Page images
PDF
EPUB

put in the Chickamauga; the men encamped; the bridge trains ready to debouch at the proper point; and so completely was every thing arranged that no confusion whatever occurred. Artillery was posted on the side of the river to cross fire in front of the point of landing, and force the same, if necessary.

On Monday, November 24th, an armed reconnoissance was made by Thomas on his left, which developed the enemy's lines and gave the Union general a line of battle in advance of his picket lines, at the same time allowing the Eleventh Corps (Howard's) to come into the position assigned it. At midnight the men entered the pontoons, floated down, and effected a landing. At daylight the pontoniers were at work, and at noon the Tennessee River was bridged by a pontoon bridge fourteen hundred feet long, and the rest of Sherman's troops crossed with his artillery. He then pushed out to the ridge and took up his position, and Howard communicated with him, his force having marched to its place. Hooker's forces formed a line of battle running up and down the side of the mountain and sweeping around the point, and at night of the same day (the 24th) held what he had gained, and communicated with Thomas's right. That night the enemy evacuated Lookout Mountain top, and fell back from his front to the ridge. Thus, on Tuesday night, Bragg was threatened on both flanks, with a heavy line of battle in his front. It was difficult for him to determine what the Federal move would be. His railroad must be held, at all hazards, from Sherman. The amount of Hooker's force he could distinctly see. He re-enforced his right very heavily, leaving enough to hold his left and front, as he supposed. On the 25th, Wednesday, Sherman commenced to move. Two hills were taken. From the third he was several times repulsed, and he moved around more force, as if to get in rear of Bragg's line, and the latter then commenced massing against him. The critical moment had now arrived. Hooker moved his columns along the Rossville road towards Bragg's left, and this drew still more force from the latter's centre.

Grant now ordered Thomas to advance and take the rifle-pits at the base of the mountain. The Army of the Cumberland, remembering Chickamauga, and impatient by reason of remaining spectators of the operations of Sherman and Hooker, for two days went forward with a will, drove the enemy in disorder from his lower works, and went on, heedless of the heavy artillery and musketry hurled against them from the crest of the ridge. Half-way up they seemed to falter, but it was only for breath. Without returning a shot they kept on, crowned the ridge, captured thirty-five out of the forty-four pieces of artillery on the hill, turned some of them against the masses in Sherman's front, and the rebel line fell back, while the rest of Bragg's army, including Bragg and Hardee, fled, routed and broken, towards Ringgold. Thousands of prisoners and small-arms and quantities of munitions of war were taken. Hooker took up the pursuit, and that night Mission Ridge blazed resplendent with Union camp-fires. The next day, Hooker pushed the enemy to Ringgold, where he made a show of stubborn resistance, but was forced to retire. Sherman and Howard pushed for the railroad, which they smashed completely. The Union loss in this battle,

in killed, wounded, and missing, was reported at about four thousand. Upwards of six thousand rebel prisoners, not including wounded, were captured, besides forty-two pieces of artillery, many thousand smallarms, and a large train. The rebel loss is not known.

Sherman was now re-enforced by the Eleventh Corps, and began his march to relieve Knoxville. Five miles above Loudon, at Davis's Ford, the Eleventh Corps crossed the Little Tennessee, and at Morgantown, seven miles farther up, the Fourth and his own corps crossed. The Eleventh moved on the next day to Louisville, a distance of thirtyone miles. The other troops moved to Marysville. All were on the south side of the Holston. On the night of December 3d, the cavalry of Sherman reached Knoxville. This movement turned the flank of Longstreet, and he raised the siege and retreated towards Rutledge on that night. On the next day, the Fourth Corps arrived at Knoxville, and in conjunction with Burnside's forces immediately commenced a pursuit. Longstreet fell back into the border of Virginia, and took a strong position. Burnside was subsequently relieved from the command of the Department of the Ohio at his own urgent request, and General Foster assigned to its command.

When Longstreet reached Rogersville with his main force, he was joined by Vaughan and Ransom, and he here made a stand which relieved Bragg from the pressure of pursuit, and remained there some time, exposed to many hardships.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Operations against Charleston.-Arrival of Monitors.-Montauk.-Attack by the Enemy.-Iron-clad Attack on Sumter.--Capture of the Atlanta.-General Gillmore in Command.-Assault on Fort Wagner.-Bombardment of Fort Sumter.-Siege and Reduction of Fort Wagner.-Occupation of Morris Island

THE operations in the Department of the South after the evacuation of James Island were for a long time unimportant, owing to the employment of troops in other operations. Early in 1863, a naval attack was contemplated upon Charleston, with which a land force was deemed necessary to co-operate. General Foster was, therefore, sent with a considerable force and a large siege equipage to assist the naval attack. But not proving acceptable to General Hunter, then in command, he returned to North Carolina, leaving his troops and siege equipage. These, in consequence of the failure of the naval attack, were never employed for the purpose intended. The vessels engaged in blockading the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, comprised the South Atlantic Squadron, Rear-Admiral S. J. Dupont commanding. Early in January, 1863, the first detachment of iron-clads, destined to operate against Charleston, arrived, and the Montauk was ordered to attack Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee River, with a view of testing her capabilities. Accordingly, on January 27th, the Montauk, supported by seven gunboats, opened upon the fort with her fifteen and eleven inch guns, and, having expended her shells, retired.

