CHAPTER LIV. KNOXVILLE RELIEVED. WHILE the operations described in the foregoing chapters were being carried out by Gen. Grant, the rebel General Longstreet was engaged in the investment of the city of Knoxville. Finding that General Bragg had been defeated below Chattanooga, Longstreet determined to do something to redeem his name from the obloquy that would attend it through being attached to Gen. Bragg's command. He therefore on November 29th, 1863, made an assault upon Fort Sanders and the other works around Knoxville. The assault proved a failure, and long before he could recover from the effects of the repulse, he found the Union columns were gathering around him, in such a manner that if he did not soon withdraw from his position he would be completely encircled by them. Gen. Foster's column was advancing from the North, and Gen. Granger's and other forces under Gen. Sherman from Chattanooga. This was the movement that caused the withdrawal of the troops from the pursuit of the rebels beyond Ringgold, Ga. Gen. Sherman's Cavalry arrived at Knoxville on Dec. 8, and on the night of Dec. 4, Gen. Longstreet raised the siege of that place, retreating eastward toward Virginia, pursued by both Foster and Sherman's Cavalry. On Dec. 7 it was telegraphed to Washington that Knoxville had been relieved and re-enforced by Granger's Corps, and that Longstreet was retreating. On the same day President Lincoln issued the following proclamation of thanksgiving: EXECUTIVE MANSION. Reliable information being received that the insurgent force is retreating from East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it probable that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from that important position; and esteeming this to be of high national consequence, I recommend that all loyal people do, on receipt of this information, assemble at their places of worship, and render special homage and gratitude to Almighty God for this great advancement of the national A. LINCOLN. cause. The President also sent the following dispatch to MajorGeneral Grant: Major-General GRANT: WASHINGTON, Dec. 8. Understanding that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville is now secure, I wish to tender you and all under your command my more than thanks-my profoundest gratitude for the skill, courage, and perseverance with which you and they, over so great difficulties, have effected that important object. God bless you all! A. LINCOLN. The above dispatch was embodied in an order by Gen. Grant, and so read to every regiment in his command. In reference to this brief but decisive campaign, Gen. Halleck added the following supplementary remarks to his annual report: HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY, In compliance with your instructions I submit the following summary of the operations of General Grant's army since my report of the 15th ult.: It appears from the official reports which have been received here that our loss in the operations of the 27th, 28th, and 29th of October in reopening communications on the south side of the Tennessee River, from Chattanooga to Bridgeport, was 76 killed, 339 wounded, and 22 missing; total 437. The estimated loss of the enemy was over 1,500. As soon as General Grant could get up his supplies he prepared to advance upon the enemy, who had become weakened by the detachment of Longstreet's command against Knoxville. General Sherman's army moved up the north side of the Tennessee River, and during the nights of the 23d and 24th of November established pontoon bridges and crossed to the south side between Citico Creek and Chickamauga. On the afternoon of the 23d General Thomas's forces attacked the enemy's rifle-pits between Chattanooga and Citico Creek. The battle was renewed on the 24th along the whole line. Sherman carried the eastern end of Missionary Ridge up to the tunnel, and Thomas repelled every attempt of the enemy to regain the position which he had lost at the centre; while Hooker's force, in Lookout Valley, crossed the mountain and drove the enemy from its northern slope. On the 25th the whole of Mission Ridge, from Rossville to the Chickamauga, was, after a desperate struggle, most gallantly carried by our troops, and the enemy was completely routed. Considering the strength of the rebel position and the difficulty of storming his intrenchments, the battle of Chattanooga must be considered the most remarkable in history. Not only did the officers and men exhibit great skill and daring in their operations on the field, but the highest praise is due to the commanding general for his admirable dispositions for dislodging the enemy from a position apparently impregnable.* Moreover, by turning his right flank and throwing him back upon Ringgold and Dalton, Sherman's forces were interposed between Bragg and Longstreet so as to prevent any possibility of their forming a junction. Our loss in killed, wounded, and missing is reported at about 4,000. We captured over 6,000 prisoners, besides the wo inded left in our hands, forty pieces of artillery, five or six thousand small arms, and a large train. