perpendicular rocks, known as “Palisades.” General Hooker’s division,
having reached these palisades, formed into line of battle, so as to
face the north, the right wing resting against the palisades and
stretching down the slope of the mountain. General Hooker’s army
advanced in three distinct lines. The front consisted of General Geary’s
division, with a brigade of New York troops, under Colonel Ireland, on
the right: the Sixtieth New York held the extreme right of the line,
while the extreme left and front were held by the One hundred and
second, the One hundred and thirty-seventh, and the One hundred and
forty-ninth New York. The second line was formed of the two brigades of
Grove and Whittaker. The third was formed by General Osterhaus’
division, which held itself in readiness to aid either of the other
lines. These dispositions having been made, the entire corps, with a
strong line of skirmishers thrown out, was ordered forward. After a
short march they came upon a detachment of the enemy, which totally
unsuspicious of the movements of the Union forces, was taken by
surprise. The enemy, outnumbered and outmanœvred, attempted to escape by
running up the hill; but they were instantly assaulted by the Union
soldiers from above, and finding themselves thus between two fires, were
compelled to make a stand and to fight. The rebel batteries on Lookout
Mountain, and the Union batteries on Mocassin Point, now opened a heavy
fire upon each other. The rebels, attacked on both rear and flank, were
not capable of making a steady resistance, although their skirmishers,
sheltering themselves behind trees and rocks, poured in a heavy fire
upon the Union line, but were at length driven back by General Geary’s
skirmishers. The enemy on the point of the mountain being severely
pressed, gradually gave way, and fell back, in disorder, till they
reached the line of breastworks on the eastern slope of the mountain.
General Geary here drew his line parallel with that of the enemy, and
boldly advanced; but finding himself met by strongly organized troops,
he was obliged, for the time, to retire. In the mean while very large
numbers of the enemy had been captured—for, whenever the Union troops
succeeded in bringing in the rebels, they secured them by hundreds; and
in this manner, over a thousand prisoners were taken, in a short space
of time.
A pause in the battle occurred after the repulse of Geary’s second
attack on the rebel line; and, as the enemy was found to be in a very
strong position behind his breastworks, General Hooker—after a careful
reconnoissance, in which he incurred great personal danger—decided on a
change in the disposition of his forces, for an attack on the enemy’s
works. The rebels had every natural advantage on their side, and were
also expecting reinforcements; but the latter failed to arrive, and
Hooker’s next attack caused the enemy to contract his line, and expose
his left flank. This attack began at two o’clock in the afternoon and
resulted in the severest fighting of the day, which lasted, in
undiminished fury, for the next two hours. Hooker’s dispositions were
made as follows. The Eighty-fourth Illinois, Colonel Waters, and the
Seventy-fifth Illinois, Colonel Burnett, were sent to hold the road
which crosses the mountain on the east. The line of battle, moving
against the rebel works in part, consisted of the command of Geary on
the right, that of Osterhaus on the left, and that of Whittaker and
Grove in the centre. Colonel Ireland’s force clung close to the
palisades. From all quarters, a destructive fire was poured in upon the
enemy. Those who, from Chattanooga and Orchard Knob—the latter point,
captured on the 23d, was still held by the troops of the gallant General
Wood—watched the battle, saw only clouds of smoke mingling with the mist
that enveloped the mountain. But the troops engaged could see each
other, and beneath the pall of mist they fought, on both sides, with
desperate valor. At four o’clock, General Hooker ordered a general
charge of his whole line. It was made, with the utmost gallantry—the
Union forces dashing onward, through a terribly heavy and continuous
fire—and carrying all before them. In five minutes the left flank of the
rebels had been turned, and, falling back upon the Summerton road, they
abandoned their position, artillery, works, and all, which were
immediately seized by the victorious troops of Hooker.
