, 1880-04-04

army. still frmer standing on the defensive.
What consequences could the other course
have had We had to stand entirely on
the s epe Wosse
il not beaten altogether; he was elated by
The success. We used in the fight every
brigade but two; he probably had two whole
divisions Of entirely fresh troops We had
at viii viii choose lis point OF attack, and con-
centrate as many troops at that point as he
pleased. We could not take the enemy for .
fool, hut had. to. take him for the most
Sod sn nsee ~e be- fS9Gd by tie
| enemy and thrown off Chattanooga, our
army would have been thrown against tha
Lookout Wall and destroyed, and In three
weeks time, the triumphant enemy would
Ohio River.
Gen. Rosecrans decided to fight
Pluck displayed at proper plaee and az q
proper time denotes STRENGTH Pluck dis
Deciding to tight, we could have selected
our own ground: in fact, while we were
lighting on the 18th Of September. somenG?dy
to TO- light on the 2otn. There was right az
hand the south slope Of the, Mission Ridge,
with its spurs and gulleys, where the strong,
est position could have been found. Did
we do it? No. Nobody looked Up
The order was to Withdraw our divisions, q
little back from the ground, where night
found them, McC0ok to close up on THOMAS,
with its right resting OH the Widow Glen,s
house, Crittenden to place two Of his alyl-
whole line.
COULD SUCH An ORDER
have been carried out in the dark night, after
a quite severe battle, without officers guiding
each division and perfectly familiar with po-
sitions assigned to them? Our army had no
such officers, and, therefore, oqr DIVISIONS DIVISIONS
that had to move a considerable distance
| could not find their proper places in the line.
Again, military authorities say when all
army chooses its position it should be placed
so as to stand sQllarely across its ways OF
communication, perfectly covering me same.
line Of formation was running from south-
west to northeast, parallel to Mission Ridge
behind us, crossing .slantngly and not
squarely the roads lending to our le,s rear II
communications with Chattanooga were en-
dangered; should our left and centre give
way under q powerful flank attack OF the
enemy, our army could not Eet to Cnatta. I1s;st
an , iRlp,assabie, IS 1000 feet high rocky wall;-
the Lookout Mountaln,-and destroyed or
Tie Therye, e then, on our left flank was the
SfrAtHpic1l kew OF our pQSlLl0Q. AS IL WIS
selccted by the Commandet-in-C Chief, the
position had no tactical strength whatever.
Our line was crossing some fields, but most
Of them were behind it; our both f1anks were
hnnginr in the air, not abutting to any OBJ
iects fiat would present some difficulty to
f11e enemy in attacking them. We had 10
fine fn hitli hattnries: If in the morning on
thn mil mcn 1,iied up rotten logs and rails to
the hirht of n cOupie Of feet In front Of them,
those Rarricades could not stop determined
att;,ck of a daring euemy.
o,-I, ,,os,r,oy WIG wrAr
oon A!!os va "nA
on Jus Whoic lllle Wltnouk ;1ay gIoi!uetl1 "
satlcnt point, "ltn Eoous ol itS ltont a1lu
fields IN its rear; IN: fact we could no5 se1ec5
q R0sltlon worse than that w :3i'c :0iGcuPsFu.
The night was DARK anu Chilly. no camp
frs we're built either 6y our t army s Or Ry tne
march, unneryed hy the aS5atng ng durnS rS,na tne
Day, our men leli Oh ule c9A4 slo'unu'
wrapped in tnelr biankets, anu iell @ asl9ep. p
Inc exhausted Dooy co4la non ghsy 1oon -
sweet dreams most OF lnem snakcnea sllols
but sound sleep. lt was lor many poor
fellow the last steep tney snatcne4 y peloIe eue
eternal sleep came TO tnen on me morrow.
II there were some evll loreooongs lney
were stlfied by stern guy, every cue, WHO
vas man. was deteImlneo M ~ AsnL
II met snS M - Gt,,tr 3,,, 3sa 4ns
zoe ~ ong the Wajlev nf
tsan Thnmss 1omnanti;np onr ieff vino
,'rn,nntu uo' for1n'ei his 1ine Raird,s dtyisian
1uaa ~, tha eytrnmn left. then came Johnson.