Finding himself vigorously pushed by a strong column on his left and rear, the enemy began to fall back with rapidity, but his resistance was obstinate, and the entire point of the mountain was not gained until about 2 p. m., when General Hooker reported by telegraph that he had carried the mountain as far as the road from Chattanooga Valley to the white house. Soon after, his main column coming up, his line was extended to the foot of the mountain, near the mouth of Chattanooga Creek. . . . With the aid of the steamer Dunbar, which had been put in condition and sent up the river at daylight of the 24th, General Sherman by 11 a. m. had crossed three divisions of the Fifteenth Corps, and was ready to advance... . . . Instructions were sent to General Hooker to be ready to advance on the morning of the 25th from his position on the point of Lookout Mountain to the Summertown road, and endeavor to intercept the enemy's retreat, if he had not already withdrawn, which he was to ascertain by pushing a reconnaissance to the top of Lookout Mountain. The reconnaissance was made as directed, and having asertained that the enemy had evacuated during the night, General Hooker was then directed to move on the Rossville road with the troops under his command . . . carry the pass at Rossville, and operate upon the enemy's left and rear. Palmer's and Granger's troops were held in readiness to advance directly on the rifle-pits in their front as soon as Hooker could get into position at Rossville. . . . About noon, General Sherman becoming heavily engaged by the enemy, they having massed a strong force in his front, orders were given for General Baird to march his division within supporting distance of General Sherman. Moving his command promptly in the direction indicated, he was placed in position to the left of Wood's division of Granger's corps. . . . The whole line then advanced against the breastworks, and soon became warmly engaged with the enemy's skirmishers; these, giving way, retired upon their reserves, posted within their works. Our troops advancing steadily in a continuous line, the enemy, seized with panic, abandoned the works at the foot of the hill and retreated precipitately to the crest, where they were closely followed by our troops, who, apparently inspired by the impulse of victory, carried the hill simultaneously at six different points, and so closely upon the heels of the enemy that many of them were taken prisoners in the trenches. We captured all their cannon and ammunition before they could be removed or destroyed. After halting for a few moments to reorganize the troops, who had become somewhat scattered in the assault of the hill, General Sheridan pushed forward in pursuit, and drove those in his front who escaped capture across Chickamauga Creek. Generals Wood and Baird, being obstinately resisted by re-enforcements from the enemy's extreme right, continued fighting until darkness set in, slowly but steadily driving the enemy before them. In moving upon Rossville, General Hooker encountered Stewart's division and other troops. Finding his left flank threatened, Stewart attempted to escape by retreating toward Graysville, but some of his force, finding their retreat threatened from that quarter, retired in disorder toward their right, along the crest of the ridge, when they were met by another portion of General Hooker's command, and were driven by these troops in the face of Johnson's division of Palmer's corps, by whom they were nearly all made prisoners. On the 26th, the enemy were pursued by Hooker's and Palmer's commands. . . . The pursuit was continued on the 27th. . . . ... The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, First Series (Washington, 1890), XXXI, pt. ii, 92–97 passim. CHAPTER XXI-EMANCIPATION 124. "Contraband of War" (1861) BY MAJOR-GENERAL BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER Butler, a former Breckinridge Democrat, was one of the earliest appointed majorgenerals of the volunteer forces. The appointment was for political reasons; and although he remained in active command throughout the war, he never gained a reputation as a good general. In 1861 he was in command at Fortress Monroe, and his somewhat humorous definition of negroes as "contraband of war" was the first official intimation that the slaves of Confederates would be held free. This extract is from his report to General Scott, May 24, 1861.— Bibliography: Channing and Hart, Guide, § 214. Ο N Thursday night, three negroes, field hands, belonging to Col. Charles Mallory, now in command of the secession forces in this district, delivered themselves up to my picket guard, and, as I learned from the report of the officer of the guard in the morning, had been detained by him. I immediately gave personal attention to the matter, and found satisfactory evidence that these men were about to be taken to Carolina for the purpose of aiding the secession forces there; that two of them left wives and children (one a free woman) here; that the other had left his master from fear that he would be called upon to take part in the rebel armies. Satisfied of these facts from cautious examination of each of the negroes apart from the others, I determined for the present, and until better advised, as these men were very serviceable, and I had great need of labor in my quartermaster's department, to avail myself of their services, and that I would send a receipt to Colonel Mallory that I had so taken them, as I would for any other property of a private citizen which the exigencies of the service seemed to require to be taken by me, and especially property that was designed, adapted, and about to be used against the United States. As this is but an individual instance in a course of policy which may be required to be pursued with regard to this species of property, I have detailed to the Lieutenant-General this case, and ask his direction. I am credibly informed that the negroes in this neighborhood are now being employed in the erection of batteries and other works by the rebels, which it would be nearly or quite impossible to construct without their labor. Shall they be allowed the use of this property against the United States, and we not be allowed its use in aid of the United States? ... Major Cary demanded to know with regard to the negroes what course I intended to pursue. I answered him substantially as I have written above, when he desired to know if I did not feel myself bound by my constitutional obligations to deliver up fugitives under the fugitiveslave act. To this I replied that the fugitive-slave act did not affect a foreign country, which Virginia claimed to be, and that she must reckon it one of the infelicities of her position that in so far at least she was taken at her word; that in Maryland, a loyal State, fugitives from service had been returned, and that even now, although so much pressed by my necessities for the use of these men of Colonel Mallory's, yet if their master would come to the fort and take the oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States I would deliver the men up to him and endeavor to hire their services of him if he desired to part with them. To this Major Cary responded that Colonel Mallory was absent. The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, First Series (Washington, 1880), II, 649-650 passim. Whittier was an early recruit to the cause of immediate emancipation, and much of his early fame rested upon his abolition lyrics. This poem commemorates the capture of Port Royal by the Union forces under General T. W. Sherman and Commodore Du Pont, who thus secured control over the country where the famous Sea Island cotton was grown and where the slave population greatly exceeded the white. The whites all fled and the slaves of the neighborhood became practically free, and later negro troops were raised here. For Whittier, see Providence Public Library, Monthly Reference Lists, III, 3; Contemporaries, III, No. 178. — Bibliography as in No. 124 above. At last our grating keels outslide, Our good boats forward swing; And while we ride the land-locked tide, Our negroes row and sing. For dear the bondman holds his gifts The gold that kindly Nature sifts The power to make his toiling days Another glow than sunset's fire Has filled the West with light, Where field and garner, barn and byre Are blazing through the night. The land is wild with fear and hate, The lurid glow falls strong across With oar-strokes timing to their song, The pathos of remembered wrong, The triumph-note that Miriam sung, |