GRANT AT CHATTANOOGA--PERIL OF BURNSIDE--THEIR
CO-OPERATION--LONGSTREET AT LOUDON--BURNSIDE RETREATS AND IS
PURSUED--BATTLE OF CAMPBELL’S STATION--MILITARY CONDITIONS AT
KNOXVILLE--ESCAPE OF LEADING UNIONISTS.
“Once this soft turf, this rivulet’s sands,
Were trampled by a hurrying crowd,
And fiery hearts and armed hands
Encountered in the battle cloud.
Ah! never shall the land forget
How gushed the life-blood of her brave:--
Gushed, warm with hope and courage yet,
Upon the soil they sought to save.”
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
The departure of Longstreet from Bragg against Burnside, taking
with him twenty thousand men, or more, including 5,000 cavalry
under Wheeler occurred on the 4th of November. It was very soon
known at the United States headquarters at Chattanooga and at the
White House in Washington. Grant was eagerly desirous to extend
relief to Burnside, but it was not in his power. That end would
have been gained by inflicting a defeat upon Bragg, against whom
he could not move until joined by Sherman, who was then on his way
with reinforcements from Memphis to Chattanooga. Before Longstreet
started on his expedition, dispatches were constantly coming to
Grant from the alarmed authorities at Washington, urging him to
“do something for Burnside’s relief;” calling attention to the
importance of holding East Tennessee, saying that the President
was much concerned for the protection of the loyal people in that
section, &c., &c. To this statement in Grant’s Personal Memoirs, he
adds: “We had not at Chattanooga animals to pull a single piece of
artillery, much less a supply train. Reinforcements could not help
Burnside, because he had neither supplies nor ammunition sufficient
for them: hardly, indeed, bread and meat for the men he had. There
was no relief possible for him, except by repelling the enemy from
Missionary Ridge and about Chattanooga.”
After Longstreet’s movements began, the Washington authorities were
still more solicitous for the safety of the United States army at
Knoxville, and were importunate by telegraph with Grant to “do
something” to succor it. He was disposed to do all he could for that
purpose. On November 7th, he ordered Gen. Thomas to make “an attack
on the northern end of Missionary Ridge with all the force” he could
“bring to bear upon it, and when that is carried, to threaten and
even attack, if possible, the enemy’s line of communication between
Dalton and Cleveland.” This was with a view to “force the return
of the (Longstreet’s) troops that had gone up the valley.” But
Thomas with his chief engineer, William Farrar Smith, and chief
of artillery, Brannan, looked carefully over the ground, on which
the proposed attack would have to be made. They became convinced
that it was not feasible, and Smith so reported to Grant at once,
and the order was countermanded. In his official report Grant says:
“After a thorough reconnoisance of the ground, it was deemed utterly
impracticable to make the move until Sherman could get up.... I was
forced to leave Burnside for the present to contend against superior
forces of the enemy.” Longstreet on November 13th was still at
Loudon, which he could reach by railroad. Grant thought that probably
he tarried so long at the latter place in obedience to orders, the
point being eligible for the reason, that if necessary, he could
speedily return to the support of Bragg, or otherwise proceed to
Knoxville, 29 miles distant, by the common highway. His presence at
Loudon was definitely known at the last named date.
On the morning of the 14th (Saturday), Gen. Burnside left Knoxville,
accompanied by his visitors, the Hon. Mr. Dana and Col. Wilson, by
the Hon. Horace Maynard and others, to Lenoir’s, five miles east of
Loudon, where they parted from him. He found that Longstreet was
building a bridge from the west to the east bank of the Tennessee
River, at Hough’s Ferry, just below Loudon, and had thrown a force
across in advance of the main body of his army. Burnside sent Gens.
Potter and White to drive it back, which by nightfall they did,
the day being consumed in skirmishing. He had previously proposed
by telegraph to Grant that he, Burnside, should draw Longstreet on
to Knoxville, so as to separate him at a greater distance from his
base, and prevent him from going as quickly as he might from Loudon,
to give help to Bragg, if needed. The suggestion was approved by
Grant, who in reply dispatched to Burnside on the 14th, that Sherman
would be ready to move from Bridgeport towards Chattanooga by the
following Tuesday, 17th, at furthest. Grant’s dispatch continued: “If
you can hold Longstreet in check until he, Sherman, gets up, or by
skirmishing and falling back, can avoid serious loss to yourself, and
gain time, I will be able to force the enemy back from here and place
a force between Longstreet and Bragg that must inevitably make the
former take to the mountain passes by every available road to get to
his supplies.”
General Grant estimated at its true worth the advantage he would
derive in his intended battle of Missionary Ridge, from the absence
of Longstreet and his veteran soldiers. He has written that “the
victory at Chattanooga was accomplished more easily than was expected
by reason of Bragg’s making several grave mistakes,” and the first of
the three, he proceeds to state, was “sending away his ablest corps
commander with over twenty thousand troops.”