But, though flanked and driven back the rebels manifested no disposition
to yield their redoubts without a final struggle. Rapidly reforming,
they soon advanced to the assault of Geary, in their own former
position. The fight that ensued was bitter and furious. The Union
soldiers were nearly out of ammunition, and were already, for this
reason, evincing a disposition to straggle out of line. The enemy
perceived their advantage and tried to make use of it. General Hooker
had twice sent to Chattanooga for ammunition. The moment was exceedingly
critical. But, at the very moment when further delay must have proved
fatal to the success of the Union arms, the ammunition train of General
Thomas’s soldiers deployed across Chattanooga creek, and marched up the
hill, bringing an ample supply to their comrades in the fight. These men
consisted of General Carlin’s brigade of Johnston’s division, Fourteenth
corps, and upon them devolved the work of concluding the battle. Night
was now coming on, yet the outline of the contending masses could be
seen from Chattanooga, while the flashes of musketry were distinctly
visible in the gathering darkness. The pageant, as witnessed from the
town, was exceedingly gorgeous. The mountain was all ablaze with
intermittent fire, and all vocal with strange, unearthly sounds, as of a
giant groaning in pain. The great guns on its summit answered the lesser
ones on Moccasin point, and all was commotion, and bloody strife, and
ghastly pageantry of terror.
The result of this final charge was the complete defeat of the rebels.
They fell back along the Summerton road, guarding a convenient point to
check pursuit, and employed the long hours of the night in evacuating
the mountain. There was some skirmishing during the night, but with no
important results. General Hooker had gained a splendid victory.
SHERMAN’S ADVANCE AGAINST MISSION RIDGE.
NOVEMBER 24, 1863.
While the Union forces under Hooker were thus advancing against the
enemy’s left, General Sherman’s command, which had crossed the Tennessee
at Brown’s Ferry, and advanced along the north bank of the river, to a
point opposite Chickamauga creek, was threatening the enemy’s right. The
crossing, commenced at early morning, was not completed till noon, at
which time also a junction was effected, at Chickamauga creek, between
General Sherman’s command, and reinforcements under General Howard, sent
forward from Chattanooga. At about one o’clock, and just as General
Sherman gave orders for an advance against Missionary Ridge, a drizzly
rain began to fall, which soon hid from view the object of assault.
There are several small hills clustered at the end of Missionary Ridge,
being separated from it by a valley, through which runs the Chattanooga
and Cleveland railroad. To take these hills was Sherman’s first design.
His line of battle was formed thus: General Ewing’s division occupied
the right, General J. E. Smith’s division the centre, and General Morgan
L. Smith’s division the left. General Jeff. C. Davis’s division of the
Fourteenth corps, artillery, had crossed the river and taken up position
in the works. The order for the advance was given by General Sherman, as
follows: “I see Davis is up. I guess you may as well go in, and take the
hill.”
The advance was made in perfect silence. The men looked very serious;
and, if they spoke to each other, spoke in undertones. The prospect
before them was a very serious one, and it was evident that they
realized it to the fullest extent. But, as the sequel made manifest, the
enemy did not propose to contest these hills, and, steadily continuing
his advance, General Sherman was in possession of them as early as four
o’clock in the afternoon. A few shells, thrown by the rebels from Tunnel
Hill, had passed over his forces, carrying consternation to the camp
followers in the rear; but there had been no serious fighting. On
inspecting the ground thus captured, General Sherman determined to
occupy the semi-circular ridge of the hills with his right and centre,
and deploy his left toward Meyers’s mill, on Chickamauga creek. General
M. L. Smith, commanding the left, executed the latter movement,
capturing about a hundred rebels, who were building rafts on the creek,
with which to destroy General Sherman’s pontoon bridges. At night on the
24th, therefore, General Sherman was strongly posted, and prepared for a
grand assault of the enemy’s works, on the following day.
Several new dispositions had been made along the Union centre, on the
24th, in anticipation of a great battle on the following day. Wood’s
forces, strengthened by those of General Baird, had been appointed to
storm the rebel heights at Blackford, which is a gap in the centre of
Missionary Ridge. Sheridan’s command, strengthened by General King’s
brigade—of regulars and volunteers—had been deputed to assault at
Thurman’s House, a point further toward the enemy’s left. General Gordon
Granger assumed command of the divisions of Wood and Baird, and General
Palmer took command of those of Sheridan and King. The object of these
movements was to cut the rebel army in two, in the centre, while Hooker
on its left, and Sherman on its right, should flank it, and cut it to
pieces.
BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.
NOVEMBER 25, 1863.
Such was the position of affairs on the morning of the 25th of November.
At ten o’clock General Sherman commenced the battle of Missionary Ridge,
by pushing forward Colonel Loomis’s brigade of Ewing’s division, on the
right, against the enemy posted at Glass Station, back of the railroad.
