AKMY OPERATIONS. 



123 



At the same time, Gen. Schofield, in com- 

 mand of the Department of Missouri, and Gen. 

 Pope, in command of the Northwest Depart- 

 ment, were ordered to send forward to the 

 Tennessee line every available man in their 

 departments ; and the commanding officers in 

 Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, were ordered to 

 make every possible exertion to secure Gen. 

 Eosecrans's line of communications. Gen. Meade 

 was also urged to attack Gen. Lee's army while 

 in its present reduced condition, or, at least, to 

 prevent him from sending off anymore detach- 

 ments. More, troops were not sent into East 

 Tennessee or Georgia, on account of the impos- 

 sibility of supplying them in a country which 

 the enemy had nearly exhausted. Gen. Burn- 

 side's army was on short rations, and that of 

 the Cumberland inadequately supplied. 



On the 14th of September, the army of Gen. 

 Bosecrans was occupying the passes of Look- 

 out mountain, with the enemy concentrating 

 his forces near Lafayette, to dispute his further 

 advance. The threatened movements of Gen. 

 Bragg to the right and left proved to be merely 

 cavalry raids to cut Gen. Eosecrans's lines of 

 supplies, and threaten his communication with 

 Gen. Burnside. His main army was only await- 

 ing the arrival of Gen. Longstreet's corps to 

 give battle in the mountains of Georgia. It had 

 already been reenforced by troops from Gen. 

 Johnston in Mississippi, and by the prisoners 

 captured at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and 

 released on parole, who had been declared by 

 the Confederate authorities to be exchanged. 



The line of Gen. Eosecrans's army extended 

 at this time from Gordon's Mills to Alpines, a 

 distance of some forty miles. By the 17th, 

 they were brought within supporting distance, 

 and on the morning of the 18th a concentration 

 was begun toward Crawfish Springs. 



The advance ot Gen. Eosecrans's army can be 

 traced in a few words. The Tennessee river, 

 west of Chattanooga, in its general direction 

 runs southwest. Skirting it is the Eacoon range 

 of mountains. Sand mountain, where the army 

 passed over, is a part of this range. After 

 marching over a plateau of twelve or fifteen 

 miles in width, Sand mountain is descended, 

 and the Lookout valley is gained. This valley 

 is about two miles wide, and runs southwest. 

 It is bounded on the east by the Lookout moun- 

 tains, running parallel with the Eacoon range. 

 The right wing, under Gen. McCook, and the 

 centre, under Gen. Thomas, had been in this 

 valley two or three days when Chattanooga was 

 evacuated. Early on Wednesday, the 9th, both 

 corps were in motion to pass the Lookout 

 range. They had only two passes by which to 

 cross one eight miles south of Trenton, and 

 the other at Valley Head, more than twenty 

 miles south of Trenton. At Valley Head the 

 rugged mountain melts away into a wild scat- 

 tering of hills, near which the road is abruptly 

 turned through winding valleys, with a steep 

 and stubborn spur before the summit is gained. 

 After reaching the summit, a plateau gently 



rolling, about twelve miles in width, is found. 

 There are groves and fields, and smooth-flow- 

 ing streams, where the imagination pictured 

 crags and cascades. At Valley Head, Gen. 

 McCook's corps passed over Lookout moun- 

 tain, and reached Alpines, in the valley, called 

 Broomtown valley, on the 10th. Gen. Thomas 

 took the middle gap, and passed through without 

 opposition. At the same time Gen. Crittenden 

 moved south of Chattanooga toward Gordon's 

 Mills, a distance of twelve miles. Bounding 

 Broomtown valley,' on the east, is another par- 

 allel ridge, known as Taylor's ridge. It is not 

 a formidable barrier, and is crossed by a num- 

 ber of good roads toward Lafayette, where 

 Gen. Bragg was. The first opposition to the 

 present advance of the army took place at Al- 

 pines, on Wednesday, the 9th, when a cavalry 

 division had a brisk fight with the enemy, 

 which continued two hours, with the loss of 

 four killed and twelve wounded. The enemy 

 retired, leaving a few dead. When Gen. 

 Thomas passed through the central gap, he 

 found himself in McLemore's Cove or valley, a 

 strip of country enclosed between Lookout 

 mountain and Pigeon mountain, a spur of Look- 

 out, striking northeast from it, and gradually 

 melting away as it approaches the Chicka- 

 mauga river. To reach the same valley in 

 which Gen. McCook's corps was, Gen. Thomas 

 was compelled to pass through one of the gaps 

 of Pigeon mountain. He therefore, on the 12th, 

 ordered Gen. Negley to feel his way through 

 the central pass. In obeying the order he was 

 suddenly attacked by the divisions of Gens. 

 Witters and Stuart, of Gen. Bragg's army, upon 

 his front and flanks, with such energy as com- 

 pelled his hasty retreat, with a loss of some 

 forty killed and wounded. The advance of 

 Gen. Eosecrans's army thus far in pursuit of the 

 enemy, had been made under the impression 

 that, as Chattanooga had fallen without resist- 

 ance, Gen. Bragg was weak, and the Confed- 

 erate Government unable to reenforce him ; 

 there would, therefore, be no fight north of tLe 

 Coosa river. This sudden show of strength 

 against Gen. Negley, therefore, created alarm. 

 The question now was, whether this demon- 

 stration of the enemy indicated a purpose of 

 giving battle, or whether it was a movement 

 to secure a safe retreat. Gen. Eosecrans de- 

 cided it to be the former. The next day, Gen. 

 McCook was moving back over the Lookout 

 mountain, with orders to close on the centre, 

 and Gen. Crittenden, at Gordon's Mills, put in 

 a good defensive position. 



Lafayette, the capital of Walker county, 

 thirty-two miles from Chattanooga, and eigh- 

 teen fromDalton, was supposed to be the place 

 where the enemy were concentrating. In their 

 front was the Pigeon mountain. This range 

 was the highest at the southern extremity, 

 where it is separated from the Lookout moun- 

 tain by Doherty Gap, a long and heavy pass. 

 Two miles north is a less elevated gap, called 

 Eape ; seven miles farther north is Blue Bird, 



