his advance through a very difficult country, and, without having been obliged to fight a battle, marched on the 9th of September into Chattanooga, which with Richmond and Vicksburg constituted the three most important strategic points of the Southern Confederacy. In the mean time Burnside with the Army of the Ohio had advanced into East Tennessee and occupied Knoxville; he reported that he was "in the midst of friends," that he "found the people generally loyal and disposed to do all in their power for our comfort and welfare." 2 It seemed, indeed, as if the earnest desire of the President for the relief and possession of East Tennessee had at last been realized, but it soon turned out that in order to keep this territory the Union troops must fight for it.

Rosecrans was elated at the success of his strategy, and thought that Bragg was retreating southward. Eager to strike at the Confederate army, he ordered his troops in pursuit, and under the necessity of crossing the mountains at gaps far apart, separated widely his different corps and divisions. But Bragg had no idea whatever of making a retreat; on the contrary, he turned on his enemy. This movement placed Rosecrans in peril, and it became, as he himself relates, "a matter of life and death to effect the concentration of the army." For nearly a week he wrought with the energy of desperation, and by September 18 the concentration was accomplished, not without some mischance; but the loss of sleep, the fear that Bragg might crush, one after another, his different detachments, as some now think he had it in his power to do, the intense anxiety on two successive nights for the safety of one of his corps: all these combined to unnerve the Union commander, who in the opinion of his army was "whipped" before he went into the battle which the Con

1 See p. 173.

2 Report, O. R., vol. xxx. part ii. p, 549.

8 Report of Rosecrans; Dana to Stanton, Sept. 12, O. R., vol. xxx. part i pp. 53, 185.

4 Ibid., p. 54.

CH. XXIIL]

BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA

897

federate general was determined to bring on. Reinforced by troops from Johnston's army, which became available after the fall of Vicksburg, by Buckner's corps from Knoxville, by Longstreet's corps from the Army of Northern Virginia, Bragg outnumbered his opponent, and September 19 he began his attack. The action of that day was indecisive.2

This was the prelude to the fierce and bloody battle of Chickamauga, "the great battle of the West," which raged the next day and would have been an undecided contest or a Union victory, since the defensive position and the intrenchments compensated for the disparity of force, had it not been for the unfortunate mental state of Rosecrans. His army was the Army of the Cumberland, seasoned and intrepid soldiers, who, as their history shows, were able under proper command to do wonders, but in this case were affected by the spirit, as indeed they were sacrificed by the orders, which went out from headquarters. The battle was proceeding with varying fortune, when the execution of an ill-considered and unlucky order from the commanding general opened a gap in the line of battle, through which the Confederates poured, and, throwing two divisions into confusion and routing two others, drove a mass of soldiers panic-stricken from the field. Rosecrans was carried away in the crowd of fugitives, and, fearing that the whole army was vanquished, rode on into Chattanooga, twelve to fifteen miles away, for the purpose of taking measures for the defence of the city. Having on his arrival "the appearance of one broken in spirit," he sent thence at five o'clock in the afternoon a despatch to Halleck, saying: "We have met with a serious disaster. Enemy overwhelmed us, drove our right,

1 Burnside, Sept. 11, 13 (0. R., vol. xxx. part i. p. 34), was ordered to join Rosecrans; he disregarded the order, but I do not feel sure that any but his cavalry could have made the junction before the battle of Chickamauga.

2 Longstreet's corps had been transported by rail; only part of it was in the battle of Sept. 19. Longstreet himself and nearly all the rest of the corps were engaged in the battle of the 20th.

8 Cist, p. 226.

pierced our centre, and scattered troops there."1 Charles A. Dana, "swept bodily off the battle-field by the panic-struck rabble," reached Chattanooga somewhat later than Rosecrans, but sent away an hour earlier his report, "Chickamauga is as fatal a name in our history as Bull Run." To General George H. Thomas it was due that the four o'clock despatch of Dana, based on the vivid impressions gained from his position on the right of the army, where he had been with the commander, did not prove to be a correct account of this terrible battle. Thomas commanded the left wing of the army, and with 25,000 men repulsed during the whole afternoon the assaults of a force double his number, holding his position with such steadiness that he earned the title of the "Rock of Chickamauga." James A. Garfield, chief-of-staff of Rosecrans, borne away from the battle-field with the tide, obtained permission from his general, when they had attained a breathing-space, to turn back. He made his way to where the fight continued on the left, and sent at 8.40 P. M. this report: "General Thomas has fought a most terrific battle, and has damaged the enemy badly. . . . From the time I reached the battle-field (3.45 P. M.) till sunset the fighting was by far the fiercest I have ever seen. Our men not only held their ground, but at many points drove the enemy splendidly. . . . On the whole, Generals Thomas and Granger have done the enemy fully as much injury to-day as they have suffered from him, and they have successfully repelled the repeated combined attacks, most fiercely made, of the whole rebel army, frequently pressing the front and both flanks at the same time."4 On the night of the 21st, under orders from Rosecrans, Thomas withdrew to Chattanooga.

1 O. R., vol. xxx. part i. p. 142. 2 Assistant Secretary of War.

O. R., vol. xxx. part i. pp. 192, 193.

Ibid., p. 145. The Union army was 56,965, the Confederate 71,551 (this latter number being the conclusion of Maj. E. C. Dawes); Union loss 16,179, Confederate 17,804.- Century War Book, vol. iii. p. 673 et seq. Longstreet states that the forces engaged were: Confederate 59,242, Union 60,867. — From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 458.