This attack was promptly repulsed. General Corse then made a direct
assault upon Tunnel Hill, mounting the hill without difficulty, and in
gallant style. But it was only on reaching the crest of this eminence,
and coming upon the plateau, that the Union troops came under fire of
the guns of Fort Buckner, the strongest rebel fortification at this
point. They gained the plateau at precisely eleven o’clock, and, at
once, were greeted with a tremendous fire from the guns of the fort,
under which they retreated to the crest of the hill, leaving their dead
and wounded in the enemy’s rifle-pits. At this juncture, Colonel
Loomis’s brigade made a second charge from the right, driving the rebels
from their fortifications along the railroad track, and forcing them up
the hill to the right of Fort Buckner. General Corse was reinforced,
while his movement was going on, and, with fresh troops, he now
proceeded to make a second charge against the fort. A bloody conflict
ensued. The Union soldiers, swept by a continuous and merciless fire,
advanced to within twelve yards of the rebel works—then wavered, then
again fell back to their original position, once more leaving their dead
and wounded in possession of the enemy. This repulse took place at a
quarter past twelve, and from that time until half past one, no further
movement was made in Sherman’s front. At this hour, however, a third
assault of the hill was made by the combined force of Colonel Loomis and
Mathias, supported by two regiments of Colonel Raum’s brigade, the
Eightieth Ohio, and the Seventeenth Iowa. The charge of the Union forces
on this occasion has been described by an eye-witness as the most
magnificent act of gallantry that it is possible to imagine. It was made
in the face of a destructive fire, from six pieces of artillery, and a
long line of musketry, and—a somewhat navel expedient in modern
warfare—a fire of rocks and stones, which the rebels hurled down from
their fastness, in great abundance. Meanwhile, the hill flashed and
flared with flame, and echoed with the terrible roar of artillery. For
half an hour the strife continued. Then the column of Mathias broke and
fled—but only to the line of Raum’s reserves, where it was rallied as if
by magic. At precisely a quarter past two o’clock, a last grand charge
was made, all along the line. Fifty yards in front lay the rebel works.
The rebel cannon, double-shotted with canister, belched out death upon
the advancing patriots. The men drew their blue cloth caps over their
eyes, and pressed stubbornly onward. It was a very critical moment for
the rebels—and they knew it, for their commander suddenly called up
reserves from his centre, and so, under the combined sweep of a front,
flank, and cross fire, the gallant troops of Sherman were finally
obliged to fall back from Tunnel Hill. Such advantages as he had gained,
however, General Sherman held,—ordering his line into position, and
intrenching himself to secure the ground for new operations.
But that is not always failure which seems so at the moment. The
disaster to Sherman proved, in fact, the main-spring of victory to
General Grant. That commander, posted at Orchard Knob, and narrowly
watching the contest on his left, was not slow to observe that General
Bragg had been obliged to weaken the rebel centre in order to save
Tunnel Hill; and, with General Grant, to see an advantage was to improve
it. The moment Bragg’s reserves had been drawn away, General Grant
ordered a charge upon the rebel centre. At the same moment an artillery
fire was opened on the enemy from Orchard Knob and Fort Wood. The men
went forward in fine style, charging at the point of the bayonet, across
Citico Creek and up the hillside. For a little while, as it toiled
upward, the line looked broken and ragged; but the moment it reached the
crest of Missionary Ridge, it formed in perfect order, and rushed on
like the wind. Astonished and dismayed, the rebels fled before the
determined valor of the patriots. Through Fort Hindman danced the rebel
flag, borne along by the frightened hordes of Confederates, and after
it, streaming grandly in the stormy air, floated onward the flag of the
Union. At four o’ clock the ridge was won. General Grant himself,
following in the wake of the advancing columns, appeared among his
troops, and, by his presence, inspired them with new courage and
intrepid resolution.
In the mean while General Hooker, following up his victory of the 24th,
had completely possessed himself of Lookout Mountain, had descended into
the valley, crossed the Chattanooga creek, passed through Rossville, and
advanced northward along Missionary Ridge, to cooperate with General
Grant. His advance drove the rebels out of Fort Breckinridge, and
captured many prisoners. He came up late in the afternoon of the 25th. A
final effort, made by Bragg, to retake Fort Hindman, was successfully
repulsed, and then the rout of the Confederates was complete. They fled
in great disorder towards Ringgold, leaving hundreds of killed and
wounded in their track. A few vollies of grape and canister converted
their retreat into a wild rout.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.]
