cessity, however, of his co-operating with the movements of Rosecrans, compelled him to take the field without awaiting the return of this

corps.

At this time Buckner was in command of the Confederate forces in East Tennessee, with his head-quarters at Knoxville. His force numbered about twenty thousand men, which was sufficient to have retarded the progress of Burnside through either the Cumberland, Big Creek, or Wheeler's Gap in the mountains; but he avoided that route. Concentrating his forces at Crab Orchard, on the southerly edge of Lincoln County, Kentucky, Burnside prepared for the movement over the mountains.

His main column moved on three routes, the objective point being Kingston, which place was reached on September 1st. On the same day Knoxville was occupied by a force under Colonel Foster, Buckner having previously retreated with his troops to form a junction with Bragg, and General Shackelford immediately pushed forward to secure the costly bridge of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad which crossed the Tennessee at Loudon. But it had already been destroyed by the retiring rebels. Meanwhile, a small column had marched from Kentucky on Cumberland Gap, held by General Frazier, and Burnside, by a rapid flank march from Knoxville, cut off the retreat of the garrison, which surrendered unconditionally on September 9th. The fruits of this well-executed manœuvre were two thousand prisoners, fourteen pieces of artillery, and a quantity of stores.

Burnside then telegraphed that he held Cumberland Gap and all East Tennessee above Loudon, and also the gaps of the North Carolina mountains. A cavalry force was next sent towards Athens to open a communication with Rosecrans. The main body of Burnside's army was now ordered by the general-in-chief to concentrate on the Tennessee River, from Loudon west, so as to connect with Rosecrans's army, which reached Chattanooga on the 9th of September.

Rosecrans now began pushing forward his columns. The roads across the mountain ridges between the Tennessee and Chattanooga had to be made practicable, and it was only after prodigious labor that he succeeded in reaching the valley bordering the southern slope of the first ridge on the 7th inst., on which day he established his head-quarters at Trenton, eight miles south of the river. Meanwhile the left wing was swung round towards Chattanooga, on the north bank of the river. The perilous position of the enemy at Chattanooga was now evident. Their only line of communication with the East was severed, and Rosecrans's main body at Trenton was on the flank of Chattanooga. Their only line of retreat and of communication, the Western and Atlantic Railroad, was seriously threatened. At the same time, a body powerful enough to take care of itself threatened Chattanooga in front. Bragg, seeing himself thus in danger of being completely cut off, concluded to abandon Chattanooga; and the left wing, which had in the mean time moved up close to the city, passed the river into Chattanooga. Bragg retreated towards Cleveland and Dalton, points of the triangle of railroads formed by the two branches of the Western and Atlantic, which diverge at Dalton and strike the Virginia and East

Tennessee Railroad, the one at Cleveland, the other at Chattanooga Junction. At this time the authorities at Washington were led to believe that Lee was receiving re-enforcements from Bragg. The slight resistance made by the enemy in East Tennessee, and his abandonment without defence of such an important position as Chattanooga, rendered plausible the reports of spies and deserters from Lee's army, that re-enforcements were arriving there. Fearing, therefore, that Rosecrans's army might be drawn too far into the mountains of Georgia, where it could not be supplied, and might be attacked before re-enforcements could reach it from Burnside, Halleck sent orders to Rosecrans to hold the mountain passes west of Dalton, and to ascertain whether Bragg was re-enforcing Lee. The troops of Hurlbut on Rosecrans's right now crossed the Tennessee River towards Whitesburg to protect Nashville, and, if necessary, troops could be drawn from Sherman, at Vicksburg.

The occupation of Vicksburg by the Union forces had placed the troops of Johnston at the disposal of the Confederates, and part of them, about this time, united with Bragg. Suspecting this, Halleck, on September 13th, telegraphed to Sherman as follows:

"It is quite possible that Bragg and Johnston will move through Northern Alabama, to the Tennessee River, to turn General Rosecrans's right and cut off his communications. All of General Grant's available forces should be sent to Memphis, thence to Corinth and Tuscumbia, to co-operate with Rosecrans, should the rebels attempt that movement."

By the occupation of Cumberland Gap and Chattanooga, the Federal troops now not only covered the entire States of Tennessee and Kentucky, but secured a base of inland operations against Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Two-thirds of the nitre-beds, and a large proportion of the coal which supplied the rebel founderies, lay in East Tennessee, which, moreover, abounded in the necessaries of life. It is one of the strongest countries in the world, so full of lofty mountains, that it has been called, not unaptly, the Switzerland of America. Its loss was felt to be a severe blow.

On the 14th of September, the enemy had concentrated his forces near Lafayette, Georgia, to dispute the further advance of Rosecrans. His threatened movement to the right and left proved to be merely cavalry raids to cut Rosecrans's lines of supplies, and menace his communication with Burnside. His main army had been re-enforced by troops from Johnston in Mississippi, and by the prisoners captured at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and released on parole, but who had been declared by the Confederate authorities to be exchanged.

