enemy s entrance into the citadel. McCook and Crittenden
arrived later the same afternoon. But Thomas s steadiness
kept the battle from becoming another Bull Run. Finding
himself cut off from Rosecrans and the right, he at once
marshalled all the divisions that remained for an indepen
dent fight, and posted his line in horseshoe shape along the
slope and crest of a partly wooded ridge. There Gordon
Granger joined him from Rossville, with a division and
most of the reserve, and combining these forces, more than
two-thirds of the Union army, Thomas firmly maintained
the fight while daylight lasted. In vain did Longstreet
hurl against him those dense masses which had shivered
McCook s divisions in the earlier afternoon. His leonine
example seemed to inspire every Union soldier under him
with his own unconquerable firmness: and Granger, too,
his hat riddled with bullets, drove forward wherever the
fight was hottest. When night fell, Thomas, complying
with orders now sent him by Rosecrans, retired stealthily
to Rossville, where he firmly intrenched and fortified; and
by the 22d the whole Union army, rejoining, was safely
posted for the defence of Chattanooga. Except for that
unfortunate break upon the Union right, the fighting at all
points 011 the 19th and 20th had been obstinate and brave,
and the losses on both sides were frightful. 1



The first news to reach Washington of this deadly en
counter came in a dejected telegram from Rosecrans on the
afternoon of the 20th, and his next day s despatches did

1 8 N. & H. c. 4 ; Davis, c. 49 ; 30 W. R. pts. 1 and 2 ; McClure,
February, 1898 (Dana) ; 3 B. & L. 038-675. The estimated loss on
the Union side, in killed, wounded, and missing, was 10,179 ; on the
Confederate, 17,804. Bragg admits in his official report that he lost
forty per cent of his entire army, which by revised estimates appears



1803. ROSECKANS BESIEGED AT CHATTANOOGA. 447

not show him reassured. Burnside, whom he eagerly wished
to join him, had turned aside. Our President sent cheering
words to the one commander and positive orders to the
other, so that Chattanooga s stronghold might be kept at
all hazards; he also despatched the two corps of Howard
and Slocum from the Army of the Potomac, with Hooker
in command; troops from Grant, besides, being already on
their way. Rosecrans, when retreating to Chattanooga, had
relinquished the spur of Lookout Mountain which com
manded the Tennessee River below Chattanooga. This
height Bragg seized at once, with Missionary Ridge, and,
extending his lines thence to the river, proceeded to invest
Chattanooga boldly. This brought the Union army close
to starvation, for all communication south of the Tennessee
River was now cut off; and for receiving supplies only a
long and steep line over the mountains remained, harassed
constantly by the Confederate cavalry. Added to this
immediate danger, Rosecrans had to endure bitter wran-
glings which now broke out among his officers because of
the late battle. 1 While Rosecrans, disliking to break old
friendships, and embarrassed by his own conduct in action,
tried to temporize, his popularity diminished every day as
Thomas s star by the contrast shone with growing lustre.
Stanton telegraphed a handsome tribute to this latter gen
eral, whose noble and unselfish qualities the government
had been slow to recognize, and orders from Wash
ington consolidated the two corps of McCook and
Crittenden, placing Granger in command. A change still
higher was presaged, but Thomas quieted all rumors by
positively refusing to supersede Rosecrans in person.



to have been for duty about 71,551, while the effective strength of
Rosecrans was 50,965. 3 B. & L. 673, (575.

Bragg, like Rosecrans, was absent from the afternoon fight of Sep
tember 20th, and Polk and Longstreet led the fighting. 3 B. & L. 659.

1 McCook and Crittenden were bitterly blamed because they had
left the field of battle amid the rout of the right wing and made their
way to Chattanooga. A later court of inquiry in 1804 acquitted both
generals of blame, each corps having in fact been much depleted to
assist Thomas.



