troops could take Chattanooga, the Confederacy would be not only cut off from the Mississippi Valley, but would also be in danger of an attack in the rear.

Rose

Heavy rains made the roads almost impassable, so that Rosecrans could move but slowly. Instead of waiting to fight in Tennessee, as Rosecrans expected, Bragg fell back before him to Bridgeport, in Alabama, losing many men by desertion in the retreat. Rosecrans followed, repairing the railroad as he went, and bringing forward his supplies. Bragg then crossed the Tennessee River, and made his way to Chattanooga. crans, not feeling strong enough to attack him there, moved around the Confederate left as if he were going to leave Chattanooga and march into Georgia. In the first part of September, General Crittenden was at Wauhatchie (see map), General Thomas at Trenton, and General McCook at Valley Head. Το keep Rosecrans from moving on Rome and Atlanta, Bragg gave up Chattanooga, and fell back to Lafayette. Rosecrans, having thus manoeuvred his enemy out of Chattanooga, took possession of that place, and leaving a brigade to hold it, prepared to pursue Bragg, whom he thought to be retreating. But Bragg, who had been joined by Buckner's army and other reinforcements, and who knew that Longstreet was on his way to him from Virginia, had made up his mind to fight, and was moving toward the Union forces.

On the morning of September 19 the two armies were opposite each other in the valley of the Chickamauga, a little stream which flows northwardly until it empties into the Tennessee above Chattanooga. In the language of the Indians who used to live among these mountains, Chickamauga means the River of Death. It was probably so called from its stagnant waters, which move so sluggishly as to make its neighborhood sickly, but it was soon to have another reason for its name. Bragg's plan of battle was to drive back Rosecrans's left, so as to get between him and Chattanooga. The battle began about ten o'clock and lasted all day, with no gain for either side, the Confederates failing to get possession of the road leading to Chattanooga. About midnight Longstreet arrived, and was given command of the left wing of Bragg's army, while Polk commanded the right wing. In the Union army McCook held the right, opposite Longstreet, Crittenden the centre,

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The morning of September 20 opened with a thick mist, which hid the whole valley. But about ten o'clock this was driven away by the sun, and the struggle began. The battle was fought with great bravery on both sides. Thomas repulsed Polk's attack, but the Union right, where Rosecrans himself was, was badly beaten by Longstreet. The right and centre of the Union army broke and fled in confusion to Chattanooga. Rosecrans lost his presence of mind, and riding to Chattanooga telegraphed to Washington that his army had been defeated. Meanwhile Thomas held his position firmly. Sheridan suc

ceeded in rallying some of the fugitives and joined him. In vain the Confederates assailed him, but he repelled every attack until sunset, when the battle ended. Under cover of the night Thomas withdrew in good order to Rossville (see map), where he remained during the next day; but he was not attacked again, and that evening he fell back to Chattanooga, where the rest of the army was.

The battle of Chickamauga thus ended in a great victory for the Confederates, but it was not worth much to them, as Rosecrans still held Chattanooga. The losses of the two armies were very nearly equal, about seventeen thousand on each side. All the Union dead and wounded were left in the hands of the Confederates, who took also many prisoners, fifty cannons, and about fifteen thousand small-arms.

Among the incidents of Chickamauga the story of Johnny Clem is one of the most interesting. He was an Ohio boy, but was a volunteer in the Twenty-second Michigan, and was only twelve years old. He was with his regiment in the thickest of

1863.]

GRANT SUCCEEDS ROSECRANS.

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the fight, and had three bullets through his hat. During the confusion he became separated from his comrades, and was running, gun in hand, across an open space, when a Confederate colonel on horseback rode after him, shouting: "Stop! you little Yankee devil!" Johnny, seeing that his pursuer would head him off, halted, and brought his musket to an order. The officer rode up to make him a prisoner, but in an instant the boy threw up his gun and fired, instantly killing the colonel. For this deed he was made a sergeant, and put on duty at headquarters. The picture, which is from a photograph taken after the war, shows him in the act of bringing up his gun to fire.

Rosecrans fortified Chattanooga, and made his position so strong that Bragg could not safely attack it; so the Confederate commander made

The autumn storms had begun, and the mud was so deep in the roads that travel was almost an impossibility; but, wrote one of the soldiers, "we get along pretty well by stepping from mule to mule as they lie dead by the way."

After the sad news from Chickamauga the government saw that something must be done at once to save Rosecrans's army, thus cooped up in Chattanooga. The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac were sent, under command of General Hooker, to Tennessee, and the three Departments of the Ohio (Burnside's), of the Cumberland (Rosecrans's), and of the Tennessee (Grant's), were made into the Military Division of the Mississippi, and the whole command given to General Grant. To General Thomas was given the command of the

Army of the Cumberland, in place of Rosecrans, who was sent to Missouri, and to General Sherman that of the Army of the Tennessee. Grant telegraphed to Thomas to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards," and started for that place. Thomas replied: "I will hold the town until we starve." Grant arrived on the 23d of October, and at once began operations to relieve the place. Within four days he had got possession of the Tennessce River to Bridgeport, and opened a road by which provisions could be sent safely into Chattanooga. A little steamboat, which the soldiers had built, soon began to run regularly from Bridgeport with supplies, and thus Bragg's plan of starving out the army was defeated. He tried to get back what he had lost by a night attack on the Union troops, but after a three hours' fight was driven back with heavy loss.

Bragg's army was somewhat weakened in the first part of November. In the last of October, President Davis had made a visit to Bragg's camp. Thinking that the Union army was safely shut up in Chattanooga, he ordered Longstreet to go with his division to Tennessee to try to take Knoxville, which was then held by General Burnside. It will be remembered that Burnside, after leaving the Army of the Potomac, had been sent to take command of the Department of the Cumberland. His army of about twenty thousand men was stationed near Richmond, Kentucky, but in August, when Rosecrans moved toward Chattanooga, he marched across the mountains into East Tennessee. On the 9th of September he took Knoxville, with two thousand prisoners and fourteen cannons, Buckner, the Confederate commander, going southward to join Bragg's army. It was to retake this place and to regain possession of East Tennessee that Longstreet was sent northward early in November. When Grant heard of this movement he sent word to Burnside to hold his position firmly, and promised to send aid as soon as he could.

On the 15th of November, Grant was joined by General Sherman, who had marched his army across from Iuka. Grant had then about eighty thousand men, while Bragg did not have more than fifty thousand. The situation of the two armies may be understood by looking at the map on page 377. Chattanooga, as will be seen, lies on the south side of the Tennessee River, in the mouth of the Chattanooga Valley, named from