AFTER CHATTANOOGA: "The Confederate lines ... could not be rebuilt.
The material for reconstructing them was exhausted. The blue-crested
flood which had broken these lines was not disappearing. The fountains
which supplied it were exhaustless. It was still coming with an ever
increasing current, swelling higher and growing more resistless. This
triune disaster [Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge] was
especially depressing to the people because it came like a blight upon
their hopes which had been awakened by recent Confederate
victories."--_General John B. Gordon, C. S. A., in "Reminiscences of
the Civil War."_
Following the defeat of Rosecrans' army at Chickamauga in September 1863
Bragg at once took strong positions on Missionary Ridge and Lookout
Mountain. From these heights he was able to besiege the entire Army of the
Cumberland in Chattanooga and obstruct the main arteries of supply to the
Federal troops. Rosecrans was forced to abandon the route along the south
bank of the Tennessee River, which led from Bridgeport, in Alabama, and to
depend exclusively upon a long and mountainous wagon road on the north
side of the river for the transportation of supplies. The Confederate
cavalry, crossing the Tennessee above Chattanooga, fell upon the trains
entangled in the mud of the Sequatchie valley, destroying in one day three
hundred wagons, and killing or capturing about eighteen hundred mules.
Within a short time the wisdom of Bragg's plan became apparent; famine
threatened the Union army and several thousand horses and mules had
already died from starvation. By his relentless vigil, the Confederate
leader seemed destined to achieve a greater victory over his opponent than
had hitherto attended his efforts in actual conflict.
Meanwhile, a complete reorganization of the Federal forces in the West was
effected. Under the title of the Military Division of the Mississippi, the
Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee were united
with Grant as general commanding, and Rosecrans was replaced by Thomas at
the head of the Army of the Cumberland.
A hurried concentration of the Federal forces was now ordered by General
Halleck. Hooker with fifteen thousand men of the Army of the Potomac came
rapidly by rail to Bridgeport. Sherman, with a portion of his army, about
twenty thousand strong, was summoned from Vicksburg and at once embarked
in steamers for Memphis. General Grant decided to assume personal charge
of the Federal forces; but before he reached his new command, Thomas, ably
assisted by his chief engineer, General W. F. Smith, had begun to act on a
plan which Rosecrans had conceived, and which proved in the end to be a
brilliant conception. This was to seize a low range of hills known as
Raccoon Mountain on the peninsula made by a bend of the river, on its
south side and west of Chattanooga, and establish a wagon road to Kelly's
Ferry, a point farther down the river to which supplies could be brought
by boat from Bridgeport, and at the same time communication effected with
Hooker.
A direct line was not only secured to Bridgeport, but Hooker advanced with
a portion of his troops into Lookout Valley and after a short but decisive
skirmish drove the Confederates across Lookout Creek, leaving his forces
in possession of the hills he had gained. The route was now opened between
Bridgeport and Brown's Ferry; abundant supplies were at once available and
the Army of the Cumberland relieved of its perilous position.
Unlike the condition which had prevailed at Chickamauga, reënforcements
from all sides were hastening to the aid of Thomas' army; Hooker was
already on the ground; Sherman was advancing rapidly from Memphis, and he
arrived in person on November 15th, while Burnside's forces at Knoxville
offered protection to the left flank of the Federal army.
The disposition of the Confederate troops at this time was a formidable
one; the left flank rested on the northern end of Lookout Mountain and the
line extended a distance of twelve miles across Chattanooga Valley to
Missionary Ridge. This position was further strengthened by entrenchments
throughout the lowlands. Despite the danger which threatened his army from
the converging Union forces, General Bragg determined to attack Burnside
and despatched Longstreet with twenty thousand of his best troops to
Knoxville. His army materially weakened, the Confederate general continued
to hold the same extended position, although his combined force was
smaller than had opposed Rosecrans alone at Chickamauga.
On the 23d of November, after a long and fatiguing march over roads almost
impassable by reason of continuous rains, Sherman crossed the Tennessee by
the pontoon bridge at Brown's Ferry, recrossed it above Chattanooga, and
was assigned a position to the left of the main army near the mouth of
Chickamauga Creek. Grant had now some eighty thousand men, of whom sixty
thousand were on the scene of the coming battle, and, though fearful lest
Burnside should be dislodged from his position at Knoxville, he would not
be diverted from his purpose of sweeping the Confederates from the front
of Chattanooga. It had been Grant's plan to attack on the 24th, but
information reached him that Bragg was preparing a retreat. He, therefore,
on the 23d, ordered Thomas to advance upon Bragg's center.
Preparations for movement were made in full view of the Confederates; from
the appearance of the troops, clad in their best uniforms, the advance
line of the Southern army was content to watch this display, in the belief
that the maneuvering army was parading in review. Suddenly, the peaceful
pageant turned into a furious charge, before which the Confederate
pickets, taken by surprise, retreated from the first line of earthworks,
and Thomas, with little loss to either side, captured Orchard Knob,
between Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge. From this point, which was
almost a mile in advance of the position occupied during the morning,
Grant directed the movements of his army on the following day.