She was struck thirteen times, but received no material injury; and the fort, a powerful sand-work, mounting several guns, was in no perceptible degree affected by the bombardment. This settled the question of the efficiency of this species of defensive works as against ironclads. On the morning of the 4th January, the enemy's iron-clad steam rams, Palmetto State and Chicora, under Flag-officer Ingraham, ran out of Charleston in a thick haze, and attacked the blockading fleet. They disabled the Mercedita and the Keystone State, but retired on the approach of the Housatonic. The enemy claimed that by this operation they had broken up the blockade of Charleston, by temporarily driving off the fleet, and that by the law of nations sixty days' notice would be required to restore the blockade. This claim was not allowed, however.

The preparations that had long been on foot for a combined attack by the iron-clads upon the fortifications of Charleston Harbor were finally completed, and on the morning of April 6th, 1863, the fleet passed the bar, and moved to the attack in the following order: Weehawken, Passaic, Montauk, Patapsco, New Ironsides, Catskill, Nantucket, Nahant, and Keokuk. Admiral Dupont was on board his flag-ship, the New Ironsides. The squadron was ordered to pass up the main channel without returning the fire of Morris Island, and to engage Sumter on its northwest face, at a distance of from eight hundred to one thousand yards. At half-past twelve o'clock, the fleet began to

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

move, the Weehawken, having a raft for clearing obstructions, being in advance. The fleet got within effective range of Fort Sumter and Sullivan's Island shortly before three o'clock, and at ten minutes to three the batteries of Sullivan's Island, Morris Island, and Fort Sumter opened upon it. In the channel between Sumter and Sullivan's Island the obstructions proved to be of so formidable a character that the Weehawken deviated from her course, and the line got into some confusion. The New Ironsides became unmanageable, and was fouled by the Catskill and Nantucket, so that for half an hour the three vessels were at dead-lock. It was four o'clock before the remainder of the fleet got into position on the northeast front of Sumter, at five hundred and fifty to eight hundred yards distance, beyond which point, owing to floating torpedoes, it was found impossible to pass. Meantime, the enemy had concentrated a fire of three hundred guns upon the fleet, exceeding in rapidity of fire and weight of metal any previous cannonade known in warfare. The iron-clads could reply but with sixteen guns, and their officers described the effect of the shot upon the sides of the vessels as like the ticking of a clock. A dense cloud of smoke settled over the fleet, which was the focus of this fire, adding to the embarrassment of the occasion. The iron-clads directed their efforts mainly against Sumter, and the Keokuk ran up to within five hundred and fifty feet of the fort, where she remained thirty minutes a special target. In that time she received ninety shots, three per minute. Of these,.nineteen penetrated at and below the water-line, some entering her turret. She drew off with pumps going to keep her afloat, having fired but three times. The remaining vessels suffered far less than the Keokuk, and none were materially injured. The New Ironsides never got fairly into action, and discharged but one broadside. At half-past four, Admiral Dupont signalled to withdraw from action. During the forty-five minutes that the fleet had been under fire, five had been partially disabled, while the injuries inflicted by them upon the fort had been comparatively slight. Under these circumstances, the whole fleet, with the exception of the New Ironsides, returned on the 12th to Port Royal. The President telegraphed to Dupont to hold his position inside Charleston Bar, and to permit the enemy to erect no new batteries on Morris Island. This was in view of a second attack upon Fort Sumter and Charleston by the combined military and naval forces.

The most marked and extraordinary conflict within the limits of this squadron, or indeed in the service during the year, and in some respects one of the most significant and instructive naval battles of the war, took place on the 17th June, in Warsaw Sound, between the Weehawken, a vessel of the Monitor class, and the formidable armored steamer Atlanta. Like the contest in Hampton Roads, in March, 1862, when the Monitor and Merrimac were engaged, this battle was between armored vessels and of great disparity in size, but the result was vastly more speedy and decisive. The Atlanta was a powerful steamer, had been iron-plated by the rebels, and prepared for war purposes at immense expense. In the confidence of certain victory over her comparatively diminutive antagonists, the Weehawken and Nahant, she was accompanied by boats loaded with gay parties to witness her triumph; but

[graphic]

brave offers and men of or arreted vessels know s I sough the This battle was to test not aly the winance, then for the first ti val wartare, esponeersing which there had been, as t pect to themselves, some variety of opini

part of the oc force near Somerset, Ky., on March 30th, 1863. In June, he assumed command of the Department of the South, and, in

« PreviousContinue »