OPERATIONS IN SOUTHERN VIRGINIA, DURING 1863.
In the early part of 1863, there were no important military events transpiring in Southern Virginia. There were three important positions which the rebels were desirous of obtaining, and these were Suffolk, Norfolk, and Portsmouth. The Union troops in that Department were, at the time, under the immediate command of General Dix. The garrison occupying Suffolk numbered thirteen thousand men, and was commanded by General Peck, who, as events proved, was eminently capable of maintaining the position he held. The intention of the enemy appeared to be to reduce Suffolk, and then to march directly into Norfolk and Portsmouth, which places were both weakly garrisoned by small and raw regiments. General Longstreet was in command of the rebel force which had for its object the capture of Suffolk; and the intention of that able commander was either to descend suddenly upon the city and overpower its garrison by superior numbers; or to cut off all the roads by which it received supplies, and thus be enabled to carry it after a short fight.
The town of Suffolk is situated at the head of Nansemond Creek, about twelve miles from its confluence with the James river. In the town, two railroads unite, by which General Peck received all his supplies. These roads, passing through Suffolk, proceeded the one from Norfolk to Petersburgh, and the other from Portsmouth to Weldon.
THE SIEGE OF SUFFOLK.
April 11-May 3, 1863.
General Longstreet was well aware that Suffolk was strongly garrisoned, and he did not open the attack upon it rashly. In order to make his undertaking thoroughly successful, he perceived that several preliminary movements were necessary, and he set about carefully executing them. The first of these was a manœuvre by which the Suffolk garrison might be materially weakened. Accordingly, General Hill was sent to attack Little Washington, North Carolina; a subject which has been elsewhere treated; and, as anticipated by the skillful rebel General, this movement against Little Washington made it necessary for General Peck to send a reinforcement to the assistance of the imperilled Union position. Three thousand men were ordered forward to aid General Foster in his defence of Little Washington.
General Longstreet had already collected several pontoon and siege trains at various convenient points, which were held in readiness for an immediate move as soon as it should be deemed necessary. Having been informed by his spies of the removal of three thousand of General Peck’s men, the rebel General instantly put his army in motion, and crossed the Blackwater on several bridges, with the divisions of Hood, French, Pickett, and Henderson, numbering in all thirty thousand men. This comparatively large army, moving forward in three distinct columns, was, by means of a forced march, placed in front of the Union camps in a few hours. The cavalry pickets, utterly surprised, were quietly captured by the rebels as they advanced. But here terminated the easy success which the rebel General had anticipated. General Peck had not been idle while Longstreet was making his preparations and watching for a good opportunity to advance. The Union General was aware of the movements of the rebel, and had fathomed his designs sufficiently well to be prepared for him. Besides which General Longstreet had frustrated one of his best laid plans; for at the moment that his troops captured the Union pickets, the trains containing the reinforcements for General Foster were about to be set in motion. The trains were delayed of course; and the three thousand men were retained to aid in the defence of Suffolk.
The enemy, making the best of their mistake, advanced boldly on the works, but found them strongly garrisoned and bristling with steel. It required but a few moments to convince them that their surprise was an utter failure; and that nothing remained for them but to fall back on their superior numbers, and capture the town, if at all, by hard fighting. The rebel General then directed his attention toward the Nansemond—in which were stationed several army gunboats, sent there by Admiral Lee—having first left a large force in front of the main defences of the town, to engage the Union troops and divert attention from the real rebel designs.
Again General Longstreet was disappointed in what he had regarded as a sure and easy success. The gunboats did not apparently, to him, present a formidable resistance; nor yet the two army gunboats, Smith Briggs, and West End, which were commanded by two youthful officers—Captain Rowe, and Captain Lee—whose skill and bravery put them on a level with veterans in the service. Strong batteries of the enemy engaged the gunboats at early dawn of the 12th of April, after having spent the entire night in constructing battery after battery; and although the frail boats were completely riddled, and their men were shot down so fast that the decks were strewn with the killed and wounded, the staunch little vessels, with their brave crews, obstinately refused to leave the river. The Nansemond, which was so small a stream that a moderately sized steamer could not turn round in it, was defended by this small flotilla against a force thirty thousand strong, eager and determined to cross, and having opposed to them six navy gunboats, two army gunboats, a force, in all numbering but five thousand men, to hold a line eight miles in length. Brigadier-General Getty, who had been entrusted with the arduous task of defending the Nansemond river, was eminently suited to defend it successfully. The Nansemond had the further disadvantage of being surrounded with various swamps and creeks, so that it was absolutely impossible for troops to pass, as reinforcements, from one point to another, without great loss of time. To remedy this inconvenience, General Getty had undertaken the construction of a military road several miles in length, which should include many bridges and long spaces of corduroy; and by extraordinary exertions the troops had completed this road in the space of three days.
