NEW RESPONSIBILITIES--CHATTANOOGA
Halleck, issuing orders from Washington, proceeded to disperse Grant's
army hither and yon as he thought fractions of it to be needed. Grant
wanted to move on Mobile from Lake Pontchartrain, but was not permitted
to do it. Having gone to New Orleans in obedience to a necessity of
conference with General Banks, he suffered a severe injury by the fall
of a fractious horse, as he was returning from a review of Banks's army.
For a long time he was unconscious. As soon as he could be moved he was
taken on a bed to a steamer. For several days after reaching Vicksburg
he was unable to leave his bed. Meantime he was repeatedly called upon
to send reinforcements to Rosecrans, in Chattanooga, to which place the
latter had retreated after the repulse of his army at Chickamauga,
September 19 and 20. On October 3, Grant was directed to go to Cairo and
report by telegraph to the Secretary of War as soon as he was able to
take the field. He started on the same day, ill as he still was. On
arriving in Cairo he was ordered to proceed to Louisville. He was met at
Indianapolis by Secretary Stanton, whom he had never before seen, and
they proceeded together.
On the train Secretary Stanton handed him two orders, telling him to
take his choice of them. Both created the military division of the
Mississippi, including all the territory between the Alleghanies and the
Mississippi River, north of General Banks's department, and assigning
command of it to Grant. One order left the commanders of the three
departments, the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, as they were,
the other relieved General Rosecrans, commanding the Army of the
Cumberland, and assigned Gen. George H. Thomas to his place. General
Grant accepted the latter. This consolidation was a late compliance
with his earnest, unselfish counsel given before the Vicksburg campaign.
Its wisdom had become apparent.
The centre of interest and anxiety now was Chattanooga, in East
Tennessee, near the border of Georgia. The Confederates had been
striving to retrieve the ground lost, since the fall of Fort Henry, by
pushing northward in this direction. Halleck's dispersion of forces had
sent Buell to this section, and Buell had been superseded by Rosecrans,
a zealous and patriotic but unfortunate commander. The repulse at
Chickamauga might have proved disastrous to his army but for the
splendid behavior of the division under General Thomas, an officer not
unlike Grant in the mould of his military talent, who there earned the
sobriquet, "The Rock of Chickamauga."
The army of Rosecrans had been gathered again at Chattanooga, where it
was confronted by Bragg, whose force surrounded it in an irregular
semicircle from the Tennessee River to the river again, occupying
Missionary Ridge on one flank and Lookout Mountain on the other, with
its centre where these two ridges come nearly together. Chattanooga was
in the valley between, near the centre of which, behind the town, was an
elevation, Orchard Knob, held by the enemy. Bragg commanded the river
and the railroads. The route for supplies was circuitous, inadequate,
and insecure, over mountain roads that had become horrible. Horses and
mules had perished by thousands. The soldiers were on half rations. Word
came to Grant in Louisville, that Rosecrans was contemplating a retreat.
He at once issued an order assuming his new command, notified Rosecrans
that he was relieved, and instructed Thomas to hold the place at all
hazards until he reached the front.
Still so lame that he could not walk without crutches, and had to be
carried in arms over places where it was not safe to go on horseback, he
left Louisville on the 21st of October, and reached Chattanooga on the
evening of the 23d. Then began a work of masterly activity and
preparation, in which his genius again asserted its supreme quality.
Sherman with his army was ordered to join Grant. In five days the river
road to Bridgeport was opened, the enemy being driven from the banks,
two bridges were built, and Hooker's army added to his force. The enemy,
having a much superior force, and assuming the surrender of the Army of
the Cumberland to be only a question of time and famine, sent Longstreet
with 15,000 men to reinforce the army of Johnston, holding Burnside in
Knoxville, to the relief of whom the enemy supposed Sherman to be
marching. Grant waited for Sherman, who was coming on between Longstreet
and Bragg. All general orders for the battle were prepared in advance,
except their dates. Sherman reached Chattanooga on the evening of the
15th, and with Grant inspected the field on the 16th. Sherman's army,
holding the left, was to cross to the south side of the river and assail
Missionary Ridge. Hooker, on the right, was to press through from
Lookout valley into Chattanooga valley. Thomas, in the centre, was to
press forward through the valley and strike the enemy's centre while
his wings were thus fully engaged, or as soon as Hooker's support was
available.
The battle began on the afternoon of October 23. Orchard Knob, in the
centre of the great amphitheatre, was attacked and captured, and became
the Union headquarters. On the 24th Sherman crossed the river and
established his army, on the north end of Missionary Ridge. On the
morning of the same day Hooker assailed Lookout Mountain, and after a
long climbing fight, lasting far into the night, secured his position;
and the enemy, who had occupied the mountain, retreated across the
valley at its upper end to Missionary Ridge. Grant's forces were now in
touch from right to left. Everything so far had gone well.
Early on the next morning Sherman opened the attack. The ridge in his
front was exceedingly favorable for defense, and during the whole night
the enemy had been at work strengthening the position. Sherman's first
assault failed, but he continued pressing the enemy with resolution,
although making little progress. From Grant's place on Orchard Knob he
watched the struggle. At three o'clock he saw Sherman's right repulsed.
Then he gave to Thomas, standing at his side, the order to advance. Six
guns were fired as a signal, and the Army of the Cumberland moved
forward in splendid array to avenge Chickamauga. The immediate purpose
was to carry the rebel rifle pits at the foot of the Ridge. This done,
the soldiers were subjected to a galling fire from the line 800 feet
above them. As by inspiration, they rushed on, climbing as they could,
by aid of rocks and bushes, and using their guns as staves. They reached
the crest and swept it in a mighty fury. It was the decisive action. All
the columns now converged on the distracted foe who fled before them.
Grant galloped to the front with all speed, urging on the pursuit and
exposing himself to every hazard of the fight.
So Chattanooga was added to Grant's lengthening score of brilliant
victories; and again, as at Donelson and at Vicksburg, he had been the
instrument of relieving a tense oppression of anxiety that had settled
upon the nation. Sherman, with two corps, was at once sent to the relief
of Knoxville; but Longstreet, having heard of Bragg's defeat, made an
unsuccessful assault and retreated into Virginia. By the administration
in Washington, and by the people of the North, General Grant's
preëminence was conceded. His star shone brightest of all. Congress
voted a gold medal for him.