The height of the Ridge, according to the account at hand, varies along its length from six to seven hundred feet above the plain; it slopes at an angle of about forty-five degrees.

On yester-morn in grayish mist,

Armies like ghosts on hills had fought,

And rolled from the cloud their thunders loud

The Cumberlands far had caught:

To-day the sunlit steeps are sought.

Grant stood on cliffs whence all was plain,

And smoked as one who feels no cares;

But mastered nervousness intense

Alone such calmness wears.