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

• 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.

1 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.

In

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. 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.'

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 position 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 posi tion. 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. 1968.

168

THE MISSIONARIES' RIDGE CARRIED.

double line of skirmishers in front, followed at a short distance by the whole body. Pressing in a continuous line, they created such a panic among the occupants of the rifle-pits at the base of the Ridge, that they fled precipitately toward the crest, swarming up the hill-side, Grant said, "like bees from a hive." The Nationals stopped but for a moment to re-form, when, inspired by an irresistible impulse, they pushed vigorously forward up the steep and

rugged declivities in pursuit, in the face of a terrible storm of grape and canister-shot from about thirty guns on the summit, and from murderous volleys of musketry in the well-filled rifle-pits at the crest.' But the

1 In a letter to his father, written by a friend of the author (Isaac N. Merritt, of the Eighty-ninth Illinois, known as "the Railroad Regiment"), a few weeks after the battle on the Missionaries' Ridge, he said: "The storming of the ridge by our troops was one of the greatest marvels in military history. No one who climbs the ascent by any of the roads that wind along its front can believe that eighteen thousand men were moved simultaneously upon its broken and uneven surface, unless it was his fortune to witness that daring deed. It seemed as awful as the visible interposition of God. Neither Generals Grant nor Thomas intended it. Their orders were to carry the rifle-pits along the base of the Ridge and cut off their occupants; but when this was accomplished, the unaccountable spirit of the troops bore them bodily up the impassable steeps over the bristling rifle-pits on the hill's crest, and cannon enfilading every gully. The orders to storm appear to have been quite simultaneous by Generals Sheridan and Wood, because the men could not be held back, hopeless as the attempt appeared to military prudence, with any prospect of success. The generals caught the inspiration of the men, and were ready themselves to undertake impossibilities and run fearful risks for the chances of glorious and undying gains."

General Hazen, in a letter to the author, says: "The men of Willich's and my brigades commenced running forward for security under the Ridge, but as they reached it they commenced its ascent. I then gave the order, 'Forward!' and sent my staff officers to carry everybody forward up the Ridge. The fire we passed through was

BRAGG RETREATS TO RINGGOLD.

169

Nationals did not waver for a moment. They pressed on, and Lieutenant. Colonel Langdon, of the First Ohio, with a group of men of his own regi ment and several others, who were foremost in the chase, sprang forward and made the first lodgment on the hill-top, within five hundred yards of Bragg's head-quarters, with shouts that were repeated by thousands of voices. This gap in the Confederate line speedily widened as the assailants pressed up, and it was not long before the entire battle-line of the Missionaries' Ridge was in possession of the Union troops, with all the Confederate cannon and ammunition, and many of the soldiers in the trenches; and the captured artillery was soon playing fearfully upon the defeated columns with an enfilading fire. Sherman soon drove the Confederates from his front, when the battle ceased at that end of the line; but the divisions of Wood and Baird, on the right, were obstinately resisted until dark, for the Confederates in their front were re-enforced from Bragg's right. Yet these were steadily pressed back; and at the edge of the evening they fled in haste, Breckinridge barely escaping capture. Thus ended THE BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA, in complete victory for the National arms. Grant modestly summed up the result, in a dispatch to Halleck, saying, “Although the battle lasted from early dawn till dark this evening, I believe I am not premature in announcing a complete victory over Bragg. Lookout Mountain top, all the rifle-pits in Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge entire, have been carried, and are now held by us.""

2

During the night succeeding the battle, the Missionaries' Ridge blazed with the Union camp-fires, while the discomfited Confederates were retreating in haste toward Ringgold, by way of Chickamauga Station. Early the next morning, Sherman, Palmer, and Hooker were sent in pursuit, the first directly in the track of the fugitives, the other two by the Rossville road, toward Ringgold. Bragg destroyed the bridges behind him, and Hooker was very much delayed at Chickamauga River by a failure to supply him promptly with bridge materials. Sherman found every thing in flames at Chickamauga Station, which he passed and pushed on toward Greysville, encountering on the way, just at night, a rear-guard of the fugitives, with which he had a sharp skirmish. There General Grant overtook him. On the following morning he marched on to Greysville, on the East Chickamauga, where he found Palmer and his command, who, on the previous evening, had struck a rear-guard under General Gist, and captured three of his guns and some prisoners. There Sherman halted, and sent Howard to destroy a large section of the railway which connected Dalton with Cleveland, and thus severed the communication between Bragg and Burnside.

Hooker, meanwhile, had pushed on to Ringgold," Osterhaus in advance, Geary following, and Cruft in the rear, and finding at every step evidences of Bragg's precipitate flight. Stragglers were numerous, and were made prisoners. When the head of the pursuers

• Nov. 27, 1868.

dreadful, but the men, without preserving lines, formed into groups where accidents of the ground gave cover, and each group, led by a color, steadily made its way up. These colors were often shot down-those of the First Ohio six times-but they were at once seized and borne along."

1 Lieutenant-Colonel Langdon received a shot through his face and neck at the moment when he reached the hill-top, which felled him to the ground. He at once rose, the blood streaming from his wounds, and shouting → Forward!" again fell. His hurt, though severe, was not mortal.

2 Grant reported the

Union loss, in the series of struggles which ended in victory at Missionaries'