Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-09-04

Tennessee, Was operating on the oppo-
site extremity Of the enemy's line; and
then you will see by my report that /
applied to go with the Eleventh corps.
as they were going into battle.
subsequently the river got up, carried
away the drifwood, and broke the
bridges before all of Sherman's army
had crossed, and then it was determined,
and not till then, that l might make,
with one division of the Twelfth corps
and two divisions Of other armies, a
demonstration on Lookout Mountain.
Gen. Grant had previously commune
Gated design to attack Lookout Noun
tain but after division of my COM
mand, it is equally clear and satisfac-
tory that his original design had been
abandoned, and it was only through
the intervention of Divine Providence
that an opportunity was presented me
for attack. Thus you see, "Men often
proposes, but God disposes.'
l did attack and carry Lookout
Mountain, and this was the first assur-
ance to Gen. Grant that he was to be
successful in all his operations around
Chattanooga, although Gen. Sherman
ha repeatedly informed him of sue
cesses which were never realized.
Chaplain Van Horns history of the
Army of the Cumberland will present
you with ali Of the facts, Gen. Grant or
Gen. anybody to the contrary notwith-
standing,
Con Grant 10 x,,l n. sn,>,o Al. -.
officers high in rank, is famous for
aiter-thoughts, as YOU will find on crit
cal examination. We had, and | pre-
sumo still have, rings in the army as
well as out of it.
l have not written so much about the
fight at Lookout since the war rs | now
have, rs | am anxious that you should
know all the facts. My fight at Look
out might have equaled Gen. Grants in
the Wilderness had chosen to advance
in front on the enemy behind their en-
trenchments, which seemed to be his
iavorite mode, but ut which his whole
army revolted Mt Cold Harbor. But l
had no particular desire to be consider
ed butcher in my mode of making
war.
Sometime do hope that n commit
tee of intelligent and fearless congress
men may be appointed to investigate
this subject and report not only on bat
tie, but Shiloh, the losses in the Wider
ness, etc, etc, as in no other way can
the truth ofhistory be made out.
Gen. Ingalls,, Grants own quarter
master, informed me that he furnished
transportation Tor 10000 men to go
north between the Rapidan and the
James rivers, and, of course, this num-
Der could not embrace all the casual.
tiles.
If Gen. Grant expects to reach the
third term by the circulation of such
imposing and abominabe statements,
| am inclined to think that he will find
it rough travelling before he reaches
halfway there. But you may feel as
sured that these are not his statements.
Some one is "bulldozing" him. the same
AS was the case among the politicians
while he was administering the govern.
ment as president.
You probably saw an account Of an
interview with me at Saratoga, in which
ignored the war, Gen. Grant ant
pretty much everything else. l had
learned early in life that the best mode
of fighting the devil was with his own
weapons.
But, before writing more, let us turn
to Mr.. Shanks' letter. Not man OF
Towards command was in the fight at
Lookout Mountain, and if had ad-
vanced in front at the base of the
mountain, might have lost half of my
command, and in the end have been
successful. II was under the influence
Of my success, too, that Thomas COM
mand made its glorious assault on
Mission Ridge, as they had all been
witnesses Of our achievements on the
oath and 25th, while the army on
Grants left had accomplished nothing
it was sent to do.
Yours as ever,
NJ.