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partially encircled the north end of the ridge, being separated from it by a valley nearly half a mile wide. Here General Sherman's command intrenched themselves for the night, and prepared for the conflict of the

morrow.

In the mean time, General Hooker marched down the valley to attack the head of Lookout Mountain, which, as we have mentioned, composed the southern extremity of the rebel line. He was to make a very vigorous demonstration against that point, with permission, should he deem it advisable, to press on and take the summit. With him was General Geary's Division and the brigades of Whitaker and Grover.

The rebels occupied the crest in great force, their intrenchments extending down the front and slope of the mountain to the base. The first thirty feet of the descent presents an almost perpendicular wall of rock, which could not be scaled. A rugged and narrow road wound its way to the top, through gaps which were carefully guarded by the rebels. Early on Tuesday morning, General Hooker pushed his columns into the forest, and, thus concealed from observation, marched rapidly around to the west side of the mountain, until he reached a point favorable for ascending the hill. Having thus attained a position in the rear of the rebels, they hastily clambered the hill, opening a severe fire upon the astonished foe. At the same time the Union batteries opened a terrific fire, causing the very mountains to shake under their terrible explosions. The rebels responded, with equal energy, from their batteries and their dense lines of infantry.

Soon the mountain was so enveloped in clouds of smoke as entirely to exclude the combatants from sight of the anxious spectators in the valley below. The rebels found resistance almost in vain, and retreat impossible. They dispersed in all directions, many hiding in the thickets and behind the craggy rocks. Before night thirteen hundred and sixty

were taken prisoners.

The perfidy of the rebel authorities was here strikingly unveiled. Most of these prisoners were from Stevenson's Division, who had been paroled by General Grant at the capture of Vicksburg. They had not been exchanged, and by the laws of war their doom was death. But it appeared that they had been informed by their officers that they were regularly exchanged; and had they again refused to enter the service, they would probably have been forced to do so. The authorities at Washington, to whom the matter was referred, prohibited their execution.

Our victorious troops continued to advance across the mountain from west to east, encountering the foe at various points, but steadily pressing him back. At two o'clock the severest struggle of the day ensued. For two hours the struggle was fierce and bloody. At length General Hooker ordered a charge, before which the rebels sullenly and deliberately retired from their works and fell back some distance. Here they formed a new line, and attempted an assault in their turn. Rushing on with characteristic impetuosity, they were met and held at bay for some time by Genral Geary's Brigade, until these brave patriot troops had entirely exhausted their ammunition. They were just about to retire, when just

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at the opportune moment, by the foresight of General Hooker, a new supply was provided. The slackening fire of the Unionists had revealed the state of their cartridge boxes to the enemy, and they were plunging forward with a shout of assured victory. They were a moment too late. One hundred and twenty thousand rounds had been distributed with marvellous celerity. Thousands of muskets rang forth their orders for the advancing rebels to halt. Patriot reënforcements had also arrived, and the rebels, whose bravery had excited universal admiration, were again repulsed with great slaughter.

This struggle occurred on the eastern brow of Lookout Mountain. The flash of the guns, and often, through breaks in the cloud, the general outline of the contending masses, could be distinctly seen, high up on that rugged peak. The sun went down in clouds, and darkness enveloped the view. During the night the discomfited rebels were busy in evacuating the mountain, by the rough road which wound down the eastern side. Several skirmishes occurred as exploring parties groped through the gloom of night to obstruct the retreat. General Hooker cautiously pushed forward his lines. His camp-fires proclaimed to his friends below the advance which had been made. The early light of the morning revealed that the foe had fled. The plan of General Grant, through the efficiency of his heroic coöperators, had thus far been successful, even above his expectations.