While the enemy’s batteries were brought into play upon the gunboats, General Getty was putting into service all his skill as an artillerist. Aided by Colonel Dutton, who commanded the Third brigade, he at once began selecting positions for rifle-pits and batteries, which, on the next morning, were in working order, and thundered forth a storm of shell upon the astonished enemy. For several days this warfare continued, the rebels persistently endeavoring to gain a foothold on the shore, and being as persistently driven back by the Union fire from batteries, rifle-pits and gunboats. Not until the 18th day of the month did the rebels at all advance in their efforts: but on that day they succeeded in establishing on Hill’s Point, six miles from Suffolk, an earthwork which mounted five heavy rifled guns. Against this formidable work the Union fire was powerless; the missiles for the most part harmlessly burying themselves in its parapet, while from this strong position the enemy maintained a constant and destructive fire upon the National gunboats. Beneath this severe fire the Mount Washington grounded directly under the rebel guns, and her brave companions refused to leave her in such a strait. The Commodore Barney received fifty-eight holes in her hull and machinery; and while the gallant captain of the Mount Washington stood over the guns of his shattered vessel, still hoping to save her, a severe contest raged for six long hours. At last came the rising tide, and floated off the boats in safety.
Admiral Lee now ordered the gunboats out of the Upper Nansemond; and affairs began to wear a discouraging aspect. But already the dawn that succeeds the darkest hour was slowly breaking through its blackness, soon to shine forth in the noontide glory of success. It was proposed by Lieutenant Lansom to capture the Hill’s Point battery, and the proposal was received with favor by General Peck.
The following, which is an extract from a description by an eye-witness does not over-color this brilliant feat:
“Shortly before sunset the gunboats on the river, and the four rifled guns at and near battery Stevens, opened a terrific fire upon the rebel battery. Meantime, detachments from the Eighty-ninth New York Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel England, and the Eighth Connecticut, Colonel Ward, in all two hundred and eighty men, embarked on board the gunboat Stepping Stones, Lieutenant Lansom, at a point about a mile above the battery. Protected by the artillery fire, the gunboat boldly steamed down the river about two hundred yards above the rebel works, the shore at that point being an abrupt bluff. Immediately the troops disembarked, wading to their waists in water, ascended the bluff, and with loud cheers charged on the rear of the fort. Meantime, the gunboat’s crew had landed four boat howitzers, placed them in position, and opened on the fort. The enemy, taken completely by surprise, were only able to deliver two or three volleys of musketry, and fire one gun, when our troops entered the work, and captured the entire party of seven officers and one hundred and thirty men, with five brass guns, and a large supply of ammunition.”
The capture of this battery so alarmed the rebels that they at once turned all their attention to their own position, and the most earnest preparations were made in all haste to resist the terrible artillery fire of the Union batteries, which was now turned with all their strength against their front.
Perpetually on the look-out for any change in the plans or position of the enemy, General Peck was constantly sending out reconnoitering parties, who, getting into skirmishes with the enemy’s outposts, would drive them back to the rebel main line, and were then in turn forced back themselves by formidable numbers. The work of fortifying continued to go on during the whole three weeks of the siege; the labor of erecting batteries, building roads and bridges, and cutting timber, went briskly forward during the night, after days of severe fighting. Nothing could exceed, nor no praise do justice to the constant patience, courage, and devotion to duty manifested by the brave troops who defended Suffolk.
Rebel reinforcements began to arrive about the 20th of April, returning from their unsuccessful attack on Fort Washington. Day by day the enemy grew stronger. But no fear of defeat troubled the brave Unionists, nor did the thought of surrender occur to them.
By the 30th of April a rebel reinforcement, consisting of General D. H. Hill’s troops, and numbering ten thousand, arrived and joined the already strong army of General Longstreet; and such was Longstreet’s opinion of the town’s fortifications and inner strength, that notwithstanding his own very superior numbers, he began to feel that after all he would be compelled to forego his plan of capturing Suffolk. He would not retire, however, without a final effort; and new batteries were constantly constructed, but no sooner unmasked, than they were silenced by the deadly fire of the gunboats, and Parrotts from the Union works. Victory had spread her wings above the Union forces, and was waiting to fold them and settle down upon the National banner. General Longstreet was soon compelled to acknowledge his attack a failure; and the approaching conflict between the armies of Hooker and Lee (elsewhere described), gave him a good excuse for raising the siege of Suffolk.
On the 3rd of May General Longstreet drew off his men, and commenced his retreat. They were pursued by a strong Union force under General Getty and General Harland; the enemy was overtaken, and some sharp skirmishing took place between him and his pursuers, which was at length ended by darkness. Under cover of the night the rebels retreated.
The next day a rebel cavalry force, numbering four hundred, was encountered at Chuckatuck by small Union force, who routed them with musketry and artillery. A short distance from Hill’s Point, the rebels were encountered by another Union force under Colonel Dutton, and caused them considerable annoyance for the remainder of the day. At midnight on the 3rd of May, the Union troops under Corcoran, Dodge and Foster, started in pursuit of the flying rebels; but without any result except the capture of a few hundred stragglers. This ended the siege of Suffolk; during which the National loss was forty-four killed, two hundred and one wounded and fourteen missing. Four hundred rebel prisoners were captured in all; and the enemy had gained absolutely nothing, with a loss of one thousand five hundred men in killed wounded and prisoners; five guns, and a very large quantity of stores and small arms.
SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.
November 17-December 6, 1863.
From the commencement of hostilities until the fall of 1863, no successful measures had been adopted to relieve the inhabitants of East Tennessee from the iron rule of rebellion. More than three-fourths of the population were unconditionally loyal, and her brave soldiers fought side by side with the men of the North and West in defence of the Government, while their homes were being desolated by a stern and vindictive foe. Hundreds of her citizens had suffered death from imprisonment and privations, while thousands were unwillingly conscripted in the rebel armies.
Much had been hoped for, when General Buell led a gallant army through Kentucky, almost to her border, but the day of her emancipation had not yet arrived.
In the fall of 1863, a determined effort was made by the Government to occupy East Tennessee. General Burnside had been called to the command of the Department of the Ohio, in the month of March, but the exigencies of the Vicksburg campaign had deprived him of his troops, and he had subsequently remained inactive. The surrender of that stronghold had placed an army again at his disposal, and by the latter part of August he was in condition to attempt the occupation of East Tennessee, and thus cooperate with General Rosecrans, who was then in the midst of his heavy campaign bearing on Chattanooga. It was feared that reinforcements would reach Bragg at Chattanooga, through East Tennessee from Virginia, and to General Burnside was assigned the duty of destroying the communications between these points. He entered the State late in August, about midway between the eastern and western boundaries, and immediately occupied Knoxville, which was evacuated by the rebel General Buckner, without a struggle. His retreat was so precipitate, and his surprise so great, that he had no opportunity to notify the garrison at Cumberland Gap of their danger, consequently the rebel forces at that point, numbering some two thousand men, were environed by the Union army, and compelled to surrender.
Knoxville was now delivered from the rebel rule; and the inhabitants hailed the presence of their deliverers with the warmest tokens of joy. Recruits flocked to the Union army by hundreds, from all the surrounding country, much faster than they could be either armed or clad.
Though the capture of Knoxville was an easy enterprise on the part of General Burnside, its retention promised to be a work of great difficulty. He was two hundred and fifty miles from the base of his supplies in Kentucky, and on either side of him were the two great armies of the rebellion—Lee on the east, and Bragg on the south. The country in the neighborhood swarmed with guerrillas, and important posts in the vicinity were liable to, and subjected to frequented attacks from the Confederate forces, yet too feeble to attack the main Union army. Clothes and shoes began to fail, and economy became necessary in all means of subsistence. The disastrous battle of Chickamauga, which imperilled the existence of General Rosecrans’ army, tended to increase the difficulties of General Burnside.
During the month of November it became certain that General Longstreet had been detached from the army of General Bragg, with the design of attacking General Burnside, at Knoxville. After fortifying the city in such manner as to insure confidence in his ability to maintain it, General Burnside advanced to meet his antagonist, cautiously luring him on, to invite his withdrawal from the support of Bragg, and finally falling back within the defences of Knoxville, on the 17th of November, with the rebel army pressing close upon his rear. The Union army was informed that there was now to be no more retreating. The old defences were strengthened and new ones erected, rifle-pits dug, and trees felled to resist the approach of the besiegers.
The city lies on the north bank of the Holston river, and a range of hills protects it on the west. The rebels, therefore, prepared to attack the defences from the north and east. Their line extended in a circular form, with their right touching the river, thus cutting off all water communication, and the supplies of the army were thenceforward to be obtained by forage trains alone. A long siege was not feared by General Burnside, as he had the promise of assistance from General Grant, who had just been called to the command of the army confronting Bragg. The brilliant victories of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge now enabled General Grant to hasten forward the expected succor. Of this fact Longstreet soon became informed, but as he had confidently anticipated the capture of the city and its defenders, he was loth to leave his anticipated prey without a desperate and hasty effort for its seizure. He would try to carry Knoxville by storm.
One of the principal defences of the place was called Fort Sanders, in honor of a brave general who had fallen in the early part of the siege. It was situated on a high hill on the northeast corner of the town, and was composed of well-planned earthworks. This fort commanded the approaches to the city both from the north and east, and its capture was a necessity before the assailants could enter Knoxville. The sides of the hill had been covered with a dense forest of pine, which had been felled, and now presented an abattis or network of brush or timber, almost impassable, to within two or three hundred yards of the fort, where a cleared space intervened, affording free range for grape or canister. The works consisted of a ditch and parapet.
