The Civil War Through the Camera - Henry W. Elson

At Missionary Ridge (seen in the distance in the lower picture) the Army of the Cumberland removed forever from Grant’s mind any doubt of its fighting qualities. Grant, anxious to develop Bragg’s strength, ordered Thomas, on November 23d, to demonstrate against the forces on his front. Moving out as if on parade, the troops under Gordon Granger drove back the Confederates and captured Orchard Knob (or Indian Hill) a day before it had been planned to do so. Still another surprise awaited Grant on the 25th, when from this eminence he watched the magnificent spectacle of the battle of Chattanooga. Thomas’ men again pressed forward in what was ordered as a demonstration against Missionary Ridge. Up and over it they drove the Confederates from one entrenchment after another, capturing the guns parked in the lower picture. “By whose orders are those troops going up the hill?” “Old Pap” Thomas, who knew his men better than did Grant, replied that it was probably by their own orders. It was the most signal victory of the day.

THE CAPTURED CONFEDERATE GUNS

THE MEN WHO COMPLETED THE VICTORY

General Hooker and Staff at Lookout Mountain. Hooker’s forces of about 9,700 men had been sent from the East to reënforce Rosecrans, but until the arrival of Grant they were simply so many more mouths to feed in the besieged city. In the battle of Wauhatchie, on the night of October 20th, they drove back the Confederates and established the new line of communication. On November 24th they, too, had a surprise in store for Grant. Their part in the triple conflict was also ordered merely as a “demonstration,” but they astounded the eyes and ears of their comrades with the spectacular fight by which they made their way up Lookout Mountain. The next day, pushing on to Rossville, the daring Hooker attacked one of Bragg’s divisions and forced it into precipitate retreat.