half past three in the afternoon
He had been driven out of Chattanooga Valley , and it was now a question of fight or leave Chickamauga Valley . Sherman was in need of reënforcements , not having brought all of his men over the stream , and Howard marched the Eleventh corps to join him . Sherman began , without delay , a furious assault on Bragg 's right , and leaving the knoll upon which he was intrenched , swept up that upon which the enemy rested . The line of battle , two miles in length , was now clearly defined , and at half past three in the afternoon a general advance was ordered . The Union skirmishers encountered at first a series of rifle-pits . The orders had been to take these , and nothing more was expected . The battle waged with great fury , and soon the Confederates were seen to waver and abandon first one pit and then another .