Three picked regiments were assigned the duty of storming this fort by General Longstreet. On the night of the twenty-eighth of November these regiments succeeded in pushing their way through the pine abattis, reaching the edge of the clearing, after a short interval of skirmishing with the defenders, and lay on their arms at the edge of the abattis until daybreak on the morning of the twenty-ninth, when a charge was ordered. A scene of carnage and desperate valor now ensued, which had many parallels during this fratricidal war. As the rebels advanced across the open space, a furious storm of grape and canister met them, and decimated their ranks. A network of unseen wires, which had been interlaced across the approach, now entangled their ranks, and threw many of the men to the ground, who were trampled under feet by their comrades. The air was filled with the whiz of minie balls. Yet still the intrepid assailants rushed on, over the bodies of their dead and wounded comrades, until they reached the ditch, where they encountered a continuous storm of hand-grenades thrown into the midst of the struggling mass, and exploding with horrible effect. One of the assailants reached the parapet, and waved a Confederate flag, only to be hurled into the ditch the next instant, a mangled corpse. None of the rebels entered the fort, while scores lay dead before it. The whole force of the garrison was but three hundred—far less than the dead and dying who strewed the ground around it. The Federal loss was four killed and eleven wounded.
General Longstreet, now despairing of success, abandoned the siege, and retreated southward. On the sixth of December General Sherman entered the city with reinforcements, and railroad communication with Chattanooga was opened.
OPERATIONS IN TENNESSEE.
September 20-December 31, 1863.
The great battle of Chickamauga, ending on the 20th of September, 1863, resulted, as we have seen, in no material advantage to the rebels and in no additional success to the arms of the Union. It was substantially an equal and a fruitless contest—“a drawn battle.” Upon both sides the losses were very heavy. General Rosecrans lost sixteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-one men, all told, and a large quantity of material of war. General Bragg, on the other hand, lost eighteen thousand. Upward of two thousand rebels were captured by the National troops.
On the 2d of October, General Rosecrans issued the following order, dated at the Headquarters of the Department of the Cumberland, at Chattanooga.
“Army of the Cumberland: You have made a grand and successful campaign; you have driven the rebels from Middle Tennessee. You crossed a great mountain range, placed yourselves on the banks of a broad river, crossed it in the face of a powerful opposing army, and crossed two other great mountain ranges at the only practicable passes, some forty miles between extremes. You concentrated in the face of superior numbers; fought the combined armies of Bragg, which you drove from Shelbyville to Tullahoma, of Johnston’s army from Mississippi, and the tried veterans of Longstreet’s corps, and for two days held them at bay, giving them blow for blow, with heavy interest. When the day closed, you held the field, from which you withdrew, in the face of overpowering numbers, to occupy the point for which you set out—Chattanooga.
“You have accomplished the great work of the campaign; you hold the key of East Tennessee, of Northern Georgia, and of the enemy’s mines of coal and nitre. Let these achievements console you for the regret you experience that arrivals of fresh hostile troops forbade your remaining on the field to renew the battle; for the right of burying your gallant dead, and caring for your brave companions who lay wounded on the field. The losses you have sustained, though heavy, are slight, considering the odds against you, and the stake you have won.
“You hold in your hands the substantial fruits of a victory, and deserve and will receive the honors and plaudits of a grateful nation, which asks nothing of even those who have been fighting us, but obedience to the Constitution and laws established for our own common benefit.
“The General commanding earnestly begs every officer and soldier of this army to unite with him in thanking Almighty God for His favors to us. He presents his hearty thanks and congratulations to all the officers and soldiers of this command, for their energy, patience, and perseverance, and the undaunted courage displayed by those who fought with such unflinching resolution.
“Neither the history of this war, nor probably the annals of any battle, furnish a loftier example of obstinate bravery and enduring resistance to superior numbers—when troops, having exhausted their ammunition, resorted to the bayonet, many times, to hold their positions, against such odds—as did our left and centre, comprising troops from all the corps, on the afternoon of the 20th of September, at the battle of Chickamauga.
(Signed) W. S. ROSECRANS,
Major-General Commanding.”
After the battle of Chickamauga, the Union army fell back to Chattanooga, and assumed a strong position in front of that place, abandoning, however, the passes of Lookout Mountain, which were immediately occupied by the rebels. The Army of the Cumberland at this time received its supplies, by way of Stevenson, and Bridgeport, from depots at Louisville and Nashville. To cut railroad communication with those points, and thus to paralyze the Union forces, was now the aim of the Confederate commander; and to this labor he addressed his efforts, with promptitude and with courage. But the line of railroad was well defended. On the 23d of September, General Hooker was sent to Tennessee, in command of the Eleventh and Twelfth corps of the Army of the Potomac, and was assigned to the protection of the line of communication between Bridgeport and Nashville. The rebels, in their vain endeavors to intercept the Union communications, brought about several small engagements, in which the Unionists were invariably victorious. Thus, on the 2d of October a rebel force, four thousand strong, under Wheeler, was defeated, at Anderson’s Cross Roads, by the First Missouri and Second Indiana cavalry, under Colonel Edward McCook. The enemy lost one hundred and twenty men, killed and wounded, eighty-seven prisoners, and upwards of eight hundred mules; and was completely routed, and driven back for miles. Thus, also, on the 6th of October, General Mitchell attacked the enemy, in strong force, at Shelbyville, and put them to flight, with heavy loss. They were, likewise, defeated at Farrington, on the 8th of October, by the National troops under General Crook, who captured on this occasion two hundred and forty prisoners, four pieces of artillery, and one hundred stand of arms.