General Burnside in his official report, says in connection with a
recital of his first encounter with Longstreet near Loudon: “Knowing
the purpose of Gen. Grant as I did, I decided that he could be
better served by drawing Longstreet farther away from Bragg than by
checking him at the river, and I accordingly decided to withdraw
my forces and retreat leisurely towards Knoxville, and soon after
daylight on the 15th the whole command was on the road.” His object
was attained. As he retired, his adversary pursued, except that
Longstreet sent Wheeler’s cavalry by way of Maryville to seize the
heights on the south side of the river, opposite and commanding
Knoxville. Wheeler surprised and captured at Maryville, the Eleventh
Kentucky. Gen. Parkes with a part of the 23rd corps, and a body of
cavalry under Gen. Sanders had been left at Knoxville to protect
it. Sanders checked the progress of Wheeler and fell back upon the
heights south of the river, where he and Parkes defeated Wheeler, who
retreated to join Longstreet by way of Louisville. To that village,
Longstreet had tried to have boats towed up the Tennessee River, but
the current was too rapid.
New life was given the United States troops at the front by
Burnside’s coming to them. As he went forward, he passed by a large
body of them, near Lenoir’s Station. “Under his slouched hat,” says
one of his observers, “there was a sterner look than there was wont
to be.” “There is trouble ahead,” said the men: but the cheers which
rose from regiment to regiment, as, with his staff and battle flag he
swept past, told the confidence which all felt in “old Burnie.” Their
strong trust in him was also shown when he arrived near Loudon and
took the chief command. One of them relates:
“Notwithstanding the continued rain and the heavy roads, the presence
of our commander produced a noticeable change in the spirit of the
troops. An hour before, the men were deliberately covering themselves
with mud, as if that were an appropriate mourning for their departed
hopes, and their guns seemed naturally to seek a reverse position.
But now they were all animation, and a slip here and a fall there,
was made the cause of laughing, notwithstanding the rain. I think the
secret of it was, that we reposed in our leader an almost perfect
confidence resulting from long and tried associations. Few corps
commanders have ever won the affection of their men as Burnside did.”
The retreating march on the 15th was made with difficulty. Clouded
heavens in the morning, soon gave forth heavy rain, followed by a
cold north wind. The roads were almost impassable. Regiments of
infantry had often to pull the artillery with ropes from out of
the deep, stiff mud in which it stuck. Now and then, horses were
held fast by the tough, clay soil, until a detail of men came to
their deliverance. Soldiers lost their shoes in it, and on running
back to recover them were greeted by the merry laughter of their
companions. At Lenoir’s, the army halted for the night of Sunday. The
air was bitter cold. To avoid observation only one fire was allowed
to each company. The hours of darkness passed away in broken rest
and petty alarms. In the early morning, one hundred wagons, whose
mules were needed to draw the artillery, and also as much of the
supplies--bacon, coffee, sugar--as the soldiers could not carry,
were burned. Officers’ baggage, books--everything that could not
well be transported--were destroyed. The trains were started for
Knoxville, guarded by the 79th New York Highlanders. Then a number of
military divisions and the artillery, moved forward to the village of
Campbell’s Station, eight miles distant. A brigade guarded the rear,
and at one time was severely pressed by its enemies, until it turned
and drove them back. In the struggle. Col. Smith of the 20th Michigan
was killed at the head of his regiment after most able conduct.
Not far west of Campbell’s Station another highway from Kingston
forms a junction with the road they traveled. It was believed
that Longstreet would try to reach that point first, in order to
cut Burnside off from Knoxville. Therefore, the latter sent Gen.
Hartraupt with his division and Col. Biddle’s cavalry, in advance to
the fork of the roads. They were successful in anticipating their
foes, and held the point of junction until all the United States
troops and their trains had passed, but not without some fighting.
Among their losses by death, was one specially lamented, that of
Lieut. P. Marion Holmes, of Charlestown, Mass., a member of the
Bunker Hill Club, who bore on his person its badge, engraved with the
line,
“_Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori_,”
quoted by Warren just before the battle of Bunker Hill. He is
described as “frank, courteous, manly, brave; one who had won all
hearts.”
While that contest was going on, Col. Loring reconnoitered the ground
near Campbell’s Station and Gen. Potter planted his artillery there.
Gen. Burnside also proceeded to dispose his troops at the village for
battle, as he felt it to be necessary to check his enemy in order
that his own trains might get to Knoxville. His infantry was drawn
up in line between two ranges of hills nearly a mile apart. Gen.
Ferrero’s division. Ninth corps, was placed on the right of the road.
Gen. White’s division, Twenty-third corps, held the centre, and Gen.
