Catching as accurate an idea of the ground as was possible by the dim light of morning, he saw that his line of attack was in the direction of Missionary Ridge, with wings supporting on either flank. A valley lay between him and the next hill of the series, and this latter presented steep sides; the one to the west partially cleared, the other covered with the native forest. The crest of the ridge was narrow and wooded. The further point of the hill was held by the enemy with a breastwork of logs and fresh earth, filled with men and mounting two guns. The enemy was also seen in great force on a still higher hill beyond the tunnel, giving a plunging fire on the ground in dispute. The gorge between, through which several roads and the railway tunnel pass, could not be seen from Sherman's position, but formed the natural citadel where the enemy covered his masses, to resist the contemplated movement to turn his right and endanger his communications with the depot at Chickamauga.

The brigades of Colonel Cockerell, of Ewing's division, Colonel Alexander, of John E. Smith's, and General Lightburn, of Morgan L. Smith's divisions, were to hold their hill as the key point; General Corse, with as much of his brigade of Ewing's division as could operate along the narrow ridge, was to attack from the right centre; General Lightburn was to dispatch a regiment from his position to co-operate with General Corse; and General Morgan L. Smith was to move along the east base of Missionary Ridge, connecting with General Corse, and Colonel Loomis, of Ewing's division, in like manner, to move along the west base, supported by Matthias' and Baum's brigades, of John E. Smith's division, in reserve.

The sun had already risen before General Corse had completed his preparations, and his bugle sounded the "forward." The Fortieth Illinois, supported by the Forty-sixth Ohio, on the right centre, with the Twentieth Ohio, Colonel Jones, moved down the face of the hill, and up that held by the enemy. The line advanced to within about eighty yards of the intrenched position, where General Corse found a secondary crest which he gained and held. To this point he called

his reserves, and asked for reinforcements, which were sent, but the space was narrow, and it was not well to crowd the men, as the enemy's artillery and musketry fire swept the approach. As soon as General Corse had made his preparations he assaulted, and a close, severe contest ensued, lasting more than an hour, giving and losing ground, but never the position first obtained, from which the enemy in vain attempted to drive him. General Morgan L. Smith steadily gained ground on the left spur of Missionary Ridge, and Colonel Loomis got abreast of the tunnel and the railroad embankment on his side, drawing the enemy's fire, and to that extent relieving the assaulting party on the hill-crest. Captain Calander had four of his guns on General Ewing's hill, and Captain Wood his battery of Napoleon guns on General Lightburn's; and two guns of Dillon's battery were with Colonel Alexander's brigade. The day was bright and clear. The columns of the enemy were streaming towards Sherman, and the enemy's artillery poured its concentric fire upon him from every hill and spur that gave a view of any part of his position. All Sherman's batteries directed their fire as carefully as possible to clear the hill to the front without endangering our own men. The fight raged furiously about ten A. M., when General Corse received a severe wound, and was carried off the field, and the command of the brigade, and of the assault at that key-point, devolved on Colonel Wolcott, of the Forty-sixth Ohio, who continued the contest, pressing forward at all points. Colonel Loomis had made good progress to the right; and at about two P. M. General John E. Smith, judging the battle to be severe on the hill, and being required to support General Ewing, ordered Colonel Baum's and General Matthias' brigades across the fields to the disputed summit. They moved up under a heavy fire of cannon and musketry, and joined Colonel Wolcott, but the crest was so narrow that they necessarily occupied the west face of the hill. The enemy at the time being massed in great strength in the tunnel gorge, moved a large force, under cover of the ground and the thick bushes, and suddenly appeared on the right and rear of this

command. The two reserve brigades of John E. Smith's division, being thus surprised, and exposed as they were in the open ground, fell back in some disorder to the lower end of the field, and reformed. This movement, seen from Chattanooga, five miles distant, gave rise to the report that Sherman was repulsed on the left. The enemy made a show of pursuit, but were caught in flank by the well-directed fire of the brigade on the wooded crest, and hastily sought cover behind the hill. About three P. M., a white line of musketry fire in front of Orchard Knoll, extending further right and left and front, and a faint echo of sound, satisfied Sherman that General Thomas was moving on the centre. The attack on the left had drawn vast masses of the enemy to that flank, so that the result on the centre was comparatively assured.

The advancing line of musketry fire from Orchard Knoll disappeared behind a spur of the hill, and could no longer be seen, and it was not until night closed that Sherman knew that Thomas had swept across Missionary Ridge, and broken the enemy's centre.

