BATTLE ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. 163 cutting their way through the felled trees with which the mountain-side had been covered, under the very muzzles of the Confederate cannon, driving the foe from his camp in the hollow or plateau well up toward the crest, and forcing him around the arable belt toward the Chattanooga Valley. In this work, Cobham's brigade, posted on high ground, did effective service, by pouring destructive volleys from above and behind the Confederates, while Freeland's brigade was rolling them up on the flank. Both were supported, closely and warmly, by the brigades of Whittaker and Creighton. Not knowing to what extent the Confederates might be re-enforced, and fearing a fatal entanglement and disordering of his troops in the mountain, Hooker now directed them to halt. But they could not be restrained. Inspired by their success they pushed on, and notwithstanding their adversaries had been re-enforced, they continued to be irresistible. Two of Osterhaus's regiments, meanwhile, had been sent forward on the Chattanooga road, near the base of the mountain, and the remainder of his division joined Geary. After a little more struggle the plateau was cleared, and from near Craven's house, where the Confederates made their last stand, they were seen flying pell-mell, in utter confusion, down the precipices, ravines, and rugged slopes, toward the Chattanooga Valley. During all the struggle, a battery planted on a little wooded hill on Moccasin Point, under Captain Naylor, had been doing excellent service. It actually dismounted one of the guns in the Confederate battery on the top of Lookout Mountain, nearly fifteen hundred feet above it. It was now about two o'clock in the afternoon. The mountain was completely enveloped in a dense cloud--so dense as to make further movements perilous, if not impossible. All the morning, while the struggle was going on, the mountain was hooded with vapor that went up from the valley, and it was only at intervals, when it broke away, that glimpses of the lines and banners of the Nationals might be caught by straining eyes at Chattanooga 1 This is from a sketch from Cameron's hill, at Chattanooga, made by the writer in May, 1866, in which the ruins of Mr. Cameron's house is seen in the foreground. Below is seen the Tennessee River, winding around Moccasin Point. In the distance, at the center, rises Lookout Mountain, on the face of which the white spot indicates the place of Craven's house, on the plateau. In Lookout Valley, to the right, is the hill on which Hooker was stationed during the fight. Farther to the right are seen the northeastern slopes of Raccoon Mountain. 164 BATTLE ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. and Orchard Knob, where ears, filled with the thunders of battle high in air, were making all hearts anxious. Hooker had been literally fighting in the clouds, and gaining a substantial victory, while all below was doubt and painful suspense. He established his line firmly on the eastern face of the mountain, his right resting on the palisades at the summit, and his left near the mouth of Chattanooga Creek, completely commanding, by an enfilading fire, the line of the Confederate defenses, stretching across the Chattanooga Valley to the Missionaries' Ridge. Communication with Chattanooga was established toward evening, and at sunset General Carlin, with his brigade, joined Hooker, and was placed on his right, to relieve the troops of Geary, exhausted by hours of climbing and fighting. During the night the right was attacked, but the assailants were gallantly repulsed. The assault was to mask the retreat of the Confederates from the top of the mountain, to which they were impelled by the fear of being cut off in the morning from the only road leading down to the Chattanooga Valley. They left behind them, in their haste, twenty thousand rations, the camp and garrison equipage of three brigades, and other war material.' Before daylight, in anticipation of this retreat, parties from several regiments were detached to scale the palisades at some broken point. The Eighth Kentucky were the first to do so, climbing up a narrow, rocky passage, one at a time, for there was no one above to oppose them. At sunrise," in the clear, crisp autumn air, they unfurled the National banner from Pulpit Rock, on the extreme point of the mountain overlooking Chatta • Nov. 25, 1863. PULPIT ROCK. nooga, with cheers that were re-echoed by the troops below. From that "pulpit " Jefferson Davis had harangued his troops only a few days before, when he gave them. assurances that all was well with the Confederacy. This brilliant victory made absolutely secure the navigation of the river from Bridgeport to Chattanooga, the needful highway for supplies for the National army. Nov. 24. While Hooker was fighting on Lookout Mountain, Sherman's troops were crossing the Tennessee above Chattanooga. At one o'clock in the morning, three thousand men embarked on the pontoon boats already mentioned, at the mouth of the North Chickamauga Creek, behind the shelter of Friar's Island. They floated silently down the river, landed some troops above the mouth of the South Chickamauga, to capture Confederate pickets 1 Bragg, in his report, complained of the remissness of General Stevenson, in command on the summit of the mountain, for not rendering assistance to Walthall. He said Stevenson had "six brigades at his disposal." "Upon his urgent appeal," said Bragg, "another brigade was dispatched in the afternoon to his support, though it appears that his own forces had not been brought into action." 