But other and more important movements were in contemplation at this time. The Government at Washington, hearing that Bragg was to receive reinforcements, and feeling that the crisis demanded an infallible commander, determined to relieve General Rosecrans, and entirely to reorganize the conduct of the war in the west. With this view General Grant was directed to advance with his forces from Vicksburg, and to assume command of the Departments of Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio. On the 18th of October, General Grant arrived at Louisville, and entered upon his new duties. The immediate direction of affairs in the Department of the Cumberland was committed to Major-General G. H. Thomas. The Department of Tennessee was assigned to Major-General W. T. Sherman. The corps of Generals McCook and Crittenden were consolidated, and stationed at Cincinnati. General Burnside, commanding the Department of Ohio, was, at this time, with a considerable Union force, in the vicinity of Knoxville, in the eastern part of the State.
Such was the position of affairs, when General Grant took command of these important operations. His first movement was to open a shorter land communication between the Army of the Cumberland and its base of supplies. This was necessary, because the rebels were, substantially, investing Chattanooga; and to lose communication with its base of supplies, would be to lose the army there intrenched. The movement was effected in a very skillful manner, and at considerable peril, by throwing a pontoon bridge across the river Tennessee, at a place called Brown’s Ferry, about one mile and a half by land, and eight miles by water, below the bridge at Chattanooga. The boats for this bridge were floated down from Chattanooga, under cover of the night, and filled with soldiers. More soldiers were then brought across the river at Brown’s Ferry, the enemy was driven back on the hills on the shore, and the bridge was constructed. It was nine hundred feet long, and the work of building it occupied five hours. As soon as this step had been successfully taken, General Hooker moved over from Bridgeport, crossed the river at Brown’s Ferry, and so effected a junction with the forces at Chattanooga. This opened the direct road to Kelly’s Ferry and so to Bridgeport, and effectually baffled the enemy’s hopes of cutting off the Union line of communication. General Grant now pursued, with comparative freedom his campaign for clearing East Tennessee of the armed forces of the Rebellion.
The rebel line at this time extended from Lookout Mountain, on the left, to Fort Buckner, the extreme point of Missionary Ridge, on the right. The position was, of course, on the south side of the Tennessee river. The base of supplies was Atlanta. As soon as General Sherman arrived, with his command, from Memphis, General Grant proceeded to carry out his plan of the campaign. The rebel General Longstreet, with a considerable force was now absent from Bragg’s army, having been detached to proceed against the Union troops under General Burnside, at Knoxville. Bragg’s army was, therefore, materially weakened. General Grant was not slow to avail himself of this advantage. The plan upon which he proceeded involved the following detail. A division of General Sherman’s troops was to be sent to Trenton, threatening the enemy’s left flank. Under cover of this movement, General Sherman’s main body was to cross the Brown’s Ferry bridge at night and pass thence into a concealed camp of the north side of the river, opposite South Chickamauga creek. One division was to encamp on the North Chickamauga; about one hundred and twenty pontoons were to be taken under cover of hills and woods, and launched into the North Chickamauga; these were to be filled with men, to be floated out into the Tennessee and down it, until opposite the South Chickamauga (about three miles below), to effect a landing on the bank, and throw up works; the remainder of the command was to be taken across in the same boats, or a portion of them; the Tennessee and South Chickamauga were to be bridged, and then the artillery crossed and moved at once to seize a foothold on the bridge, taking up a line facing the enemy’s right flank, near the tunnel. General Howard’s corps of General Hooker’s command was to cross into the town by the two bridges, and fill the gap between General Sherman’s proposed position and the main body of General Thomas’s army. General Hooker, with the remainder of his force and a division sent to Trenton, which should return, were to carry the point of Lookout, and then threaten the enemy’s left, which would thus be thrown back, being forced to evacuate the mountain and take position on the ridge; and then the Federal troops, being on both flanks, and upon one flank threatening the enemy’s communications, were to advance the whole line or turn the other flank, as the chances might dictate. Then a part of the force was to follow as far as possible, while General Sherman destroyed the railroad from Cleveland to Dalton, and then pushed on to relieve Knoxville, and capture, disperse, or drive off General Longstreet from before it.
BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.
November 24, 1863.
General Grant’s forward movement against the rebel position on Lookout Mountain commenced on the 24th. The preliminary movements had been successfully carried out, the Tennessee having been bridged on the 23d, and General Sherman’s troops pushed across the river. The ascent to Lookout Mountain is very difficult, and was, of course, rendered all the more arduous and perilous, by the enemy’s fortifications. But difficulty was no bar, either to the gallant Army of the Cumberland or to its brave leaders. Early on the morning of the 24th, General Hooker’s forces commenced to move along the valley, greatly to the astonishment of the rebels, who were watching the movement, from their vantage ground upon the mountain, and who made no immediate opposition to the attempted ascent of Lookout.