The Federal position was of less extent than that occupied by the
Confederates. Sherman was in command of the left wing, while Thomas held
the center, and "Fighting Joe" Hooker, with the Union right in Lookout
Valley, threatened Lookout Mountain. The plan of battle was for Sherman to
engage the Confederate right and sever communications between Bragg and
Longstreet; Hooker was to carry out an assault on the Southern left flank,
and at the same time maintain connection with Bridgeport. With both wings
assailed by a superior force, it was believed that Bragg must reënforce
these positions and permit Thomas, with overwhelming numbers, to
concentrate upon the center.
On the 24th, two distinct movements were in progress. Sherman met with but
little opposition in his initial attack upon the Confederate right and
promptly seized and occupied the north end of Missionary Ridge. The
Confederates, late in the afternoon, fought desperately to regain the hill
but were finally repulsed, and Sherman fortified the position he had
gained. In the mean time, Hooker, early in the day, had begun his
operations against Lookout Mountain. Standing like a lone sentinel above
the surrounding valleys, its steep, rocky, and deeply furrowed slopes,
rising into a high, palisaded crest, frowned defiance upon the advancing
troops, while a well-constructed line of defenses completed the imposing
barrier.
Hooker had in addition to his own troops a division of Sherman's army
(Osterhaus') which, owing to damage to the pontoon bridge at Brown's
Ferry, had been prevented from joining its own leader. As ordered by
Hooker, General Geary took his division up the valley to Wauhatchie,
crossed the creek and marched down the east bank, sweeping the
Confederate outposts before him. The remainder of the command got across
by bridges lower down. Gaining the slopes of the mountain the Federal
troops rushed on in their advance. From the high palisaded summit,
invisible in the low-hanging clouds, the guns of General Stevenson's
brigades poured an iron deluge upon them. But on they went, climbing over
ledges and boulders, up hill and down, while the soldiers of the South
with musket and cannon tried in vain to check them. Position after
position was abandoned to the onrushing Federals, and by noon Geary's
advanced troops had rounded the north slope of the mountain and passed
from the sight of General Hooker, who was watching the contest from a
vantage point to the west. Grant and Thomas from the headquarters on
Orchard Knob were likewise eager witnesses of the struggle, although the
haze was so dense that they caught a glimpse only now and then as the
clouds would rise.
Reenforcements came to the Confederates and they availed nothing. Geary's
troops had been ordered to halt when they reached the foot of the
palisades, but fired by success they pressed impetuously forward. From its
higher position at the base of the cliff Cobham's brigade showered volley
after volley upon the Confederate main line of defense, while that of
Ireland gradually rolled up the flank. The Federal batteries on Moccasin
Point across the river were doing what they could to clear the mountain.
The Southerners made a last stand in their walls and pits around the
Craven house, but were finally driven in force over rocks and precipices
into Chattanooga Valley.
Such was the "battle in the clouds," a wonderful spectacle denied the
remainder of Hooker's troops holding Lookout Valley. That general says,
"From the moment we had rounded the peak of the mountain it was only from
the roar of battle and the occasional glimpses our comrades in the valley
could catch of our lines and standards that they knew of the strife or
its progress, and when from these evidences our true condition was
revealed to them their painful anxiety yielded to transports of joy which
only soldiers can feel in the earliest moments of dawning victory."
By two in the afternoon the clouds had settled completely into the valley
and the ensuing darkness put an end to further operations. Hooker
established and strengthened a new position and waited for reënforcements,
which General Carlin brought from Chattanooga at five o'clock. Until after
midnight an irregular fire was kept up, but the Confederates could not
break the new line. Before dawn General Stevenson abandoned the summit,
leaving behind twenty thousand rations and the camp equipage of his three
brigades. Hooker, anticipating this move, sent several detachments to
scale the palisades. A party of six men from the Eighth Kentucky regiment,
by means of ladders, was the first to reach the summit, and the waving
Stars and Stripes greeted the rising sun of November 25th on Lookout
Mountain, amid the wild and prolonged cheers of "Fighting Joe's" valiant
troops.
The fighting of Sherman and Hooker on the 24th secured to Grant's army a
distinct advantage in position. From the north end of Lookout Mountain
across Chattanooga Valley to the north end of Missionary Ridge the Union
forces maintained an unbroken front.
The morning of the 25th dawned cold, and an impenetrable mist which lay
deep in the valleys was soon driven away. From Orchard Knob, a point
almost in the center of the united Federal host, General Grant watched the
preparations for the battle. At sunrise, Sherman's command was in motion.
In his front, an open space intervened between his position and a ridge
held by the Confederates, while just beyond rose a much higher hill.
Toward the first ridge the attacking column, under General Corse, advanced
rapidly and in full view of the foe. For a time it seemed as if the
Confederates must recede before the terrific onslaught, but the advance
was abruptly checked after a very close and stubborn struggle, when
within a short distance of the entrenchment.