2 This shows the character of a portion of the summit of Lookout Mountain, where it abuts upon the Tennessee River. There lie in picturesque confusion immense laminated bowlders, and occasionally columnar PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER BATTLE. 165 there, and then moved in equal silence to a point just below the mouth of the last-named stream. Then the boats, with the assistance of a river steamer and two barges, ferried over troops, and at dawn eight thousand were on the south shore of the Tennessee. These, under the direction of General W. F. Smith, commenced the construction of a pontoon bridge there thirteen hundred and fifty feet long, and also one across the Chickamauga. By noon both bridges were finished, when the rest of Sherman's troops passed over, and in a slight drizzle of rain from the low, hanging clouds, which, as we have seen, hooded Lookout Mountain, proceeded in three columns, en echelon,' to attack the Confederates on the northern end of the Missionaries' Ridge, between the Chickamauga and the tunnel, where the railway passes through. Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon the desired point was gained, after some sharp fighting, and near the tunnel Sherman rested and fortified his position, making it a strong point of departure for the grander movements the next day. In the mean time Colonel Loring, with a brigade of Thomas's cavalry, had been raiding on Bragg's communications with East Tennessee, along the line of the railway between Chattanooga and Cleveland. He burned Tyner's Station, and, pushing on to Cleveland, captured two hundred Confederates, with one hundred wagons, and destroyed the railway station there, a gun-cap factory, and a large amount of stores, gathered for the supply of Longstreet. The night of the 24th was spent in preparations for a great struggle on the morrow. The nearly full moon shone out resplendently in the unclouded sky. Camp-fires blazed along the heights from Lookout Mountain to the Chickamauga. On Bragg's flanks, in strong positions gained by hard struggling, hung two of the most determined fighters in the armies of the Republic. Hooker was on his left, holding the field of victory on Lookout Mountain, and Sherman was on his right, well intrenched, on the north end of the Missionaries' Ridge. There was now an uninterrupted communication between these extremes of Grant's army, Carlin, as we have seen, connecting Hooker with the center, and now Howard, with his (Eleventh) corps, connected that center with Sherman. The head-quarters of the chief were with Thomas, at Orchard Knob. Bragg, in the mean time, had also been preparing for the inevitable encounter. He went to the summit of Lookout Mountain toward sunset, and found, to his dismay, that all the advantages of position at that point were irretrievably lost. He then gave orders for the ground to be disputed until he could withdraw all the troops of his left across Chattanooga Creek to the Missionaries' Ridge. That movement was accomplished during the night, and on Wednesday morning his whole force was concentrated on the Ridge, and extended heavily to the right, to meet what seemed to be the point chosen for the most formidable assault on his lines, and to protect the railway between the Ridge and Dalton, to a • Nov. 25, 1868. masses of rock. Not far from Summertown (a place of summer resort on the top of the mountain), on the road to Lula Falls, is a curious collection of these, called Rock City. Two columnar masses, called the Two Sisters, rising near each other, appear like the huge boundaries of an immense gateway. The left column was that of direction, under General M. L. Smith, and followed the general line of the Chickamauga River. The center, under General J. E. Smith, in columns doubled on the center at full brigade intervals, to the right and rear; and the right was Ewing's column, prepared to deploy to the right, on the supposition that an attack might be made from that direction. 166 BATTLE ON THE MISSIONARIES' RIDGE. which his supplies were sent up from Atlanta. He had placed LieutenantGeneral W. J. Hardee in command of his right wing, facing Sherman, and Major-General J. C. Breckinridge in command of his left, to confront Hooker. That night he evacuated all of his works at the foot of the Ridge, excepting the rifle-pits, and formed a new line on its top. Hooker moved down from Lookout Mountain on the morning of the 25th, and proceeded to cross Chattanooga Valley in the direction of Rossville. There he was delayed until about two o'clock in the afternoon, in consequence of the destruction, by the Confederates, of the bridge over Chattanooga Creek, where the road that wound down from Summertown, on Lookout Mountain, crossed it. As soon as possible Osterhaus's division was thrown across the creek on the timbers of a new bridge the troops were constructing. Pushing on toward Rossville, they drove the Confederates out of the Gap there by a flanking movement, capturing a large quantity of artillery, small-arms, ammunition, wagons, ambulances, and stores that filled Ross's house. In the mean time Hooker's whole force had passed the creek and pushed on toward Rossville. There he set about his prescribed duty of clearing the