About twenty-five feet from the summit of the mountain is a line of perpendicular rocks, known as “Palisades.” General Hooker’s division, having reached these palisades, formed into line of battle, so as to face the north, the right wing resting against the palisades and stretching down the slope of the mountain. General Hooker’s army advanced in three distinct lines. The front consisted of General Geary’s division, with a brigade of New York troops, under Colonel Ireland, on the right: the Sixtieth New York held the extreme right of the line, while the extreme left and front were held by the One hundred and second, the One hundred and thirty-seventh, and the One hundred and forty-ninth New York. The second line was formed of the two brigades of Grove and Whittaker. The third was formed by General Osterhaus’ division, which held itself in readiness to aid either of the other lines. These dispositions having been made, the entire corps, with a strong line of skirmishers thrown out, was ordered forward. After a short march they came upon a detachment of the enemy, which totally unsuspicious of the movements of the Union forces, was taken by surprise. The enemy, outnumbered and outmanœvred, attempted to escape by running up the hill; but they were instantly assaulted by the Union soldiers from above, and finding themselves thus between two fires, were compelled to make a stand and to fight. The rebel batteries on Lookout Mountain, and the Union batteries on Mocassin Point, now opened a heavy fire upon each other. The rebels, attacked on both rear and flank, were not capable of making a steady resistance, although their skirmishers, sheltering themselves behind trees and rocks, poured in a heavy fire upon the Union line, but were at length driven back by General Geary’s skirmishers. The enemy on the point of the mountain being severely pressed, gradually gave way, and fell back, in disorder, till they reached the line of breastworks on the eastern slope of the mountain. General Geary here drew his line parallel with that of the enemy, and boldly advanced; but finding himself met by strongly organized troops, he was obliged, for the time, to retire. In the mean while very large numbers of the enemy had been captured—for, whenever the Union troops succeeded in bringing in the rebels, they secured them by hundreds; and in this manner, over a thousand prisoners were taken, in a short space of time.
A pause in the battle occurred after the repulse of Geary’s second attack on the rebel line; and, as the enemy was found to be in a very strong position behind his breastworks, General Hooker—after a careful reconnoissance, in which he incurred great personal danger—decided on a change in the disposition of his forces, for an attack on the enemy’s works. The rebels had every natural advantage on their side, and were also expecting reinforcements; but the latter failed to arrive, and Hooker’s next attack caused the enemy to contract his line, and expose his left flank. This attack began at two o’clock in the afternoon and resulted in the severest fighting of the day, which lasted, in undiminished fury, for the next two hours. Hooker’s dispositions were made as follows. The Eighty-fourth Illinois, Colonel Waters, and the Seventy-fifth Illinois, Colonel Burnett, were sent to hold the road which crosses the mountain on the east. The line of battle, moving against the rebel works in part, consisted of the command of Geary on the right, that of Osterhaus on the left, and that of Whittaker and Grove in the centre. Colonel Ireland’s force clung close to the palisades. From all quarters, a destructive fire was poured in upon the enemy. Those who, from Chattanooga and Orchard Knob—the latter point, captured on the 23d, was still held by the troops of the gallant General Wood—watched the battle, saw only clouds of smoke mingling with the mist that enveloped the mountain. But the troops engaged could see each other, and beneath the pall of mist they fought, on both sides, with desperate valor. At four o’clock, General Hooker ordered a general charge of his whole line. It was made, with the utmost gallantry—the Union forces dashing onward, through a terribly heavy and continuous fire—and carrying all before them. In five minutes the left flank of the rebels had been turned, and, falling back upon the Summerton road, they abandoned their position, artillery, works, and all, which were immediately seized by the victorious troops of Hooker.
But, though flanked and driven back the rebels manifested no disposition to yield their redoubts without a final struggle. Rapidly reforming, they soon advanced to the assault of Geary, in their own former position. The fight that ensued was bitter and furious. The Union soldiers were nearly out of ammunition, and were already, for this reason, evincing a disposition to straggle out of line. The enemy perceived their advantage and tried to make use of it. General Hooker had twice sent to Chattanooga for ammunition. The moment was exceedingly critical. But, at the very moment when further delay must have proved fatal to the success of the Union arms, the ammunition train of General Thomas’s soldiers deployed across Chattanooga creek, and marched up the hill, bringing an ample supply to their comrades in the fight. These men consisted of General Carlin’s brigade of Johnston’s division, Fourteenth corps, and upon them devolved the work of concluding the battle. Night was now coming on, yet the outline of the contending masses could be seen from Chattanooga, while the flashes of musketry were distinctly visible in the gathering darkness. The pageant, as witnessed from the town, was exceedingly gorgeous. The mountain was all ablaze with intermittent fire, and all vocal with strange, unearthly sounds, as of a giant groaning in pain. The great guns on its summit answered the lesser ones on Moccasin point, and all was commotion, and bloody strife, and ghastly pageantry of terror.