448 HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. CHAP. II.

By the middle of October the Union army at Chattanooga
was in quite a precarious situation; reinforcements had not
yet arrived ; the enemy which beleaguered grew stronger in
numbers every day, and starvation seemed impending. The
animals depended upon to haul supply wagons over a miser
able mountain road were in weak and dying condition, and
the troops had now to be put upon half rations. Rosecrans
had lost all buoyancy and cheerfulness, and his despatches
breathed dismal forebodings. All this, added to unfavor
able reports l of his military sufficiency, brought the ad
ministration to making a change. Secretary Stanton went
West in person, with orders for Grant, who was summoned
to Louisville to receive them. Meeting at Indianapolis for
the first time in their lives, on the 17th of October, these
two distinguished men travelled together to Louisville, and
on the train two alternative orders were submitted to Grant
for his selection. Both created, for this hero s sole com
mand, a military division stretching over the entire country
from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi River, north of the
limits of Banks s Louisiana command; but while one of
them left department commanders in the Cumberland as at
present, the other relieved Rosecrans and assigned Thomas
to his place. Grant, without hesitation, chose the latter.
At Louisville a despatch from Dana surmised, not quite
accurately, that Rosecrans meditated a retreat from Chatta
nooga; and Grant, to prevent so disastrous a step, at once
announced by telegraph his new authority, and assigned
Thomas to the place of Rosecrans, urging him to hold that
stronghold to the last extremity. Rosecrans, thus relieved
from duty, left Chattanooga early on the 20th, before the
change of commanders became known. 2

The conqueror of Vicksburg reached Chattanooga at dusk
of October 23d, after stopping over at Nashville, where a
public welcome was extended him by the plebeian Johnson,
military governor of the State, whom he found a short and
stocky man, with smooth face, swarthy complexion, and an



1 From Dana, who was now at these headquarters.

2 8 N. & H. c. 4 ; 2 Grant, c. 40 ; McClure, February, 1898 (Dana).



1863. GRANT SUMMONED TO COMMAND. 449

air of obstinate determination. No one would have sup
posed that two future Presidents met here face to face. A
brief and courteous interview Grant also held with Kose-
crans, as their crossing trains stopped at an Alabama way-
station. The new commander had left Vicksburg crippled
from an accidental fall, and he still at Chattanooga used
crutches for a time; but he was alert to comprehend and
direct with energy and despatch whatever might appear
essential. The first danger, accordingly, to vanish upon
his arrival was that of being starved out of the place.
Learning the topography of the whole region from Thomas
and his chief engineer, 1 he opened, with their advice, anew
and closer line of supplies by way of Lookout Valley and
Bridgeport, using Hooker s troops, who had just arrived,
to force a passage. In five days this new "cracker line,"
as the hungry soldiers called it, was completed, and with
steamers and Hooker s fresh teams to furnish transporta
tion, the Army of the Cumberland within a week fed upon
full rations once more, and new clothing and abundant
ammunition followed. Cheerfulness and content succeeded
the late languor and depression on the Union side, while
Bragg s investing forces felt correspondingly disappointed. 2
Bragg tried to break this new line, by attacking Hooker s
force on the night of the 28th and 29th, but, though under
Longstreet s lead, the effort failed, and, repulsed at every
point, the Confederates sought no such disturbance again. 8
Grant next took into serious consideration the welfare
of his more distant command. Burnside, still struggling
through eastern Tennessee and its hilly roads, was a hun
dred miles distant from his nearest river base and much
farther from railways in friendly possession. Instigated,
as it would seem, by the Confederate President, who had



1 General William F. Smith, to whom the credit of this new
"cracker line" appears chiefly due. 3 B. & L. 720.

2 See Bragg s report, confident of forcing the evacuation of Chat
tanooga by cutting off food and forage. 30 W. R. pt. 2, 3(3 ; 2 Grant,
c. 39.

8 2 Grant, c. 41 ; 8 N. & IT. c. 5.



450 HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. CHAP.!!.

visited his camp after Chickamauga s battle, to praise the
boys in gray for their valor and make confident speeches,
Bragg now despatched Longstreet, on the 3d of November,
to drive Burnside s army out of eastern Tennessee, or,
better still, to destroy it. Longstreet took with
r him some 20,000 troops, inclusive of Wheeler s
cavalry, and by the 15th was in full motion from London
in the Knoxville direction. With despatches from Wash
ington urging that something be done for Burns ide s relief
in view of this movement, Grant directed Thomas on the
7th to attack the enemy s right upon Missionary Ridge, so
as to force Longstreet to return; bat Thomas declared this
impossible, as he could not move his artillery. A week of
anxious suspense followed. At Grant s request, Sherman
had been assigned to command the Army of the Tennessee
in his place, with headquarters in the field, and for this
trusted comrade Grant concluded to wait. Sherman had
left Memphis on the llth of October, under earlier orders,
repairing roads as he advanced, so as to bring up supplies;
and Grant, reducing those instructions, ordered him under
his new authority to hasten forward. Burnside was at the
same time encouraged to hold out, and that general s de
spatches showed full confidence in his ability to do so.
Approaching with all the speed that bad roads and swollen
rivers would permit, Sherman reached Bridgeport almost
simultaneously with Longstreet s departure from London,
and on the 14th of November he rode in person to Chatta
nooga, warmly welcomed by his chief. Blair, temporarily
in command of the 15th army corps, brought up the rear
later. 1