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded is not known. While Generals Thomas and Hooker pushed Bragg's army back into * General Scott is reported to have stated to a leading Washington official, with whom the old veteran fell into a very unreserved talk, that General Grant's operations displayed more military skill than any other general had exhibited on our side; and he was the more surprised and mystified at it, as he could only remember him in the Mexican war as a young lieutenant of undoubted courage, but giving no promise whatever of any thing beyond ordinary abilities. Georgia, General Sherman with his own and General Granger's forces was sent into East Tennessee to prevent the return of Longstreet and to relieve General Burnside, who was then besieged in Knoxville. We have reliable information that General Sherman has successfully accomplished his object, and that Longstreet is in full retreat towards Virginia. But no details have been received with regard to Sherman's operations since he crossed the Hiwassee, nor of Burnside's defence of Knoxville. It is only known that every attack of the enemy on that place was successfully repulsed. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War. On December 5, 1863, General Burnside, the commander at Knoxville, issued a congratulatory order to his troops. in reference to the raising of the siege, which had lasted about three weeks. An army correspondent writing from Knoxville, states as follows: Now that the campaign has developed itself, it may not be considered contraband information to say that, in holding Knoxville, General Burnside has played an important part in the grand campaign of General Grant. Some incline to the belief that with the troops under his command, General Burnside could have checked Longstreet on the Tennessee River, and there kept him, transferring the scene of the contest from Knoxville to the vicinity of Loudon or Kingston. But by doing so Longstreet would have been within supporting distance of Bragg. To draw him, therefore, still further away from Chattanooga, General Burnside slowly retreated before him until he reached Knoxville, where, of course, his plan was to keep him in efforts to take the city while General Thomas might fall upon and rout the army of Bragg, diminished as it was by the withdrawal of Longstreet's command. How egregiously he fell into the trap, and how successfully the other portion of the programme was carried out at Chattanooga, are now fully known from the history of the past few weeks. Bragg, in the first place, has been thoroughly routed, and Longstreet, after vain efforts to capture this city by siege and assault, as an offset to the defeat of Bragg, has been compelled to raise the siege and retreat, an inglorious fugitive, towards Virginia. On Nov. 13, when Longstreet crossed his advance on. guard over the Tennessee, it would have been an easy matter with General Burnside to have driven it back again, destroyed the pontoon bridges, and by planting his artillery on the hills this side of the river, prevented a recrossing; but the part assigned him by General Grant was to lure his antagonist Longstreet discovered his mistake too late. Letters written by his officers and captured by our forces, show that when the fighting commenced at Chattanooga he was extremely puzzled as to what part he should take. The capture of Knoxville seemed a very difficult matter, and he entertained ideas of abandoning the siege for the purpose of returning to Bragg; but when the latter was defeated, and when he saw that Thomas was now between Bragg and himself, he endeavored to retrieve the disaster in a measure by the capture of Knoxville. Hence the desperate assault of the 29th ult. That he was preparing for another. attack when our re-enforcements reached us we have the best of evidence. So far as capturing the city is concerned, we know that he could not have done it by actual fighting. The garrison was all sufficient in this respect. But, if unmolested in the siege, he might have starved us out, and hence the necessity of re-enforcements. It may be that the programme also embraced his rout, if not capture, before he could get away from Knoxville. If so, he took the alarm in time, and is now well on his way to reenforce Lee. How far he will succeed in escaping time will develop.* The rebels now began to be seriously worried about General Grant's movements, and the following article appeared in one of their principal journals: แ Sallust," the well-informed and trustworthy correspondent of the Dispatch, telegraphing from Resaca, under date of December, 1863, states, in substance, that the wagon roads are in a horrible condition, that the enemy cannot advance without the railroad, that they have no cars, and that the probabilities are that no movement in force upon Daltón and Atlanta will be made till next spring. With great general confidence in the accuracy of statement and correctness of judgment of this correspondent, we should, nevertheless, be exceedingly sorry to learn that his opinions are derived from the general now commanding the remnant of Bragg's army, and that they are shared by the President and *Army Correspondence. |