The result of this final charge was the complete defeat of the rebels. They fell back along the Summerton road, guarding a convenient point to check pursuit, and employed the long hours of the night in evacuating the mountain. There was some skirmishing during the night, but with no important results. General Hooker had gained a splendid victory.
SHERMAN’S ADVANCE AGAINST MISSION RIDGE.
November 24, 1863.
While the Union forces under Hooker were thus advancing against the enemy’s left, General Sherman’s command, which had crossed the Tennessee at Brown’s Ferry, and advanced along the north bank of the river, to a point opposite Chickamauga creek, was threatening the enemy’s right. The crossing, commenced at early morning, was not completed till noon, at which time also a junction was effected, at Chickamauga creek, between General Sherman’s command, and reinforcements under General Howard, sent forward from Chattanooga. At about one o’clock, and just as General Sherman gave orders for an advance against Missionary Ridge, a drizzly rain began to fall, which soon hid from view the object of assault. There are several small hills clustered at the end of Missionary Ridge, being separated from it by a valley, through which runs the Chattanooga and Cleveland railroad. To take these hills was Sherman’s first design. His line of battle was formed thus: General Ewing’s division occupied the right, General J. E. Smith’s division the centre, and General Morgan L. Smith’s division the left. General Jeff. C. Davis’s division of the Fourteenth corps, artillery, had crossed the river and taken up position in the works. The order for the advance was given by General Sherman, as follows: “I see Davis is up. I guess you may as well go in, and take the hill.”
The advance was made in perfect silence. The men looked very serious; and, if they spoke to each other, spoke in undertones. The prospect before them was a very serious one, and it was evident that they realized it to the fullest extent. But, as the sequel made manifest, the enemy did not propose to contest these hills, and, steadily continuing his advance, General Sherman was in possession of them as early as four o’clock in the afternoon. A few shells, thrown by the rebels from Tunnel Hill, had passed over his forces, carrying consternation to the camp followers in the rear; but there had been no serious fighting. On inspecting the ground thus captured, General Sherman determined to occupy the semi-circular ridge of the hills with his right and centre, and deploy his left toward Meyers’s mill, on Chickamauga creek. General M. L. Smith, commanding the left, executed the latter movement, capturing about a hundred rebels, who were building rafts on the creek, with which to destroy General Sherman’s pontoon bridges. At night on the 24th, therefore, General Sherman was strongly posted, and prepared for a grand assault of the enemy’s works, on the following day.
Several new dispositions had been made along the Union centre, on the 24th, in anticipation of a great battle on the following day. Wood’s forces, strengthened by those of General Baird, had been appointed to storm the rebel heights at Blackford, which is a gap in the centre of Missionary Ridge. Sheridan’s command, strengthened by General King’s brigade—of regulars and volunteers—had been deputed to assault at Thurman’s House, a point further toward the enemy’s left. General Gordon Granger assumed command of the divisions of Wood and Baird, and General Palmer took command of those of Sheridan and King. The object of these movements was to cut the rebel army in two, in the centre, while Hooker on its left, and Sherman on its right, should flank it, and cut it to pieces.
BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.
November 25, 1863.
Such was the position of affairs on the morning of the 25th of November. At ten o’clock General Sherman commenced the battle of Missionary Ridge, by pushing forward Colonel Loomis’s brigade of Ewing’s division, on the right, against the enemy posted at Glass Station, back of the railroad. This attack was promptly repulsed. General Corse then made a direct assault upon Tunnel Hill, mounting the hill without difficulty, and in gallant style. But it was only on reaching the crest of this eminence, and coming upon the plateau, that the Union troops came under fire of the guns of Fort Buckner, the strongest rebel fortification at this point. They gained the plateau at precisely eleven o’clock, and, at once, were greeted with a tremendous fire from the guns of the fort, under which they retreated to the crest of the hill, leaving their dead and wounded in the enemy’s rifle-pits. At this juncture, Colonel Loomis’s brigade made a second charge from the right, driving the rebels from their fortifications along the railroad track, and forcing them up the hill to the right of Fort Buckner. General Corse was reinforced, while his movement was going on, and, with fresh troops, he now proceeded to make a second charge against the fort. A bloody conflict ensued. The Union soldiers, swept by a continuous and merciless fire, advanced to within twelve yards of the rebel works—then wavered, then again fell back to their original position, once more leaving their dead and wounded in possession of the enemy. This repulse took place at a quarter past twelve, and from that time until half past one, no further movement was made in Sherman’s front. At this hour, however, a third assault of the hill was made by the combined force of Colonel Loomis and Mathias, supported by two regiments of Colonel Raum’s brigade, the Eightieth Ohio, and the Seventeenth Iowa. The charge of the Union forces on this occasion has been described by an eye-witness as the most magnificent act of gallantry that it is possible to imagine. It was made in the face of a destructive fire, from six pieces of artillery, and a long line of musketry, and—a somewhat navel expedient in modern warfare—a fire of rocks and stones, which the rebels hurled down from their fastness, in great abundance. Meanwhile, the hill flashed and flared with flame, and echoed with the terrible roar of artillery. For half an hour the strife continued. Then the column of Mathias broke and fled—but only to the line of Raum’s reserves, where it was rallied as if by magic. At precisely a quarter past two o’clock, a last grand charge was made, all along the line. Fifty yards in front lay the rebel works. The rebel cannon, double-shotted with canister, belched out death upon the advancing patriots. The men drew their blue cloth caps over their eyes, and pressed stubbornly onward. It was a very critical moment for the rebels—and they knew it, for their commander suddenly called up reserves from his centre, and so, under the combined sweep of a front, flank, and cross fire, the gallant troops of Sherman were finally obliged to fall back from Tunnel Hill. Such advantages as he had gained, however, General Sherman held,—ordering his line into position, and intrenching himself to secure the ground for new operations.