The line of Rosecrans's army extended at this time from Gordon's Mills to Alpine, a distance of some forty miles, occupying the passes of Lookout Mountain. By Wednesday, the 16th of September, the army had been concentrated on West Chickamauga Creek, about ten or twelve miles northwest of Lafayette, Georgia, head-quarters being established at a place named Crawfish Spring. An attempt of our advance to debouch through the passes of Pigeon Mountain, to continue the march southward, showed that the enemy held a strong position in our immediate front, beyond the Creek. Rosecrans held the rising

ground west of the stream (his left resting on Gordon's Mills), while the enemy held a similar position east of it. The intervening stream would of course serve the enemy to mask their movements, and it became necessary for Rosecrans to watch with extreme wariness what their designs might be. Reconnoissances on the 17th and 18th showed that Bragg was moving up parallel with the creek, massing his troops in front of Rosecrans's left centre and left, with the manifest purpose of executing a turning movement that would place him between the Union army and Chattanooga. To meet this, the Union general effected a corresponding movement of his force by the left flank, wheeling the whole army back down the creek. During the night of the 18th, Thomas's Corps (Fourteenth), forming the centre of the army, together with Johnson's Division of McCook's Corps, had moved to the left, past Crittenden's, thus becoming the left wing of the army, and making Crittenden's Corps (the Twenty-first) the centre. The two other divisions of McCook's Corps (Davis's and Sheridan's) were to move into the position abandoned by Thomas's Corps, but had not time to assume it fully before the commencement of the action of Saturday morning, the 19th.

On the morning of Saturday, the Union line of battle, as formed, ran along the Rossville and Lafayette roads due north and south, the right resting at Gordon's Mills, the left at Kelly's House. On the extreme left was Brannan, next Baird and Reynolds, with Johnson in reserve in the centre, Palmer on the right of Reynolds, Van Cleve on his, and Wood at Gordon's Mills. The line, completed by Davis's and Sheridan's Divisions, faced a little south of east. Negley formed a defensive crochet at Owen's Ford, higher up the valley. Detached from this line, covering the Ringgold approach to Rossville, the reserve corps, under General Gordon Granger, was stationed, but, not operating with the main column, can hardly be said to have formed part of the line of battle.

On the 18th, the Confederate army, which had been marching through stifling beds of dust and crumbling rock since the 14th, crossed West Chickamauga Creek, and upon the morning of the 19th the only accession of strength which Bragg had received from Virginia consisted of three brigades under General Hood. The troops of Longstreet had not then arrived.

At 10 A. M., Brannan, on the extreme left, attacked the enemy with the view of driving him over the creek. The battle, although it lasted until nightfall, was little more than a struggle for position, maintained by the Confederates with a view to holding the ground where they stood, and by the Federals with a view of driving the enemy across the stream. It resulted in a drawn battle, both armies at the close of the day occupying the same ground they held in the morning. The strength of the encounter fell upon the divisions of Van Cleve and Davis, of Crittenden's Corps, on the Federal side; and upon the Confederate side, on the troops of Cleburne, an Irishman by birth, and once a private in the English army, who had risen to the rank of major-general in the rebel army.

During the night of Saturday, General Rosecrans made some changes

in the disposition of his forces, by which the line was so far withdrawn that it rested along a cross-road running northeast and southwest, and connecting the Rossville with the Lafayette road. By this change the line was contracted by a mile, and the right wing caused to rest on a strong position at Mission Ridge. As before, Thomas held the left, Crittenden the centre, McCook the right. Upon the right of General Thomas's line, as held by Reynolds and Brannan, was a slight rise in the plain, and from the top of this the whole field could be commanded. It was the key to the position. During the night Thomas's troops had built a rude breastwork of logs and rails for their protection. General Lytle held Gordon's Mills.

At 11 o'clock on the night of the 19th, Longstreet* reached the head-quarters of Bragg, and was immediately put in command of the left wing of the Confederate army. Of his own corps, as it stood in Virginia, he had Benning's, Lane's, and Robertson's Brigades of Hood's Division, and Kershaw's and Humphrey's of McLaws's Division. There were added, however, to his command the corps of General Buckner, including the divisions of Generals Preston and Stewart, and also, outside of Buckner's command, the divisions of Generals Hindman, Walker, and Bushrod Johnston. The right was composed of Hill's Corps, of two divisions, under Cleburne and Breckinridge; with the division of Cheatham, of Polk's Corps, and the division of W. H. T. Walker. The disposition of the whole rebel army from right to left was Breckinridge, Cleburne, Cheatham, Stewart, Hood, Hindman, Preston.

Bragg's plan of battle (the same which he invariably pursued) was to attack along his whole line, commencing on his right and allowing the attack to be taken up successively by division after division, until it reached the extreme left. Accordingly, Polk was ordered to commence the attack at daybreak of the 20th, but, owing to some unforeseen difficulties, this did not take place until nine o'clock, when Breckinridge and Cleburne opened upon Thomas'st command. The battle soon raged

he was sent to re-enforce Bragg, and greatly contrib uted to the rebel victory at Chickamauga, after which he was detached to capture Knoxville and drive Burnside out of East Tennessee, in which he utterly failed. In April, 1864, he united his troops once more with the army of Lee, and was so severely wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, May 6th, as to be incapacitated for service until the following October. He held command of his corps during the winter of 1864-'65, and was included in the capitulation of Lee to Grant.