On Wednesday morning the victorious troops of General Hooker pursued the retreating foe down the eastern declivity of the mountain, across the valley and up the western side of Missionary Ridge, by a road which passed just in the rear of Forts Breckinridge and Hindman. The rebels, driven entirely from Lookout Mountain, and from the northern brow of Missionary Ridge, were, with their united forces accumulated upon the summit of

Missionary Ridge, preparing for a desperate stand. The corps of General Sherman now took its turn at this rough and terrible game of battle. General Corse, at eleven o'clock, with three brigades, commenced his march from the northern brow of the hill over the plateau. At Fort Buckner a strong force of rebels repelled his assault. General Howard came up with reënforcements, and the united corps with matchless energy pressed forward against every disadvantage. The fort was on an eminence very difficult to surmount. The rebels rolled down huge rocks from the cliff and threw hand-grenades upon their assailants. The rebels found themselves so hotly pressed that they were compelled to call for additional aid from their centre. The aid was promptly furnished, and the Union troops were again repulsed, or rather were still held at bay. For the third time, in solid mass, the patriots attempted the almost impos sible feat. The contending armies were soon in such contact as to be actually scorched by the flames of each other's guns. From the plain more than a thousand feet below, the battle, with its surgings, was visible. The rattle of musketry, the roar of artillery, the forest rent, and the rocks shivered by cannon-balls, the advancing and receding banners, the clouds of smoke now enveloping all, and again swept away by a gust of windthe whole scene was sublime beyond any power of pen or pencil to describe. Individual acts of heroism were performed, worthy of everlasting remembrance, but which were lost in their multiplicity.

The rebels again cried loudly for reënforcements, and reënforcements were again hurried to them from the centre. Thus strengthened, the foe again dashed against the Union line, and again with overpowering numbers and bloody hands swept it back. But though thus repulsed, that heroic army had accomplished its purpose, had achieved all that had been expected of it. It had weakened the centre, and thus prepared the way for the decisive attack upon that vital point. The opportune moment which General Grant had so anxiously looked for had arrived. From Orchard Knob he had watched the swaying of the battle. His assaulting columns were concealed behind that eminence. They stood, like hounds in the leash, grimly waiting the order to spring forward. Already General Grant was assured of success. His plan had not yet failed in a single particular. Every cloud of anxiety had disappeared from his brow as, with a cheerful voice, he said, "Now, boys, onward." A signal-gun gave the order to the four columns.

Instantly they started from their cover, and with rapid strides crossed the narrow valley separating Orchard Knob from Missionary Ridge. Without returning the straggling fire of musketry opened upon them from the rifle-pits and the heights above, they clambered the hill, and, sweeping all opposition before them, they rushed over the rebel intrenchments. The impetuosity of the charge, and the rugged nature of the ground, broke the line of assault, and individual heroism performed the task which had been assigned to the power of combination. Every man was thrown upon his own resources, and the intellectual superiority of the privates of the Union army became very manifest, each man being competent to guide or to be guided, as circumstances might require. Where a mere machine

soldier would have been utterly at a loss, the Union troops, with admirable skill, adapted themselves to the exigency, and all went well.

The weakened line of the foe could make no persistent stand. They recoiled, broke, and fled. Guns were abandoned, muskets dropped in haste, and Fort Hindman, the central fort, was evacuated as the Unionists swept over its ramparts. From the valley below, with field-glasses, the advance of the banners of freedom and the retreat of the rebel flag could be distinctly traced. In just three-quarters of an hour after the order to advance was given, Fort Hindman had changed masters. The Stars and Stripes, waving proudly over its parapets, proclaimed to the exultant thousands below, the grandeur of the victory, and that Chattanooga was no longer besieged.

