130 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



carefully watched the march of the eleventh corps, de- 

 termined to make an attack for another purpose name- 

 ly, to capture, if possible, a large park of wagons and 

 its escort, numbering, as was supposed, from fifteen 

 hundred to two thousand men, who still remained in 

 the rear. 



The attack thus proposed was made during 

 the night, and the result was that, at five o'clock 

 the next morning, the enemy had abandoned 

 the entire country west of Lookout creek. 

 These operations saved the army from starva- 

 tion, for the situation of affairs was such that 

 Chattanooga must be held at all hazards. 



A steamboat had been built and another 

 had been captured. The latter was now loaded 

 with two hundred thousand rations. It ran 

 the blockade of Lookout mountain, and ar- 

 rived safely at Brown's Ferry. The point of 

 Lookout mountain between Chattanooga and 

 Lookout creek was still held by pickets and 

 an infantry force of the enemy, while their bat- 

 teries on the top commanded some distance 

 each way. The steamboat passed to the pon- 

 toon bridge ground until the battle of Mission- 

 ary ridge, thus covering the line of communica- 

 tion, and then in connection with the other boat 

 ran regularly to Kelly's Ferry from Bridgeport, 

 reducing the wagon transportation to ten miles 

 over good roads. An interior line of defence, 

 sufficient to hold Chattanooga with a small 

 force, was now constructed, and the plans were 

 matured for accomplishing the main object of 

 the campaign, which was the clearing of East 

 Tennessee of the enemy. 



When Gen. Sherman reached the vicinity of 

 Bridgeport with his corps, Gen. Longstreet had 

 been detached with his command from the ar- 

 my of Gen. Bragg, and sent on an expedition 

 against Knoxville. This weakened Gen. Bragg 

 and exposed Gen. Burnside to danger. The 

 plan therefore adopted by Gen. Grant was to 

 attack Gen. Bragg, and to follow it by a move- 

 ment in the rear of Gen. Longstreet. The 

 forces of Gen. Bragg held Missionary ridge, 

 the Chattanooga valley, and Lookout mountain, 

 with their left resting on the latter, and their 

 riirht on the ridge near the tunnel of the Knox- 

 ville and Chattanooga railroad. Their pickets 

 occupied the south bank of the Tennessee river 

 for miles above, and their supplies were brought 

 by the railroad from Atlanta and Dalton. The 

 mass of Gen. Bragg's force was in the Chatta- 

 nooga valley, between Lookout mountain and 

 Missionary ridge, and on that slope of Lookout, 

 thus being very nearly on his centre. The 

 ridge was heavily posted with artillery. The 

 plua adopted by Gen. Grant for the attack, and 

 the manner in which it was executed, were thus 

 described by a spectator : " A division of Gen. 

 Sherman's troops wefe to be sent to Trenton, 

 threatening the enemy's left flank. Under 

 cover of this movement, Gen. Sherman's main 

 body was to march up by Gen. Hooker's lines, 

 crossing the Brown's Ferry bridge mostly at 

 ni<,'lit, thence into a concealed camp on the 

 north side of the river, opposite South Chick- 

 amauga creek. One division was directed to 



encamp on the North Chickamauga; about 

 120 pontoons were to be taken under cover 

 of hills and woods, and launched into the 

 North Chickamauga; these were to be filled 

 with men, to be floated out into the Ten- 

 nessee and down it, until opposite the South 

 Chickamauga (about three miles below), to 

 effect a landing on that bank, and throw up 

 works ; the remainder of the command were to 

 be taken across in the same boats, or a portion 

 of them ; the Tennessee and South Chicka- 

 mauga were to be bridged, and then the artil- 

 lery crossed and moved at once to seize a foot- 

 hold on the ridge, taking up a line facing the 

 enemy's right flank near the tunnel. Gen. 

 Howard's corps of Gen. Hooker's command 

 was to cross into the town by the two bridges, 

 and fill the gap between Gen. Sherman's pro- 

 posed position and the main body of Gen. 

 Thomas's army. Gen. Hooker, with the re- 

 mainder of his force and the division sent to 

 Trenton, which should return, were to carry 

 the point of Lookout, and then threaten the 

 enemy's left, which would thus be thrown 

 back, being forced to evacuate the mountain 

 and take position on the ridge ; and then the 

 Federal troops, being on both flanks, and upon 

 one flank threatening the enemy's communica- 

 tions, were to advance the whole line or turn 

 the other flank, as the chances might dictate. 

 Then a part of the force was to follow as far as 

 possible, while Gen. Sherman destroyed the 

 railroad from Cleveland to Dalton, and then 

 pushed on to relieve Knoxville, and capture, 

 disperse, or drive off Gen. Longstreet from be- 

 fore it. 



" Gen. Smith, chief engineer, took personal 

 charge of the preliminaries necessary for the 

 move on the left flank. The pontoons were 

 put in the Chickamauga ; the men encamped ; 

 the bridge trains ready to debouch at the 

 proper point ; and so completely was every 

 thing arranged that no confusion whatever oc- 

 curred. Artillery was posted on the side of 

 the river to cross fire in front of the point of 

 landing, and force the same, if necessary. 



" On Monday, November 24th, an armed re- 

 connoissance was made by Gen. Thomas on his 

 left, which developed the enemy's lines and 

 gave to Gen. Thomas aline of battle in advance 

 of his picket lines, at the same time allowing 

 the eleventh corps (Howard's) to come into 

 the position assigned it. At midnight the men 

 entered the pontoons, floated down, and ef- 

 fected a landing. At daylight the pontoniers 

 were at work, and at noon the Tennessee river 

 was bridged by a pontoon bridge 1,400 foot 

 long, and the rest of Gen. Sherman's troops 

 crossed with his artillery. He then pushed out 

 to the ridge and took up his position, and Gen. 

 Howard communicated with him, his force 

 having marched to its place. Gen. Hooker's 

 forces formed a line of battle running up and 

 down the side of the mountain and sweeping 

 around the point, and, at night of the same 

 day (the 24th), held what he had gained and 



