pass along what you can.
To create the image below I took a modern topographical map and the 1896 Battlefield map by Edward Betts. I converted the maps to the same scale, made a transparency of the modern map and then matched them up using Bragg's Headquarters, the Tennessee-Georgia state line, and the high ground at the north end of the rear guard ridge as the alignment points. They line up fairly well, but the 1896 map has the contours for the rear guard ridge totally wrong. I'm assuming that they actually surveyed only a very few key high points and artistically filled in the rest. Modern construction could also account for other differences.
The large blue arrow at the upper left shows the general direction of the Union assault out of Chattanooga, with the arrow pointed at Bragg's headquarters.
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The view from Bragg Reservation looking east towards the "crescent-shaped ridge" about a half mile distant. It is really hard to find a good view of the entire ridge. The only really good view of the ridge is from the air, but I've never remembered to have my camera ready when flying into Chattanooga. The vertical arrow is the approximate location of the initial assault, with the horizontal arrow the direction of the final Union assault which cleared the ridge. The interstate cuts through at the low point in the ridge.
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The initial assault - 97th Ohio on the left, 40th Indiana on the right. They received a bloody repulse.
The view of the area of the assault. It is actually steeper than it looks. This appears to be the area where the original Crutchfield road went through. It would make the most sense for the artillery to have been positioned here because of convenience and lack of time during the retreat rather than on higher ground.
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Various views of the high ground on the north end of the ridge.
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Additional troops then came up with Sheridan, and after an hour's fighting the 15th Indiana and the 26th Ohio swung wide to the left, gained the top of the ridge, and took the Confederate lines in the flank, forcing them from the position and capturing two guns.
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Sheridan likely watched from near location 5 as the advancing soldiers of the 15th Indiana and the 26th Ohio were outlined by the rising full moon, which provided "a medallion view of the column... as they crossed the moon's disk." The moon that night rose at dusk at approximately 60-65 degrees, and is indicated by the large yellow dot at the upper right.