The hill was won. The rebel host was cut in twain. Nothing remained for the discomfited battalions but to disperse or to be destroyed. Suddenly General Grant appeared upon the summit of the hill. At the sight of their chieftain, who was now to inscribe Chattanooga upon his already well-covered banner, the troops raised a shout, which penetrated, like the triumph of judgment, the hearts of the fugitive rebels, and which echoed over the eager patriots in the town and in the valley, like the hallelujahs of the redeemed.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon. By piercing the centre of the rebel line, General Grant had prevented all coöperation between the hostile forces collected in Fort Breckinridge on the south and Fort Buckner on the north. While these scenes were transpiring, General Hooker, advancing from Lookout Mountain, was pressing along up Missionary Ridge from the south, sweeping by Fort Breckinridge, picking up prisoners. and gathering the spoils of war in great abundance by the way. officer on the staff of the rebel General Hardee, writing to a friend in Macon, Georgia, says:

An

"At this juncture matters looked terrible. I shall never forget the look of anguish on General Hardee's face. He sent me hurriedly to make some changes in his other divisions yet intact, and to hurry one forward to stem the tide of defeat that was rapidly assuming a dreadful proportion : a hard task we found it, while the leaden hail of the exultant Yankees showered around us."

General Bragg was now at Fort Buckner, on the northern point of the ridge, making desperate endeavors to rally a force for one last attempt to drive General Hooker from the mountain. General Grant was on the spot, and fully comprehended the desperation of the foe. Prompt arrangements were made to meet the onset. The captured guns of the rebels were turned upon them; and the ramparts which the rebels had reared furnished facilities for the destruction of their builders.

Slowly, cautiously, the rebels came on. A glance convinced them that their own terrible slaughter would be the only result of an attack. Almost gnashing their teeth, they turned and retired. A few volleys of grape and canister thrown into their ranks, converted their retreat into a wild rout. Rushing over the brow of the hill, they disappeared in the midst of the crags and the forest. At half-past seven o'clock that evening,

General Grant telegraphed to Washington, from Chattanooga, as follows:

"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."

The importance of this conquest could hardly be over-estimated. General Burnside was relieved from all serious danger at Knoxville, Kentucky and Tennessee were rescued from rebel raids and menaces, and Georgia was thrown open for the advance of our armies. The strategic and tactical movements of this conflict were unsurpassed by those of any other during the progress of the war. But for the consummate ability of the general guiding the valor of the troops, these marvellous achievements could never have been accomplished.

Though the rebel army was thus broken and dispersed, it was not so disorganized as to prevent reconstruction. At daylight the next morning the Union troops commenced a vigorous pursuit of the foe. They gathered up prisoners by the hundreds. Indeed, the fugitives seemed so disheartened, that often whole regiments, when they caught sight of our advancing columns, threw down their arms and fled in utter consternation, leaving their wounded in our hands. Many seemed desirous of surrendering themselves. As night came on, the country for miles around was lighted by huge fires, the rebels applying the torch to their abundant stores, that they might not fall into the Union hands. Bridges were burned, and trees felled, and all other possible obstructions interposed to retard pursuit. Thus the proud army, which, a few hours before, had threatened to shell the Yankees from Chattanooga, was now reduced to but little better than a panic-stricken mob, rushing from the destruction which chased them.

The rebels were retreating in the direction of Dalton, followed by the commands of Hooker, Palmer, and Sherman. The next day, Friday, the 27th, the pursuit was continued. The road was strewed with commissary stores and broken-down caissons and wagons. Their retreat was mainly along the line of the railroad, by the valley of Ringgold. The rebels made a slight resistance at Chickamauga Station and at Pigeon Ridge, but were quickly driven forward by the assaults of the Unionists.

The town of Ringgold, containing about twenty-five hundred inhabitants, is situated in a gap between two ranges of hills, one of which is called White Oak Ridge. The surrounding scenery is quite romantic. The few roads, all converging towards this gap, were so commanded by the numerous batteries erected upon these eminences, that a few hundred resolute men could, for a long time, hold an army in check. Here the rebels concentrated their forces to dispute the further advance of the patriots.

On Friday, at half-past eight A. M., General Hooker's column moved up the Rossville road, and soon became engaged with the enemy, who slowly retired through the town to the gap on the other side. Osterhaus's Division pressed the retiring foe with great gallantry. The rebel batteries opened upon them a deadly fire, which swept the gap, and which threw shells beyond them into the town of Rossville, now occupied by our troops. Not

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