Ridge of Confederates, who, under the immediate command of General Stewart, were well posted behind intrenchments cast up there by Thomas at the time of the battle of Chickamauga. He sent Osterhaus through the Gap to move parallel with the Ridge on its eastern side. Cruft was ordered to move along its crest, and Geary, with the batteries, marched up the valley at its base on the western side. Bragg's skirmishers were ordered to meet this dangerous movement, when the Ninth Indiana dashed forward, formed a line under a heavy fire, and, charging furiously upon the foe, drove them back to the main body. The remainder of Cruft's column, meanwhile, formed in battle-line and moved forward at a charging pace, Gross's brigade, with the Fifty-first Ohio and Thirty-fifth Indiana of Whittaker's brigade, in advance, closely supported by the remainder of the latter's command. Back, back, back, they steadily pushed the Confederates, their front line, under General Stewart retreating, while fighting, upon the second line, under General Bate, while Geary and Osterhaus were pouring murderous fires upon their flanks. So the half-running fight continued until near sunset, when the Confederates. broke into hopeless confusion and fled. The few who ran down the western slope of the Ridge were captured by Geary, and the many who sought safety in flight down the eastern slope were made prisoners by Osterhaus, full two thousand in number; while those who skurried along the Ridge toward the stronger right, fell into the hands of Johnson's division, of the Fourteenth (Palmer's) Corps, which had been advanced from Chattanooga. Few escaped. Hooker's victory on that part of the field was complete at twilight, and his troops went into bivouac for the night "with cheers and rejoicing."1 While Hooker was thus clearing one portion of the Missionaries' Ridge, Sherman was busy at the other extremity of the battle-line. He had strongly intrenched his position during the night, and, in obedience to 1 Hooker's Report BATTLE ON THE MISSIONARIES' RIDGE. 167 orders, prepared to attack Hardee at daylight, leaving the brigades of General Lightburn and Colonels Cockrell and Alexander to hold his fortified position as his key-point. His order of battle was similar to that of Hooker, sweeping along the crest and flanks of the Ridge. All was in readiness at sunrise, when General Corse, with three of his own regiments and one of Lightburn's, moved forward, while General M. L. Smith and his command. advanced along the eastern base of the Ridge, and Colonel Loomis, with his brigade, supported by two brigades under General J. E. Smith, moved along the western base. Sherman found the ground to be traversed more difficult than he had supposed. Instead of a continuous ridge, there was a chain of hills,' each wooded and well fortified, so that, should one elevation be gained, another equally commanding would confront it. But no difficulties were formidable. to men who had been taught by experience to disregard them; and Corse moved on, the Fortieth Illinois in advance, supported by the Twentieth and Forty-sixth Ohio. They swept rapidly down the hill held by Sherman and up the next eminence to within eighty yards of the Confederate works, where they found, seized, and held a secondary crest. Then Corse called up his reserves and asked for re-enforcements to attempt to carry the posi tion before him, by assault. A severe hand-to-hand struggle ensued, which lasted for an hour, the tide of battle ebbing and flowing with equal success on both sides, and heavy loss on the part of the Nationals, who were subjected to an enfilading fire. Corse was unable to carry the works on his front, and the Confederates were equally unable to drive him from his position. Meanwhile, Smith and Loomis, on each side of the Ridge, were steadily advancing, fighting their way to the Confederate flanks without wavering. A heavy and unexpected artillery fire made the supporting brigades of General J. E. Smith recoil, and gave the impression to the anxious watchers at Chattanooga that Sherman was losing ground. It was not so. The real attacking forces under Corse (who was severely wounded at ten o'clock, and his place taken by Colonel Wolcott, of the Forty-sixth Ohio), M. L. Smith, and Loomis, made no retrograde movement, but held their ground, and struggled "all day persistently, stubbornly, and well." When J. E. Smith's reserves recoiled, the Confederates made a show of pursuit, but were soon struck on their flank and compelled to seek safety in retiring to the shelter of their works on the wooded hills. 2 Up to three o'clock in the afternoon, Sherman had not been able to gain any thing of decisive importance. General Grant, meanwhile, from his position on Orchard Knob, had been watching the progress of the battle, and waiting impatiently for tidings from Hooker, intending, if he should be successful, to order Thomas to advance on the Confederate center. He was ignorant of Hooker's detention at Chattanooga Creek, and expected to hear from him by noon. No tidings came, but when, between one and two o'clock, Grant saw that Bragg was weakening his center to support his right, and believing Hooker to be at or near Rossville, he gave Thomas an order to advance. It was promptly obeyed at two o'clock. The divisions of Wood, Baird, Sheridan, and Johnson moved steadily forward, with a 1 See picture on page 161. 2 General Sherman's Report, December 19. 1863. |