James Longstreet was born in South Carolina | about 1820, and graduated at West Point in 1842. He was brevetted captain and major for gallant conduct in the Mexican war, and at the outbreak of the rebellion held the position of paymaster, with the rank of major. Having joined the Secession movement, he commanded a brigade at the first battle of Bull Run, after which he was commissioned a major-general in the rebel army. Early in the spring of 1862 he was ordered to the Peninsula, and from the commencement of the siege of Yorktown to the battle of Malvern Hills George Henry Thomas was born in Southamphe was in almost every action. He commanded ton County, Va., in 1816, and graduated at West Point the rebel troops at the battle of Williamsburg, in 1840. He entered the service as brevet second May 5th, 1862. In the second Bull Run campaign, lieutenant of the Third Artillery; served in the and in the invasion of Maryland, terminating with Florida war, and was brevetted first lieutenant, the battle of Antietam, he commanded a corps, and and for gallant conduct in the Mexican war was rendered valuable service. He commanded the brevetted captain and major. In 1851-54, he was rebel left, with the rank of lieutenant-general, at instructor of artillery and cavalry at West Point, Fredericksburg; and in February, 1863, was sent and he subsequently saw much active service in to besiege Suffolk, Va., from which place he was re- the West. In May, 1861, he was appointed colonel called, after a fruitless campaign, to re-enforce Lee, of the Fifth Cavalry, and in August a brigadierin May. He commanded one of the three corps general of volunteers. He defeated Zollicoffer at of Lee's army which invaded Maryland and Penn- the battle of Mill Spring, or Somerset, January sylvania in that summer, and had an important 19th, 1862, was appointed major-general of volunpart in the battle of Gettysburg. In September,teers in the succeeding April, and during the sum

furiously along this part of the field, but the veteran troops of Thomas held their ground against the utmost efforts of the enemy. Again and again the rebels, advancing en échelon by brigade from the cover of the woods into the open field, charged with impetuous fury and terrific yells towards the breast work of logs and rails; but each time the fiery blasts from our batteries and battalions swept over and around them, and their ranks were crumbled and swept away. In the mean time, Longstreet had at eleven o'clock commenced his attack on the Union left wing. Steadily advancing, he swept away the head of every formation: though often checked, and for the moment repulsed, again and again he rode to the head of his troops, and, hat in hand, rising in his stirrups, with voice and gesture animated his men. The Western troops were brave and hardy men, the material of as fine an army as ever shouldered musket, but could not check the attack of Longstreet, who was pressing right on for the possession of Chattanooga. To meet this danger, Rosecrans, having disposed of Polk on his left, commenced to move troops rapidly from left to right. Wood was ordered to go instantly to the relief of Reynolds, who was hard pressed by Longstreet, while Davis and Sheridan were to shift over to the left and thus close up the line. Wood, though fiercely assaulted, succeeded in reaching his destination. The Confederate General Walker, observing this march from left to right, sent intelligence of it to Longstreet, who immediately ordered forward Buckner, with twelve pieces. This force fell heavily upon Davis, who was coming up to fill Wood's place, and, who, being thus attacked with great suddenness and fury, was pushed to the right in utter disorder, losing many men.

Meanwhile, Van Cleve's and Palmer's Divisions, exposed by the withdrawal of Davis, were attacked with equal vehemence on the right, and forced back in great confusion. The rout of the right and centre was now complete, and, after that fatal break, the line of battle was not again re-formed during the day. The army was in fact cut in twoMcCook, with Davis, Sheridan, and Wilder, being thrown off to the right, and Crittenden, except one brigade of Wood's, being broken in pieces. But before the interference of Buckner, Thomas had crossed from left to right, and in the afternoon determinedly faced Longstreet, taking his stand upon the bare and bluff termination of Missionary Ridge, upon which he had thrown up breastworks, and which, as being the last stronghold south of the Chattanooga works, he held with indomitable courage against the assaults of the enemy.

His line was so formed that the left, resting upon the Lafayette road, and the right at the Gap, represented an arc of a circle, and a southeast hill about its centre formed the key to the position. Here were collected the troops who had so successfully repulsed the rebel right in

mer commanded a wing of the Army of the Ten- | share in the victory of November 25th at that place. nessee. He commanded the centre of the Army He participated in Sherman's campaign, ending in of the Cumberland at the battle of Stone River, the capture of Atlanta in September, 1864, and was participated in the advance upon and occupation of Chattanooga, and at the battle of Chickamauga saved the Union army from destruction. In October, he was appointed to the Department of the Cumberland, and assumed command of the army at Chattanooga, and he had an important

then ordered to Nashville, where, on December 15th and 16th, he practically annihilated the army of Hood, in a series of battles, which may be said to have ended the war in the West. He is now a brigadier-general in the regular army, and commands the military division of the Tennessee.