The victory was won, and pursuit was the next step. Sherman ordered General Morgan L. Smith to feel the tunnel, which was found vacant, save by the commingled dead and wounded of both armies.

The reserve of General Jefferson C. Davis was ordered to march at once, by the pontoon bridge across the Chickamauga at its mouth, and push forward for the depot. General Howard had reported to Sherman, in the early part of the day, with the remainder of his corps, the Eleventh, and had been posted to connect the left with Chickamauga Creek. He was ordered to repair an old broken bridge about two miles up the Chickamauga, and to follow General Davis at four A. M. The Fifteenth Army Corps was to march at daylight. But General Howard found the repairs too difficult, and all were compelled to cross the Chickamauga on the new pontoon bridge. By eleven A. M., Jefferson C. Davis' division appeared at the depot, just in time to see it in flames. He entered with one brigade, and found the enemy occupying two hills partially in

trenched just beyond the depot. These he soon drove away. Corn-meal and corn, in huge burning piles, broken wagons, abandoned caissons, two thirty-two pounder rifled guns with carriages burned, pieces of pontoons, balks, chesses, etc., destined for the invasion of Kentucky, and all manner of things, were found burning and broken. A good supply of forage for the horses, and meal, beans, and the like, for the men, were also discovered in good condition.

Pausing but a short while, Sherman pressed forward, the road lined with broken wagons and. abandoned caissons, till night. Just as the head of his column emerged from a dense, miry swamp, it encountered the rear-guard of the retreating army. The fight was sharp, but the night closed in so dark that our troops could not move. Here Sherman was overtaken by General Grant.

At daylight the march was resumed, and at Greysville, where a good bridge spanned the Chickamauga, the Fourteenth Corps of General Palmer was met on the south bank. From him Sherman learned that General Hooker was on a road still further south. His guns could be heard near Ringgold. As the roads were filled with all the troops they could accommodate, Sherman then turned to the east to fulfil another part of the general plan, by breaking up all communications between Bragg and Longstreet.

General Howard was ordered to move to Parker's Gap, and thence send a competent force to Red Clay, or the Council Ground, and there destroy a large section of the railway which connects Dalton and Cleveland. This work was most successfully and completely performed that day. The division of General Jefferson C. Davis was moved up close to Ringgold, to assist General Hooker, if needed, and the Fifteenth Corps held at Greysville, to take advantage of circumstances. About noon a message came from General Hooker, saying that he had had a hard fight at the mountain pass just beyond Ringgold, and wanted Sherman to come forward and turn the position. Howard, by passing through Parker's Gap towards Red Clay, had already done so. Sherman therefore rode

forward to Ringgold, to find that the enemy had fallen back to Tunnel Hill, abandoned the valley of Chickamauga and the State of Tennessee, and was descending the southern slopes, whose waters flow to the Atlantic and the Gulf.

At Ringgold Sherman again met General Grant, and received orders, after breaking up the railroad between that point and the State line, to move slowly back to Chattanooga.

On the following day, the Fifteenth Corps effectually destroyed the railroad from a point half-way between Greysville and Ringgold, back to the State line; and General Grant, coming to Greysville, consented that, instead of returning to Chattanooga, Sherman might send back his artillery, wagons, and impediments, and make a circuit to the north as far as the Hiawassee River.

Accordingly, on the morning of November 29th, General Howard moved from Parker's Gap to Cleveland, General Davis by way of McDaniel's Gap, and General Blair, with two divisions of the Fifteenth Army Corps, by way of Julian's Gap; all meeting at Cleveland that night. Here another effectual break was made in the Cleveland and Dalton road. On the 30th, the army moved to Charleston, General Howard approaching so rapidly that the enemy evacuated in haste, leaving the bridge but partially damaged, and five car-loads of flour and provisions on the north bank of the Hiawassee.

The losses in Sherman's own corps during this brief campaign were as follows: Osterhaus' first division, 87 killed, 344 wounded, and 66 missing; M. L. Smith's second division, 10 killed, 90 wounded, and 2 missing; John E. Smith's third division, 89 killed, 288 wounded, and 122 missing; Ewing's fourth division, 72 killed, 535 wounded, and 21 missing; total, 258 killed, 1,257 wounded, and 211 missing. The loss in Jefferson C. Davis' division of the Fourteenth Corps was small. Bushbeck's brigade of the Eleventh Corps lost 37 killed, 145 wounded, 81 missing; total, 263. Among the killed were Colonels Putnam of the Ninety-third Illinois, O'Meara of the Ninetieth Illinois, Torrence of the Thirtieth Iowa, LieutenantColonel Taft of the Eleventh Corps, and Major Bushnell of