Hartraupt’s division. Ninth corps, was on his left. The batteries
were chiefly on the right of the road, only one of the five being
on its left. At noon Longstreet’s troops advanced out of the woods
to the attack in two lines of battle, with a line of skirmishers
in front. As the whole field of action lay exposed, the panorama
was very interesting for its scenic effect. When the Confederate
troops had emerged from the forest, their heavy and well-dressed
ranks went forward rapidly with colors flying. Benjamin’s battery
on Burnside’s right and Roemer’s battery on his left, opened fire
upon them immediately with shot, which tore gaps in their ranks, but
their line closed up, and they still advanced. Then the batteries,
with accuracy, poured forth shell, which broke them up so badly
that nothing else could be done but to fall back, which they did in
confusion. The Confederate batteries were brought into service and
played with some precision upon the Union infantry, and an artillery
duel ensued that made the very hills tremble.[35]
Under cover of the smoke and the woods a strong column moved against
and pressed a brigade of Burnside’s right, which changed its front,
and by its resistance, with the aid of double charges of canister
shot from artillery at short range, his enemy’s column was checked,
and retreated.
Longstreet then maneuvred to turn the Federal left. As there was
some high ground on that hand, commanding Burnside’s position, which
he saw his enemy was endeavoring to occupy, and he could not, for
lack of men, extend his own line to prevent the threatened movement,
he moved his troops and established a new line upon a ridge nearly
three-fourths of a mile to the rear. This was done under a heavy
artillery fire from his enemy, but with no disorder. It was about
4 P. M. Quickly a fierce attack was made upon the new line, not in
front, but flank and rear, at the extreme left. That was handsomely
repulsed. His enemy went back in disorder, and did not renew the
fight. The United States troops were much elated by their success
against odds, Burnside having had only about five thousand men in
the battle, and his adversary from two to three times that number.
He states in his official report: “Our loss in killed, wounded and
missing was about three hundred, and that of the enemy must have
been very severe, as he was the attacking force.”[36] The “Rebellion
Record” extols the military maneuvres of both armies for skill and
beauty--as showing admirable discipline. Although comparatively an
insignificant fight, “it certainly will rank among those contests in
which real generalship was displayed. Every motion, every evolution,
was made with the precision and regularity of the precision on a
chess-board.” The result was decisive. Burnside’s line of retreat was
saved, and he was given the few precious hours that were absolutely
necessary to further fortify, and so, to hold Knoxville.
To that town, fifteen miles distant from Campbell’s Station, the
United States troops moved off silently, as soon as night fell.
During the night before at Lenoir’s, following upon a day of
weariness and anxiety, neither officers nor men had slept. No one
could speak to his fellow, and in the thick darkness through the
long, long night, they lay on their arms waiting for the morning,
which ushered in a day of hard fighting. When that was ended, their
soldierly patience and power of physical endurance were subjected to
the additional test of marching over very muddy roads for another
dark night. Some of them fell asleep from utter weariness as they
walked, but without losing their places in the ranks. About four
o’clock on the morning of Monday, November 17th, they reached
their destination. In the night, General Burnside arrived at his
headquarters.
In the afternoon of the preceding Saturday startling rumors were
circulated in Knoxville, that a considerable body of Confederate
cavalry had appeared on the south side of the river opposite the
town, and had attacked Col. Woolford with success, capturing a
portion of his regiment. It was said, “they are rapidly moving upon
the town,” “they are already at Rockford, only nine or ten miles away
and still coming.” At the same time Gen. Shackelford could be seen
with his staff upon Gay Street, riding towards the pontoon bridge,
which had been transferred from the Tennessee river at Loudon, and
thrown across it at Knoxville. Placed by Gen. Burnside in command
of all the cavalry, the reason of his then taking the field was the
arrival of Gen. Wheeler, sent by Gen. Longstreet from Loudon to take
possession of the heights on the south side of the river opposite
Knoxville. Considering the importance and peril of Gen. Shackelford’s
errand, he appeared to a citizen observer, cool and calm to the point
of indifference. Readers of romantic fiction and lovers of American
chivalry, are accustomed to associate with their ideas of the warrior
and hero a gay, prancing steed, of fiery temper and proud head. The
horse he rode was a gentle, well-conditioned pacer, with a short
tail, and the _tout ensemble_ of such a quadruped, capable of
serving equally well any and every member of a family. The chief of
cavalry himself, as he rode along the street, was composedly smoking
one of the short-stemmed pipes which were extensively used by the
soldiers. As the conflict on the south side ended in possession of
its hills being retained by the Federal troops, the unpleasant fears
Union citizens felt concerning the capture of the town were shortly
dispelled: but with the morrow similar apprehensions were aroused
among a few leading public men upon being informed of Longstreet’s
advance with his main army and of Burnside’s retreat upon Knoxville.