[Illustration: PURSUIT TOWARDS RINGGOLD, GA.]
Though utterly defeated and disorganized, the rebel army was still
powerful in numbers and material, and the Federal commander, fully
sensible of the importance of following up his advantage, ordered a
vigorous pursuit. By daylight the next morning the Union forces were
pressing close upon the dispirited and fleeing enemy. So disheartened
were the rebels that hundreds threw away their arms and surrendered,
soon as the victorious Union columns came within range. All day the
pursuit continued, and, when night came on, the country for miles around
was lighted with huge fires, where the rebels were compelled to destroy
their stores, to prevent them from falling into patriot hands. The road
was strewed with commissary stores, and broken-down caissons and wagons.
The line of retreat was mostly along the railroad by the valley of
Ringgold.
The entire Federal loss in these combined battles did not exceed four
thousand in killed and wounded; while that of the enemy, in killed,
wounded, prisoners, and deserters, has been estimated at fifteen
thousand. Between sixty and seventy cannon, and seven thousand stand of
small arms were among the trophies of the victors.
By this brilliant success, the Federal power was firmly established in
East Tennessee, and no serious attempts were afterwards made by the
rebels to invade that portion of the State.
BATTLE OF RINGGOLD, GA.
NOVEMBER 28, 1863.
The dingy little town of Ringgold—the county town of Catoosa County,
Georgia—is situated at the base of the White Oak mountain range, only
a few miles from the State line between Georgia and Tennessee. It was
here that the routed forces of General Bragg first made a stand, after
the battle of Missionary Ridge, to oppose the pursuit of the
victorious soldiers of Hooker. A brief, but desperate and bloody
battle, ensued, on the 28th of November. Generals Osterhaus and Geary
led the Unionists, while the opposing rebels were Hardee’s command.
The fight lasted about five hours, and was attended with heavy loss
upon both sides. Three hundred rebel prisoners were captured, and the
enemy was driven back, beyond the town, to Tunnel Hill. Colonel
Creighton and Lieutenant-Colonel Crane were killed in this engagement,
and the Seventh Ohio regiment lost all of its officers excepting
one—Captain Creighton. This regiment was treacherously led into an
ambuscade by a portion of Hardee’s corps, who displayed Federal flags.
The Union soldiers behaved with the utmost gallantry. From Ringgold
the rebels fell back upon Dalton.
DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF IN 1863.
General N. P. Banks arrived in New Orleans on December 14, 1862, having
been appointed to supersede General Butler in command of the Department
of the Gulf. The news of this change created much surprise among all
classes of citizens; and not a few of those who were opposed to the
restoration of the national supremacy were sorry to part with an officer
who, though obnoxious for his zeal in the discharge of his duties, had
succeeded in establishing unexampled order and security in the city.
General Butler tendered a cordial welcome to his successor, assuring him
that the army would render a cheerful obedience to his orders. On the
15th General Butler took leave of the troops under his command, and paid
a well-merited tribute to their patriotism, valor, and soldierly
bearing; and on the following day he issued a lengthy address to the
citizens, in which he recapitulated the leading measures of his
administration, demonstrated the many great advantages which had
resulted from the reestablishment of the Federal authority, and exhorted
them all to return fully to their allegiance as the only means of
obtaining peace and lasting prosperity to their city.
On the same day a proclamation was issued by General Banks of a
patriotic and conciliatory tone. The commencement of General Banks’s
administration was marked by a leniency which seemed to indicate that
the severity which General Butler had thought it necessary to exercise
was either distasteful to the new commander, or contrary to the policy
of the Government. Many political prisoners were released, and other
lenient measures adopted towards obstinate rebels, which only resulted
in the abuse of his clemency, and the manifestation of a turbulent
spirit and disloyal conduct on the part of rebellious citizens. It soon
became evident that General Banks did not possess the ability to govern
a conquered city with that ease and tact which had been evinced by his
predecessor; and during his whole administration he was subjected to
opposition and constant annoyance from a class of civilians upon whom
the more bold and energetic measures of his predecessor had always been
sufficiently potent to restrain them from direct conflict with him.
