After Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's command left Lookout Mountain around 10:00 am and moved east, they encountered a significant obstacle. The bridges across Chattanooga Creek, about a mile from Rossville Gap, had been burned by the Confederates as they withdrew the night before, and the creek was running high. Brig. Gen. Peter Joseph Osterhaus assigned a 70-man pioneer unit to start rebuilding one bridge, while men of the 27th Missouri created a rickety footbridge and began crossing one by one. Hooker decided to leave his guns and wagons behind so that all of his infantry could cross first, but his advance was delayed about three hours and the bulk of his force did not reach Rossville Gap until 3:30 pm.