But that is not always failure which seems so at the moment. The disaster to Sherman proved, in fact, the main-spring of victory to General Grant. That commander, posted at Orchard Knob, and narrowly watching the contest on his left, was not slow to observe that General Bragg had been obliged to weaken the rebel centre in order to save Tunnel Hill; and, with General Grant, to see an advantage was to improve it. The moment Bragg’s reserves had been drawn away, General Grant ordered a charge upon the rebel centre. At the same moment an artillery fire was opened on the enemy from Orchard Knob and Fort Wood. The men went forward in fine style, charging at the point of the bayonet, across Citico Creek and up the hillside. For a little while, as it toiled upward, the line looked broken and ragged; but the moment it reached the crest of Missionary Ridge, it formed in perfect order, and rushed on like the wind. Astonished and dismayed, the rebels fled before the determined valor of the patriots. Through Fort Hindman danced the rebel flag, borne along by the frightened hordes of Confederates, and after it, streaming grandly in the stormy air, floated onward the flag of the Union. At four o’ clock the ridge was won. General Grant himself, following in the wake of the advancing columns, appeared among his troops, and, by his presence, inspired them with new courage and intrepid resolution.
In the mean while General Hooker, following up his victory of the 24th, had completely possessed himself of Lookout Mountain, had descended into the valley, crossed the Chattanooga creek, passed through Rossville, and advanced northward along Missionary Ridge, to cooperate with General Grant. His advance drove the rebels out of Fort Breckinridge, and captured many prisoners. He came up late in the afternoon of the 25th. A final effort, made by Bragg, to retake Fort Hindman, was successfully repulsed, and then the rout of the Confederates was complete. They fled in great disorder towards Ringgold, leaving hundreds of killed and wounded in their track. A few vollies of grape and canister converted their retreat into a wild rout.
BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.
PURSUIT TOWARDS RINGGOLD, GA.
Though utterly defeated and disorganized, the rebel army was still powerful in numbers and material, and the Federal commander, fully sensible of the importance of following up his advantage, ordered a vigorous pursuit. By daylight the next morning the Union forces were pressing close upon the dispirited and fleeing enemy. So disheartened were the rebels that hundreds threw away their arms and surrendered, soon as the victorious Union columns came within range. All day the pursuit continued, and, when night came on, the country for miles around was lighted with huge fires, where the rebels were compelled to destroy their stores, to prevent them from falling into patriot hands. The road was strewed with commissary stores, and broken-down caissons and wagons. The line of retreat was mostly along the railroad by the valley of Ringgold.
The entire Federal loss in these combined battles did not exceed four thousand in killed and wounded; while that of the enemy, in killed, wounded, prisoners, and deserters, has been estimated at fifteen thousand. Between sixty and seventy cannon, and seven thousand stand of small arms were among the trophies of the victors.
By this brilliant success, the Federal power was firmly established in East Tennessee, and no serious attempts were afterwards made by the rebels to invade that portion of the State.
BATTLE OF RINGGOLD, GA.
November 28, 1863.
The dingy little town of Ringgold—the county town of Catoosa County, Georgia—is situated at the base of the White Oak mountain range, only a few miles from the State line between Georgia and Tennessee. It was here that the routed forces of General Bragg first made a stand, after the battle of Missionary Ridge, to oppose the pursuit of the victorious soldiers of Hooker. A brief, but desperate and bloody battle, ensued, on the 28th of November. Generals Osterhaus and Geary led the Unionists, while the opposing rebels were Hardee’s command. The fight lasted about five hours, and was attended with heavy loss upon both sides. Three hundred rebel prisoners were captured, and the enemy was driven back, beyond the town, to Tunnel Hill. Colonel Creighton and Lieutenant-Colonel Crane were killed in this engagement, and the Seventh Ohio regiment lost all of its officers excepting one—Captain Creighton. This regiment was treacherously led into an ambuscade by a portion of Hardee’s corps, who displayed Federal flags. The Union soldiers behaved with the utmost gallantry. From Ringgold the rebels fell back upon Dalton.