Grant had now come to depend greatly upon Sherman as
his grand lieutenant in all military movements, and that
mutual relation, which continued henceforward, was of
much advantage to both. For Grant s intimacies, though
few, bound in good companionship, and Sherman, as a com-

1 2 Grant, c. 42 ; 8 N. & H. c. 5 ; 1 Sherman, 389.



1863. BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 451

panion in arms, was fully to be trusted. Yet Grant used
all generals under him with admirable discretion, and dis
like, when he cherished it at all, was taciturn and for
bearing. By November 23d, or as soon as Sherman s
troops could be brought into place after their toilsome
journey, the great battle began promptly which Burnside s
distant danger and the torturing suspense at Washington
compelled Grant to invite. One of the most spectacular
encounters the world ever saw lasted over three days on
these heights surrounding Chattanooga, with thrilling and
impressive incidents. From the Union parapet before the
town stretched in sight a noble panorama toward November
Missionary Ridge, along whose heights shone the 23 ~ 2& -
white tents of the besieging Confederates, their lines of
trench from Lookout Mountain towards the Chickamauga
plainly visible, while hostile sentinels paced in sight less
than a thousand yards away. South and east of Chatta
nooga, with the Tennessee River in their rear, lay the
Union troops, confronted in a great half-circle and upon
the heights above by Bragg s besiegers. Grant s purpose
was to drive that army from the heights, first clearing it,
however, from the plain south of Chattanooga and gaining
possession of some low hills occupied by the Confederate
advance. The preliminary work was committed to Thomas,
who, in the afternoon of the 23d, sent out Gordon Granger
to execute it. With fine officers under him, among whom
was the rising Sheridan, Granger moved at a quickstep
with band music and parade precision, while artillery from
the Union forts opened upon the Confederate rifle-pits and
camps behind the line of fight. Lifting clouds soon re
vealed the whole scene to both armies. Bragg s pickets
were driven in upon the main guards on the hills, and
these, too, fled in turn after firing their last volley, no
reinforcements reaching them. This entire movement oc
cupied less than two hours, but serious loss was sustained
on both sides. And thus did Grant secure, as the first
day s result, a line fully a mile in advance of that earlier
occupied; its works were rapidly turned to face in reverse,
and during the night made stronger. Grant s Army of the



452 HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. CHAP. II.

Tennessee being now gathered in position, Sherman, on the
24th, formed those troops for the grand assault on Mis
sionary Ridge. With a skirmish line preceding each
column, he worked his way, in the afternoon of the 24th,
concealed from the enemy, and gained the foot and then
the crest of the ridge, his artillery being dragged behind by
hand. Fire opened upon this force as it emerged into
view, and later in the day came a more decided attack ; but
all was without avail, and Sherman fortified at his vantage
ground for the next day s battle, joined by Howard s corps.
His cavalry had gone to cut hostile communications at
Chickamauga station. While these operations progressed
to the east of Chattanooga, Hooker, with three divisions
assigned him, under Osterhaus, Geary, and Cruft, moved
towards the west to capture Lookout Mountain, where Con
federate flags fluttered and batteries were planted in defiance.
Starting early in the morning, he was hidden from the
summit by drizzling rain and a heavy mist. Pie crossed
Lookout Creek almost unperceived, and commenced climb
ing the mountain, which on that side was woody and rugged
for most of the way and diflicult to scale. But every obsta
cle was gallantly overcome. The bridge at the creek was
seized after a slight picket skirmish; Hooker s troops
pushed up the heights, and gained by noon the open ground
on the north slope of the mountain, confronting strong
defences. Over ledges and boulders climbed the excited
assailants, passing directly under the muzzles of Confeder
ate guns, and gradually expelling the foe from position.
So hazy was the day that Hooker s operations could only
at long intervals be descried from Chattanooga, but the
sound of the cannon and musketry was heard below as
Hooker battled among drifting clouds, which once settled
so dark upon him that fight had to be suspended. By four
in the afternoon he reported his position impregnable, and
in course of another hour direct communication was estab
lished with Grant, who sent a brigade from below to reen-
force him. Firing continued far into darkness, but no
further movement was made. The night was a glorious
one, and Lookout Mountain was seen ablaze with Hooker s



