The whole Confederate line on the left across the Chattanooga Valley was abandoned; Stewart withdrew to the top of the ridge before Hooker reached Rossville. It must be noticed, that General Thomas’s line in the centre, contained only four divisions of the Army of the Cumberland, namely two of the Fourth Corps, and two of the Fourteenth; one division (Davis’s) of the Fourteenth Corps was with Sherman on the left, and one (Cruft’s) was with Hooker on the right. Hooker had three divisions and Sherman six.
Starkweather’s brigade of Johnson’s division was left to hold the original works around Chattanooga; and did so during the assault of the rest of the troops upon Missionary Ridge.
At 1 p. m. on the 12th, C. A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, who was in Chattanooga, sent this dispatch to the Secretary of War at Washington, “In our front here [meaning Thomas’s front], Confederate rifle-pits are fully manned, preventing Thomas gaining ridge.” At 4:30 p. m. he sent another dispatch showing how misleading the former dispatch was: “Glory to God. The day is decisively ours. Missionary Ridge has just been carried by a magnificent charge of Thomas’s troops, and rebels routed.” The reader must not lay much stress on the time given, at which the various movements were made; this is a mere guess in most instances. Seldom did an officer think of looking at his watch, at the moment any orders were given to make an important movement. The original Army of the Cumberland, referred to by Dana, were the troops General Grant thought would not fight, because they had been so roughly handled at Chickamauga.[38] It was quite a natural conclusion. The entire Union Army was in line at about 3:30 p. m., ready for any commands which might be given by Grant, Thomas, Sherman and Hooker. The array of soldiers in the Union ranks from the three armies, those of the Potomac, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, was formidable, commanded by such heroes as Grant, Thomas, Sherman, Hooker, Sheridan, and Howard. Thomas’s four divisions had about 18,000 in rank and file, Hooker’s about 9,000, and Sherman’s about 24,000.
It is not likely that Bragg had more than 30,000; but his position was sufficiently strong to almost equal Grant’s advantage in numbers. The Confederate Army was concentrated on a 500 feet ridge, which had a very steep and rough surface, sloping towards the Union lines at an angle of about forty-five degrees. This ridge had a fortified line on the top, manned by veteran infantry and artillery, and a thinner line of infantry at its foot in a series of deep rifle-pits; in front of the latter was a swarm of skirmishers. The army was still in command of Braxton Bragg, a commander of great experience; and of two wing commanders, Hardee a veteran of the old regular army, and Breckenridge a former vice-president of the United States. Its division commanders were, as a rule, soldiers of the old regular United States Army, and were very capable officers. That army had two months before (or thought it had) won the battle of Chickamauga, and it was now fighting—at least in the centre where Thomas’s troops faced them—the same troops they claimed to have defeated a short time ago. It had every advantage of position at this time, and it had success in the past to fire the hearts of its soldiers, and arouse in them confidence in their ability to hurl back their old foe, who had the audacity to assault so formidable a stronghold.
Standing on any of the Union forts at Chattanooga, especially on Fort Negley or Fort Wood, or better still on Orchard Knob, where Grant and Thomas remained during the 25th, one would have not only a rear view of the Union Army as it stood, but also a front view of most of the Confederate force. From the top of Missionary Ridge, where Bragg had his headquarters, the whole panorama was magnificent. The lines of blue, and their array of glittering muskets, could be seen from there in front. The backs of the troops were turned on Chattanooga. “Their faces were to the foe.” Bragg had a view of them which Grant and Thomas missed, and if he could have had an hour undisturbed by the conflicting emotions aroused in him by the pending conflict, if he could have watched through his field-glass the valorous mien, the confident air, and the evident determination of these veteran soldiers, to “feed fat the ancient grudge” against the old foes they had met at Mill Springs, Perryville, Stone’s River, and Chickamauga, he would surely have read in these characteristics the doom of the defeat which an hour later overwhelmed him and his little army, and from which it never sufficiently recovered to win another battle. Had he been half as much of a philosopher, as he was a soldier, he would have foreseen, what afterwards was expressed by one of his ablest generals (D. H. Hill), that the holding of Chattanooga “sealed the fate of the confederacy.”
