THE war cameras reached Nashville on the same day that Grant entered the city, October 21, 1863, and followed him closely throughout the campaign. Grant hurried to Chattanooga and found the troops without shoes or clothing, and all food exhausted. He telegraphed to Burnside to hold Knoxville and appealed to Admiral Porter at Cairo to send gunboats to convey transports carrying rations from St. Louis for Sherman's Army, which was moving up from the Mississippi. Bragg was entrenched on Missionary Ridge, extending along the crest and across Chattanooga Valley to Lookout Mountain. The Confederate fortifications were very strong and their lines reached over the Raccoon Mountain. The war cameras were taken to the foothills of Lookout Mountain, where an engineers' brigade of the Army of the Cumberland was encamped. Grant succumbed to appeals to stand before the camera and the negative is here reproduced. The haggard expression on his face shows the tremendous responsibility that rested upon him. On the twenty-third of November, in 1863, long lines of infantry moved forward and the heavy guns opened fire. The Federal lines flashed across the valley sweeping everything before them, pushing the Confederate skirmish line from their rifle pits, to the foothills of Lookout Mountain. On the twenty-fourth, Grant stood on the top of Orchard Knob, watching Hooker's men rush to the side of Lookout Mountain, leaping from one rocky ledge to another, scrambling over huge boulders, and through deep chasms in a rain of solid shot and shell. They charged almost to the muzzle of the enemy's cannon, gaining ground foot by foot, until at last they reached the foot of the Palisades, and were finally lost in the mist that veiled the mountain. For three hours the battle raged above the clouds. At sunset the mist disappeared and moonlight fell on old Lookout. The Confederate forces could be seen occupying the summit. Hooker's men scaled the Palisades. The Confederates withdrew into the woods and sought the protection of the night. At sunrise, on the twenty-fifth of November, these Kentucky soldiers unfurled the Stars and Stripes. A great cheer arose from the army in the valley.
THE Battle of Lookout Mountain is the most spectacular in history. It was impossible to carry the war camera over its rugged heights. Had they succeeded in getting to the summit, the mist that enveloped the valley would have made it impossible to have secured a single scene of the great conflict. The Federals occupied a strong position on the mountain, looking across the Chattanooga Valley to Missionary Ridge, where Bragg had concentrated his entire army. The twenty-fifth of November was a magnificent day. Seldom has a battle begun under a brighter sun. The Confederate artillery frowned from the summit of Missionary Ridge. The glittering steel of Hooker's men flashed on Lookout Mountain. The Cumberland veterans under Thomas were a solemn phalanx in the valley while Sherman's compact lines were eager for the charge. On the top of Orchard Knob stood Grant's bugler and the echoes of the "Forward" signal fell into the valley, being taken up by the other buglers in melodious refrain. Hooker's men moved down the eastern slope of Lookout Mountain, sweeping across the valley in grand lines. Bragg's batteries were centered on Sherman, who swept his men heroically forward over a succession of low hills.
GENERALS GRANT, SHERMAN, SHERIDAN, HOOKER, HARNEY, DODGE, GIBBON, POTTER, AT FORT SANDERS
CONFEDERATE ARTILLERY CAPTURED AT MISSIONARY RIDGE—PARKED NEAR CHATTANOOGA
UNDER fire from the Confederates, Corse's Brigade struggled desperately for an hour and a half without gaining advantage, while Generals Loomis and Smith took possession of Missionary Ridge. At two in the afternoon occurred one of the most impressing spectacles ever witnessed on a battlefield. Union soldiers with fixed bayonets rushed into the storm of shell without firing a shot until after the skirmish line had been taken and the Sixth Brigade swept over the Confederate rifle pits. The men flung themselves to the earth to avoid the volleys of canister, grape and musketry that were hurled upon them. At sunset Sherman held Bragg's right in check; Hooker was driving at his left. The final assault on his center was begun and in twenty minutes Missionary Ridge was belching flames. Every Confederate gun and cannon was in action. The Federal soldiers rushed into the very mouth of death, reaching the crest, breaching the Confederate lines until they gave way and retreated. The cannon which they abandoned were swung and turned upon them. The victory had cost the Union Army 5,616, killed, wounded and missing, against a Confederate loss of 8,684.