ing to Rosecrans's safety-in fact, this was not in the line of his prescribed duty—but proceeded promptly and vigorously to complete the recovery of East Tennessee. To this end, he impelled " Gen. Shackleford directly on the rear of Cumberland gap; on which Gen. De Courcy simultaneously advanced from London on the north; Burnside follow-. ing in person two days behind Shackleford, who made a forced march of 60 miles in 52 hours, and thus closed in Gen. Frazier, who with four regiments held the gap, and had refused to quit it while he could, supposing himself able to hold it. But his men were in good part disaffected or discouraged, while the mill whereon he depended for flour was burned" by two companies of Shackleford's men, who crept through his lines and fired it unperceived. When Burnside arrived," Frazier had refused our summons; but he found, soon afterward, good reason to change his mind, and surrendered his 2,000 men and 14 guns. Our cavalry moved thence rapidly eastward; chasing off a small Rebel force under Sam Jones into Virginia, destroying the principal railroad bridges, and completing the recovery of East Tennessee, with the direct loss, in Burnside's command, of barely one man.

Halleck says he now ordered Burnside to concentrate his army on the Tennessee river westward from Loudon, so as to connect with Rosecrans, who had just reached Chattanooga, and that "it was hoped that there would be no further delay in effecting a junction between the two armies, as had been previ❝ Sept. 5. 07 Sept. 7.

08 Sept. 9.

ously ordered." The military reading of the General-in-Chief having been very extensive, he can probably cite numerous instances wherein the leader of a small army has made haste to unite that army with a large one, which would necessarily absorb it, without having been placed under the orders of its commander; but, in the recollection of this writer, such instances are rare. At all events, Burnside did not add another, but continued to diffuse his command throughout East Tennessee, until it had been beaten out very thin, and was thus exposed to be cut up in detail. Col. Foster, in the far east, after one skirmish" near Bristol, was sharply assailed" at Blue Springs by Sam Jones, whom he defeated, after two days' desultory fighting; taking 150 prisoners and disabling at least that number, with a loss to our side of barely 100.

Shackleford now took post at Jonesboro', with a part of his command, under Wilcox, at Greenville, with two regiments and a battery, under Col. Israel Garrard, 7th Ohio cavalry, at Rogersville, where they were attacked" by 1,200 mounted men under Brig.-Gen. W. E. Jones, acting under the orders of Maj.-Gen. Sam Jones, who struck them at daylight, surprising and easily routing them with a loss of 4 guns, 36 wagons, and 750 prisoners, and creating such a panic at Jonesborough and Greenville that Shackleford's men raced back to Bull's gap, 18 miles, while Jones and his party were making equally good time in the opposite direction, fearing that Shackleford would be upon them in overwhelming force if they did not. This backSept. 21.

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probably greater. Though not a sanguinary nor decisive struggle, few occurred during the war that were more creditable to the generalship or the soldierly qualities of either army. Longstreet continued his pursuit, and in due time beleaguered the city," though he can hardly be said to have invested it. That he intended, and expected, and tried, to carry it, is true; and there was very spirited and pretty constant fighting around it, mainly on its west side; but the day of rushing naked infantry in masses on formidable earthworks covering heavy batteries was nearly over with either side. The defenses were engineered by Capt. Poe, and were signally effective. Directly on getting into position, a smart assault was delivered on our right, held by the 112th Illinois, 45th Ohio, 3d Michigan, and 12th Kentucky, and a hill carried; but it was not essential to the defenses. Our loss this day was about 100; among them was Gen. W. P. Sanders, of Kentucky, killed. Shelling and skirmishing barely served to break the monotony for ten weary days, when-having been rëenforced by Sam Jones, and one or two other small commands from Virginia-Longstreet delivered an assault," by a picked storming party of three brigades, on an unfinished but important work known as Fort Sanders, on our left, but was bloodily repelled by Gen. Ferrero, who held it-the loss of the assailants being some 800, including Col. McElroy, 13th Mississippi, and Col. Thomas, 16th Georgia, killed; while on our side the entire loss that night was about 100; only 15 of these in the fort.

And now-Bragg having been defeated by Grant before Chattanooga, and a relieving force under Sherman being close at hand-Longstreet necessarily abandoned the siege, and moved rapidly eastward unassailed to Russellville, Virginia: our entire loss in the defense having been less than 1,000; while his must have been twice or thrice that number. Sherman's advance reached the city, and Burnside officially announced the raising of the siege, Dec. 5th.

Gen. Halleck had been thoroughly aroused to the peril of Rosecrans at Chattanooga just too late to do any good. On his first advice that Longstreet had been dispatched southward from Virginia—it was said, to Charleston-he had telegraphed " to Burnside at Knoxville, to Hurlbut at Memphis, and to Grant at Vicksburg, to move troops to the support of Rosecrans; and the orders to Burnside and Hurlbut were reiterated next day. Schofield at St. Louis and Pope in the north-west were likewise instructed respectively to forward to Tennessee every man they could spare. And it now occurred to Halleck-or did the day after Chickamauga-that two independent commands on the Tennessee would not be so likely to insure effective cöoperation as if one mind directed the movements of both armies; so-Rosecrans being made the necessary scapegoat of others' mistakes as well as his own-Gen. Grant was selected for chief command; Rosecrans being relieved, and instructed to turn over his army to Gen. Thomas. But Grant was now sick in New Orleans, out of reach by telegraph; and SherSept. 13.

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