1863. MISSIONARY RIDGE CARRIED. 453

camp-fires, while Sherman lit up the north end of Missionary
Ridge. 1

Though the previous day had been lowering and over
cast, favoring the offensive movements greatly, Wednesday,
the 25th, broke beautifully clear, and through the carnage
and noise of that eventful day the broad and undulating
field of battle impressed the beholder by its wondrous sub
limity. From Orchard Knob, near Chattanooga, the hill
from which Grant and Thomas watched the battle, the
whole field was visible all day. Sherman, in response to
orders, renewed his attack upon the left, and the battle raged
furiously all the forenoon, both east of Missionary Ridge
and along its crest, which he was striving to carry. Against
him Bragg, who had wholly withdrawn from Lookout Moun
tain during the night, threw the bulk of his forces, making
strenuous efforts to dislodge and crush him. For all his
vigorous fighting Sherman found it impossible to carry
the strong Confederate works before him; assaults were
repeated, but the success Grant had hoped for was not
attained. Hooker, too, who had left Lookout Mountain at
daylight, and moved upon Rossville and the southern end
of Missionary Ridge to divert the enemy, found detentions
so great that he gained his summit too late to relieve the
pressure. Sherman s condition by early -afternoon appeared
already so critical, as a new mass of Confederates was seen
moving towards him, that Grant, without waiting longer,
ordered Thomas to charge at once upon the front of Mission
ary Ridge against the first line of rifle-pits. The divisions
of Sheridan and Thomas J. Wood had been lying under
arms since early morning, ready to move at the first signal.
Owing to some inadvertence Grant s first order was not
transmitted; but when he repeated it, an hour later, the
divisions started off at once across the valley, and presently
loud cheering was heard as the two impetuous generals and
their men drove the foe from the lower line of rifle-pits,
following closely. Then, to the amazement of beholders

1 2 Grant, c. 43 ; 8 N. & H. c. 5 ; 3 B. & L. 720 ; 1 Sherman, 389 ;
31 W. R. pt. 2, 315, 573,



454 HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. CHAP. II.

below on Orchard Knob, pursuers went for the pursued to
the second line of works, neither re-forming nor awaiting
the intended orders; over that line and up the steep moun
tain sides the chase continued, in dark zigzag lines, until,
in a space of time incredibly short, the crest of Missionary
Ridge was carried, and the boys in blue were seen climbing
the Confederate barriers at different points and carrying all
before their united vehemence. Grant watched this progress
with intense interest, vexed only for a brief moment that
his and Thomas s orders had been transcended; then, spur
ring his horse forward when the culmination was reached,
he rode up amid the tumultuous shouts of his soldiers,
almost frantic at their victory. 1

The storming of the broken and crumbling front of
Missionary Ridge by 18,000 enthusiastic troops was, like
Balaklava, one of those wonders of military prowess which
in history come occasionally, to remind us what pure in
spiration may accomplish. The fire all along the Confed
erate line had been terrific, but the damage bore slight
proportion to the ammunition expended. The retreat oi
Bragg s army was mostly precipitate, soldiers on that side
breaking in panic from their officers, who lost control.
Hundreds were captured, and thousands threw away their
arms in disorderly flight. The force which confronted
Sherman, seeing that its whole reserve was giving way,
fled also. All through the evening of the 25th the excite
ment of the hunt continued, and by moonlight Bragg re
treated up the Chickamauga valley, burning what he could
not carry away, and lighting the east by his fires, while
Sheridan pushed promptly behind in pursuit, continuing
his fight beyond the eastern slope of Missionary Ridge fax
into the evening. The third great general of this war on
the Union side now shone with unquenchable promise. On
the morning of the 26th Sherman advanced by way oi
Chickamauga station, while Thomas s force, under Hooker



. * Sheridan and Wood seem to have given simultaneously the ordei
to storm, catching the inspiration of the moment when the first rifle-
pits had been easily carried and their troops could not be restrained.