[Illustration: MAJ. GEN. S. P. CARTER.]
General Saml. P. Carter was of course advised of those movements
and was strongly impressed, as well he may have been, with the
imminent danger there was, that the United States army with only
12,000 men, would be unable to hold the town against 20,000 men
including cavalry. In his regard for the safety of certain prominent
Union citizens, he sent them word of the disastrous contingency
shortly ahead, and, if they chose to escape the consequences of its
occurrence, that he would provide them an escort as far as expedient
on their way to the more favored clime of Kentucky. At such a time,
men whose active locomotion may deliver them from imprisonment that
might end in death, are apt to
“Stand not upon the order of their going,
But go at once.”
Their dislike to travel night and day by wretched roads, over
mountains and unbridged rivers, and their sensitiveness to ridicule
for imputed cowardice, are not strong enough to overcome their love
of personal liberty and life. Many or all of them who received the
Provost Marshal General’s message--some of whom were of less note but
still liable to violent treatment if they were captured--speedily
took their leave of home and its comforts and were conducted by Capt.
A. J. Ricks, eight miles to the picket lines. Among the refugees were
John Baxter, William G. Brownlow, Samuel R. Rodgers, Thos. A. R.
Nelson, O. P. Temple, John M. Fleming, Samuel Morrow and M. M. Miller
of Knoxville, and John Netherland and Absalom A. Kyle of Rogersville.
It was after nightfall and raining heavily when they started, and
their transit on horseback through the darkness upon a road shortly
before traveled and reduced to mire by 6,000 or 7,000 hogs that
had been brought in to supply the army, could not fail to attract
attention from people of the country through which they passed.[37]
Despite all perils and difficulties the journey was at length safely
accomplished.
The company thus delivered from impending harm, might have been
joined at the start by some other citizens of less prominence, had
they been included in the message and given an opportunity to depart.
One of that description had been informed in succession by his
personal friends of both parties, that it was intended, if the town
fell into the hands of Longstreet, to seize and hold him as hostage
for a contumacious enemy of the United States whom Gen. Burnside had
found it necessary to send to Camp Chase. He gave no heed to the
warning, because he rested in his strong impression of the town’s
security from enemies, but this mental persuasion was disturbed on
the afternoon preceding the exodus of noted public men, as just
related. Passing along the street in utter ignorance of events then
transpiring between the hostile armies not far from Loudon, he met
a fellow-citizen of capricious loyalty, who had been known as a
“Southern man” during the Confederate _regime_, but was understood
to have publicly thanked the Lord upon the advent of Gen. Burnside’s
army, for “bringing in our friends.” In the conversation that ensued
on the street, the person of versatile opinions indulged in such
fault-finding with the United States Government, its policy, &c., as
to suggest a strong suspicion that he was adapting his sails to a
contrary wind. Acting upon this conjecture, the citizen who had been
forewarned of his danger if the town should change its masters, went
immediately to the house of Gen. Carter, and found his staff in a
state of unusual excitement. In reply to his question, “What is the
matter?” the visitor was told, “Longstreet is marching upon Knoxville
with, it is said, 20,000 men. Burnside is retreating from Loudon,
fighting as he comes. We do not know what is going to happen.” Said
the citizen, “I have been told that I had better get out of the town
in the event it is to be captured. Should anything more of importance
occur, I shall be glad to know it.” After night, a few hours later,
two gentlemen called on him. They were aides, one of whom said, “We
have been sent by Gen. Carter to say, that you must leave town for
Kentucky early to-morrow morning.”
After a night’s deliberation, though very loth to leave home, wife
and children, he decided that the direction of his military friend
called for some obedience, and with reluctant mind and slow hands
he made preparations for the journey. These were not completed
before the second morning, but when all was ready he decided, before
starting, to say “good-bye” to Gen. Burnside. Near a large gate that
opened from the street upon a wide yard in front of headquarters,
the Commander-in-chief was found about to mount his horse. His brows
were knit, stern determination sat upon his face, and his whole soul
seemed to be wrapped in earnest self-communion. The fighting had
begun west of the town between his troops and Longstreet’s and he was
on the eve of starting to the front. The citizen saw at once that
then was not the time to speak. He was content to keep at a distance
and thoughtfully contemplate the man to whom the moment was evidently
a supreme one. Perhaps it was a critical one in the destiny of many
people in the region for whose defence the General had been appointed.
The civilian may be forgiven, if as he stood and looked at the man
of war going forth to conflict, he should be reminded of Job’s words
descriptive of the war horse:
“He goeth on to meet the armed men,
He mocketh at fear and is not affrighted,
Neither turneth he back from the sword.”
As the citizen stood and looked, there came upon him the irresistible
conviction that Burnside would hold the town! Immediately turning
upon his heel, he went home and sent to the stable the horses which
were waiting to take him to Kentucky.