Previous to the arrival of General Banks at New Orleans, he had been for
two months engaged in organizing a military and naval force to accompany
him, which was designed, in the first place, to cooperate with the
forces of General Grant and Admiral Porter in the reduction of Port
Hudson and Vicksburg, in order to open the Mississippi river to the free
passage of the Federal gunboats. This accomplished, a movement on Texas
was contemplated, which State was now contributing largely by her trade
on the Mexican border, and her contributions of army subsistence, to
sustain the rebellion.
No military events of importance occurred in Louisiana until the middle
of March, 1863, excepting a small expedition up the Teche river by the
gunboats, in which Commander Buchanan of the Calhoun was killed.
During the first weeks in March General Banks had concentrated his army
at Baton Rouge, amounting to nearly twenty-five thousand men. The naval
forces on the lower Mississippi were under the command of Admiral
Farragut.
Port Hudson, or Hickey’s Landing, as it was called some years ago, is
situated on a bend in the Mississippi river, about twenty-two miles
above Baton Rouge, and one hundred and forty-seven above New Orleans.
Approaching Port Hudson by water from below, the first batteries were
situated on a bluff about forty feet above high water mark.
On the night of 14–15th March, Admiral Farragut passed the rebel
batteries at Port Hudson with his flagship, the Hartford, and the
Albatross. He attacked the forts with his entire fleet, but all but the
two vessels above named were repulsed, and the Mississippi, having
grounded, was set on fire and abandoned. A graphic description of this
event is given by a correspondent of the New York Herald, on board the
Richmond, from which we subjoin the following condensed account, written
at the time:
“The rebel batteries extend about four miles in length, with a gap here
and there between. Below, just before the high bluff begins, a very
large number of field batteries were placed in position. These batteries
are by no means to be despised; for in such a narrow part of the river
they are just as effective as siege guns, especially as they can be
handled with far greater facility than ordnance of larger size.
Proceeding upward, the regular fortifications commence. They seem to
consist of three distinct ranges of batteries, numbering several in each
range. It does not seem, however, that either of them mounts guns of
very large calibre. The river now begins to trend to the west, forming a
faint representation of a horseshoe, in the hollow of which the town of
Port Hudson is situated. It is right in that hollow, and just below the
town, that the most formidable battery—the central one—is situated, on
the highest bluff. Four heavy guns appear to be mounted there in
casemates. I say appear, because the flashes from these guns revealed
nothing; but the flame from the muzzles showed that all beyond was in
obscurity—precisely as would be the case with guns in casemate. The
other guns, _en barbette_, or peering through open embrasures, revealed,
when fired, something of the lay of the land behind and around, though
but for a moment. Above the town are other batteries, only less
formidable than those just below. Beyond these the high bluffs gradually
subside into the general level of the surrounding country. Right
opposite the principal batteries, on the right bank of the river, is the
point of land on which the Mississippi grounded, in consequence of which
she had to be set on fire and destroyed.”
After describing the first shots from the Hartford, which were promptly
returned by the rebel batteries, the correspondent thus describes the
mortars opening fire:
“And now was heard a thundering roar, equal in volume to a whole park of
artillery. This was followed by a rushing sound, accompanied by a
howling noise that beggars description. Again and again was the sound
repeated, till the vast expanse of heaven rang with the awful
minstrelsy. It was apparent that the mortar-boats had opened fire. Of
this I was soon convinced on casting my eyes aloft. Never shall I forget
the sight that then met my astonished vision. Shooting upward at an
angle of forty-five degrees, with the rapidity of lightning, small
globes of golden flame were seen sailing through the pure ether—not a
steady, unfading flame, but corruscating, like the fitful gleam of a
fire-fly, now visible, and anon invisible. Like a flying star of the
sixth magnitude, the terrible missile—a 13-inch shell—nears its zenith,
up and still up—higher and still higher. Its flight now becomes much
slower, till, on reaching its utmost altitude, its centrifugal force
becomes counteracted by the earth’s attraction; it describes a parabolic
curve, and down, down it comes, bursting, it may be, ere it reaches
_terra firma_, but probably alighting in the rebel works ere it
explodes, where it scatters death and destruction around.