Unmindful of the numbers which opposed him, General Hardee not only
succeeded in repulsing the attack, but, assuming the offensive, drove back
the forces under General John E. Smith, who had sought to turn his left,
and captured several hundred prisoners. The Federals, quickly re-forming
their lines, renewed the assault and for several hours the fighting was
desperate on both sides. A general advance of the Northern forces had been
withheld, awaiting the arrival of Hooker who, under orders from Grant, was
sweeping down Chickamauga Valley, and was to operate against the
Confederate left and rear, in the expectation that Bragg would further
weaken his line by massing at those points. But Hooker's army had been
delayed several hours by repairs to the bridge crossing Chattanooga Creek.
Although Sherman had failed in his attempt to turn the Confederate right
he had forced Bragg to draw heavily upon his center for reënforcements.
Grant, satisfied that Hooker was not far off, ordered the signal--six guns
fired in rapid succession from the battery on Orchard Knob--for a general
advance of Thomas' army upon the Confederate center.
It was now three o'clock in the afternoon. The four division commanders of
the Army of the Cumberland, Sheridan, Wood, Baird, and Johnson, gave the
word to advance. Between Orchard Knob and the base of Missionary Ridge, a
mile away, is a broad valley covered for the most part with heavy timber.
This had to be crossed before the entrenchments at the foot of the hill
could be assaulted. Scarcely were the Cumberland troops in motion when
fifty pieces of artillery on the crest of Missionary Ridge opened a
terrific fire upon them. But the onward rush of the Federals was not
checked in the slightest degree. The line of entrenchments at the base was
carried with little opposition. Most of Breckinridge's men abandoned the
ditches as the Federal skirmishers approached and sought refuge up the
hill, breaking and throwing into confusion other troops as they passed
through.
At the foot of Missionary Ridge Thomas' army had reached its goal. Its
orders carried it no further. But, as General Wood has related, "the
enthusiasm and impetuosity of the troops were such that those who first
reached the entrenchments at the base of the ridge bounded over them and
pressed on up the ascent.... Moreover the entrenchments were no protection
against the artillery on the ridge. To remain would be destruction--to
return would be both expensive in life, and disgraceful. Officers and men,
all seemed impressed with this truth.... Without waiting for an order the
vast mass pressed forward in the race for glory, each man anxious to be
the first on the summit.... Artillery and musketry could not check the
impetuous assault. The troops did not halt to fire. To have done so would
have been ruinous. Little was left to the commanders of the troops than to
cheer on the foremost--to encourage the weaker of limb and to sustain the
very few who seemed to be faint-hearted."
Midway up the slope was a small line of rifle-pits, but these proved of no
use in stemming the Federal tide. In the immediate front, however, Major
Weaver of the Sixtieth North Carolina rallied a sufficient number of the
demoralized Confederates to send a well-directed and effective fire upon
the advancing troops. At this point the first line of oncoming Federals
was vigorously repulsed, and thrown back to the vacated Confederate
trenches. General Bragg, noticing this, rode along the ridge to spread his
good news among the troops, but he had not gone far when word was brought
that the right flank was broken and that the Federal standard had been
seen on the summit. A second and a third flag appeared in quick
succession. Bragg sent General Bate to drive the foe back, but the
disaster was so great that the latter was unable to repair it. Even the
artillery had abandoned the infantry. The Confederate flank had gone, and
within an hour of the start from Orchard Knob the crest of Missionary
Ridge was occupied by Federal troops. Sheridan did not stop here. He went
down the eastern slope, driving all in front of him toward Chickamauga
Creek. On a more easterly ridge he rested until midnight, when he advanced
to the creek and took many prisoners and stores.
While the Army of the Cumberland accomplished these things, Hooker was
advancing his divisions at charging pace from the south. Cruft was on the
crest, Osterhaus in the eastern valley, and Geary in the western--all
within easy supporting distance. Before Cruft's onrush the left wing of
Bragg's army was scattered in all directions from the ridge. Many ran down
the eastern slope into Osterhaus' column and the very few who chose a way
of flight to the west, were captured by Geary. The bulk of them, however,
fell back from trench to trench upon the crest until finally, as the sun
was sinking, they found themselves surrounded by Johnson's division of the
Army of the Cumberland. Such was the fate of Stewart's division; only a
small portion of it got away.
On the Confederate right Hardee held his own against Sherman, but with the
left and center routed and in rapid flight Bragg realized the day was
lost. He could do nothing but cover Breckinridge's retreat as best he
might and order Hardee to retire across Chickamauga Creek.
Thus ended the battle of Chattanooga. Bragg's army had been wholly
defeated, and, after being pursued for some days, it found a resting place
at Dalton among the mountains of Georgia. The Federal victory was the
result of a campaign carefully planned by Generals Halleck and Grant and
ably carried out by the efforts of the subordinate generals.
The losses in killed and wounded sustained by Grant were over fifty-eight
hundred and those of Bragg about sixty-six hundred, four thousand being
prisoners. But the advantage of the great position had been forever
wrested from the Southern army.
[Illustration: THE BESIEGED