1863. BURNSIDE AT KNOXVILLE. 455

and Palmer, took the E/ossville road; but at a point some
twenty miles from Chattanooga Grant ordered the chase to
cease, sending Howard, however, to prevent Bragg s junc
tion with Longstreet. It was a great victory to drive away
the besieging army, but one far greater to defeat that army
on its chosen ground and nearly annihilate it. 1



To Burnside, whom the President had by repeated tele
grams urged him to remember, Grant turned attention the
night of Bragg s defeat, promising to relieve him if he would
hold out a few days longer. Preparations had been made
before the battle, and Granger s corps, reenforced to 20,000,
was told to start the moment Missionary Ridge was carried.
But Granger appeared so slow and unwilling to accept the
trust, that Grant detailed Sherman to command, and under
his lead the expedition set out for Knoxville quickly and
cheerfully. 2 Eastern Tennessee, we have seen, had Lin
coln s strongest sympathy, and upon Buell and every other
general commanding in that quarter he had lavished orders
and entreaties to rescue Knoxville and the neighboring
region, not for strategic gain alone and to deprive the
enemy of enforced supplies, but because its people were
persecuted loyalists, martyrs for the flag they would not
desert. Burnside s march from Ohio, in the summer of
1863, through this secluded region had, however, the reen-
forcement of Rosecrans towards Chattanooga as a prime
object. When September opened, his advance took peace
ful possession of Knoxville, and on the 4th Burnside in



1 8 N. & H. c. 5; 2 Grant, c. 44 ; McClure, March, 1898. "To
Sheridan s prompt movement the Army of the Cumberland and the
nation are indebted for the bulk of the capture of prisoners, artillery,
and small arms, that day." 2 Grant, 81. .During November 23-27
the total Union loss in killed, wounded, and missing, was 5815. The
corresponding Confederate loss was 6087, more than 4000 of whom
were captured or missing. Grant s effective strength was 60,000. 3
B. & L, 729. Bragg had about half that number, but was in p position
believed impregnable. 2 Grant, 95.

2 2 Grant, 92.



456 HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. CHAP. II.

person entered the town, wildly welcomed by inhabi
tants who for more than two years had, with the sick-
september- ness of hope deferred, waited for deliverance.
December. when the stars and stripes were spread from the
balcony of the house where he made headquarters, the
crowd rushed forward, covering it with kisses, and hospi
table was the welcome which its citizens freely bestowed
upon officers and privates. It was not strange that Burn-
side should have lingered among such scenes, instead of
hastening to join Rosecrans; he tendered from Knoxville
his resignation, as though his mission had been fulfilled,
but the President declined to accept it; and finally, yield
ing to Burnside s wishes and the earnest request of this
people, government permitted his column to remain and
hold the region, without proceeding elsewhere.

It was against Burnside, with his army thus isolated,
that Bragg, at President Davis s request, sent Longstreet
with over 15,000 veteran troops, a total presently increased,
at Bragg s cost, to more than 20,000. Burnside had now,
including his favorite 9th corps, about 12,000 effectives,
besides a partly organized force of loyal Tennesseeans. He
felt none of that strained anxiety for his safety which was
entertained at Washington, but wisely proposed, when
Longstreet approached his advance post, to draw him farther
away from Chattanooga, so as best to aid Grant s plans
against Bragg. As for a retreat, he had hardly entertained
that idea at all. 1

By November 17th Burnside shut himself up in Knox
ville, having made strong its defences, and Longstreet pro
ceeded to invest the town. But soon came the news of
Bragg s reverses at Missionary Ridge, and Longstreet, feel
ing that he must make quick work or none, began on the
dawn of the 29th a furious artillery fire upon the Union
works; no reply being made, four Confederate brigades
advanced over a road spread with entanglements, to charge
upon the parapet. Burnside s guns opened with deadly
effect, and the corpses of the approaching soldiery fell back

1 Cf. McVlurc, February, 1898 (Dana) ; 8 N. & H. c. 6.



1863. BURNSIDE AT KNOXVILLE. 457

into ditch and glacis as they made futile effort to carry the
parapet. Longstreet lost in the assault a thousand men,
Burnside scarcely more than a dozen. As his shattered and
bleeding detachment returned after this signal repulse,
Longstreet received orders from Richmond to withdraw,
and he soon learned that Grant s reinforcements were
already on their way hither. Abandoning the siege, he
passed rapidly to the north on the night of December 4th,
and made good his retreat. Sherman, whose tired and ill-
clad troops had strained every nerve uncomplainingly to
reach and rescue before it was too late, was met a day later
by an officer of Burnside s staff, who announced Longstreet s
departure. 1 When, accompanied by Granger, he rode into
Knoxville, the serene welcome which Burnside extended