The living, moving lines of soldiers, presented to the view of the two opposing commanders, stationed at vantage points above the valley in which the Union Army was then formed, although a most interesting picture, was more impressive because of its background of magnificent mountains, rivers, and hills. On the west rose great Lookout Mountain, 1,500 feet above the level of the valley; while across the valley, east of Lookout, Missionary Ridge stretched from the north to the South, rising 500 feet and crowned by the lines of grey soldiers, every movement of whom could be seen from Orchard Knob.
General Grant’s most excellent plan on the 24th was that Thomas’s troops should bear to the left, join with the right of Sherman after his forces had advanced to the tunnel, through which the railroad from Chattanooga to East Tennessee ran, and together they should make an assault with the whole union line. Thomas’s troops were in line until 3:30 p. m. on the 25th, waiting for Sherman to capture the hill over the tunnel. General Sherman had begun the fight early in the morning of the 25th by advancing Corse’s brigade; the latter moved down the southern slope of the second hill which had been gained the day before, and under a galling fire advanced against Cleburne’s fortified position. This position was very strong, however, and Corse could not drive the enemy from the hill. Then other brigades were brought up, but they did not succeed in loosening Cleburne’s firm hold. General Grant observing this from Orchard Knob sent the rest of Howard’s Corps to Sherman’s aid at 10 a. m. Howard had two divisions, Steinwehr’s and Schurz’s. It was evident, that Bragg endeavored most vigorously to keep Sherman from turning his right. Had Sherman succeeded in his effort, he would have been in Bragg’s rear and able to menace his line of retreat at Chickamauga station, which was immediately in the rear of the right flank. There was no evidence, however, that Bragg was weakening his lines in front of Thomas; although he had already sent the forces, which Hooker had defeated the day before on Lookout, to his right wing; and these proved to be amply able to hold so strong a natural fortress without any further reinforcements. When General Sherman received Howard’s two divisions, he renewed his efforts to take Tunnel Hill; he made a charge and received one in return, which broke some of John E. Smith’s brigades.
It appears that Grant did not contemplate any attack by Thomas on the centre, when he at noon ordered Baird to report to Sherman; for with Baird’s he had already detached nearly half of Thomas’s troops to Sherman and Hooker. With Baird gone, Thomas had only eight brigades to Sherman’s seven divisions; General Hooker had seven brigades as far from General Thomas’s right, as General Sherman’s were from the latter’s left.
General Grant and General Thomas were together when these orders were given on the 25th; they were in accordance with Grant’s original plan, that Bragg’s defeat should be accomplished by Sherman’s turning the enemy’s right. Grant must therefore have consulted with Thomas concerning this maneuver. Whether General Thomas expressed his opinion on the 25th with regard to making the attack in some other place than at Sherman’s line, is not known; but it will be seen, that the success of the day pivoted around Thomas, because of the invincible position of the enemy at Tunnel Hill, and the valor of the old Army of the Cumberland. This is no disparagement to General Grant’s original idea; his plans were generally correct and successful, and this one was fine in conception, but it shows definitely, that the “best laid schemes, o’mice and men, gang aft a’gley.”
General Grant boldly made his third deviation from his original outline planned for the battle. Seeing the improbability of Sherman advancing his present line to join with Thomas’s left, as contemplated, he ordered an independent assault by Thomas’s troops alone; this order was given at 3 p. m. This section of the Union line was covered by two lines of skirmishers; and was confronted by something less than four divisions of the enemy, namely, a part of Stewart’s on the Confederate left, which was facing Hooker’s line under General Breckenridge’s personal direction. The signal for the advance was to be six shots from a battery (perhaps Bridge’s), on Orchard Knob. General Grant’s report will best tell what occurred, viz.: “Thomas was accordingly directed to move forward his troops, constituting our center, * * * with a double line of skirmishers thrown out, followed in easy supporting distance by the whole force, and carry the rifle-pits at the foot of Missionary Ridge, and when carried to reform his lines, on the rifle-pits with a view to carry the top of the ridge. These troops moved forward, drove the enemy from the rifle-pits at the base of the ridge like bees from a hive—stopped but a moment until the whole were in line—and commenced the ascent of the mountain from right to left almost simultaneously, following closely the retreating enemy, without further orders. They encountered a fearful volley of grape and canister from near thirty pieces of artillery and musketry from still well-filled rifle-pits on the summit of the ridge. Not a waver, however, was seen in all that long line of brave men. Their progress was steadily onward until the summit was in their possession.”[39]