We will not undertake to follow every movement of the army made to
capture the heights of Missionary ridge, as it would be, perhaps,
uninteresting to the reader, and out of place here, but will pass on to
the morning of the 25th. So far every thing had gone well with the union
army. Every movement had been successful. Suddenly from a point
overlooking the field of battle, known as Orchard Knob, and on which
army headquarters had been established, rang out the signal ordering an
advance of our entire front. The line moved rapidly and orderly. The
rebel pickets discharged their muskets, and ran into their rifle pits,
much resembling the ground squirrel, when alarmed he seeks his den. Our
skirmishers followed closely on their heels. The line of battle was not
far behind, and the gray rebels were seen to swarm out of their rifle
pits in surprising numbers, and over the crest of the hill. A few turned
and fired their pieces, but the greater number collected into the many
roads which cross obliquely up its steep face, like cattle trails, and
went to the top. Our lines pressed on and up the steep sides of the
ridge, and here and there a color was advanced beyond the lines. The
attempt appeared most dangerous, but the advance was supported, and the
whole line was ordered to storm the heights, upon which not less than
forty pieces of artillery, and no one knows how many muskets, stood
ready to slaughter the assailants. With cheers answering to cheers, the
men swarmed upward. They gathered to the points least difficult of
ascent, and the line was broken. Color after color was planted on the
summit, while musket and cannon vomited their thunder upon them. A well
directed shot from Orchard Knob, exploded a rebel caisson on the summit,
and the gun was seen galloping to the right, its driver lashing his
horses. A party of our soldiers intercepted them, and the gun was
captured with cheers. A fierce musketry fire broke out to the left,
where between Thomas and Davis a mile or two of the ridge was still
occupied by the rebels. Bragg left the house in which he had held his
headquarters, and rode to the rear as our troops crowded the hill on
either side of him. General Sherman proceeded to the summit, and then
only did he know its height. Some of the captured artillery was put in
position. Artillerists were sent for to work the guns. Caissons were
searched for ammunition. The rebel log breastworks were torn to pieces,
and carried to the other side of the ridge and used in forming
barricades. A strong line of infantry was formed in the rear of Baird's
line, hotly engaged in a musketry contest with the rebels to the left,
and a secure lodgment was soon effected. The other assault to the right
of our centre gained the summit, and the rebels threw down their arms
and fled. Bragg's remaining troops left early in the night, and the
battle of Chattanooga, after days of manœuvering and fighting, was won.
And now commenced a movement in which our brigade took a part that
called forth our strongest efforts to endure. Major General Burnside,
with his command, was holding the city of Knoxville in the eastern part
of the state. This part of Tennessee was intensely loyal to the old
flag, and it was the intention of Burnside to hold his position, cost
what it might. Knoxville is guarded on the south by the Holston river,
and on the west side by a range of hills, so that Longstreet had tried
to reach it from the east and north. Here the place had been fortified
as well as the short time would permit, but Longstreet had Burnside
surrounded, and if relief did not shortly arrive he must surrender to
the rebels. Information reached us on the 27th of November, that General
Burnside was completely invested, and had provisions only to include the
third of December. Seven days before, we had left camp on the north side
of the Tennessee, with two days rations, without a change of clothing,
stripped for the fight, with but a single blanket or coat per man, from
the general down to the private. We had no provisions, only what we
could gather as we went along, and were ill supplied for such a march.
But intelligence that twelve thousand of our fellow soldiers were
besieged in the mountain town of Knoxville, eighty-four miles distant,
had reached us. This was enough, they must be relieved, and away we went
to their aid. It was a terrible march and we made it in six days. But
before our arrival Longstreet had raised the siege and departed, with
Burnside's troops in pursuit. General Granger moved into the city with
his troops, and we returned to our old camp on Chickamauga Creek, foot
sore and weary, our clothes torn almost into shreds, and our shoe soles
entirely gone, but we had marched for a big stake and had won. We
remained in camp resting, and receiving supplies and clothing, and on
the seventh of May, moved with the rest of the army on the road to
Atlanta. The rebel army at this time lay in and about Dalton, and were
superior to our army in cavalry, and with three corps of infantry and
artillery, the whole commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, making a
grand total of infantry, cavalry and artillery of about 60,000 men. Now
commenced a campaign, which for fighting, stubborn resistance and
manœuvering, can not be equalled in any history. It was on the seventh
of May that we left Chattanooga, and not until the seventh of the
following September, five months in all, did we rest from our labors. We
will not attempt to relate each and every battle that was fought, for we
cannot do that; it was continual battle from the time we left our
fortifications near Chattanooga, until we arrived at Atlanta, so we will
journey on, merely mentioning places at which some event took place that
bore particularly on the conduct of the regiment.
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