Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-04-23


| followed on their heels.
'Ihe line of battle was not far behind and
we saw the gray cOnfederates swarm out of
| the ledge line OF ritie-pitS and over the base
or the hill IN numbers which surprised us. A
lew turned and fired their pieces, but the
| greater number collected into the many roads
which cross 0bliqnely up its steep face, and
| went on to the top.
Some regiments pressed on and sw.srmed
| up the steep sides of the ridge, and here and
there color was advanced beyond the lines.
The attempt appeared most dangerous; but
the advance was supported, and the whole
| lire was ordered to storm the heights, upon
| which not less than forty pieces of artillery,
ana no one knows how many muskets, stood
ready to slaughter the assaiIaats. With
cheers, the men swarmed upward. They
gathered to the points least dilficulto of access
and the line was broken. Color after cOloi
was planted on the summit while musket
ana cannon yomlted their thunder upon
| Them
"A well-directed shot from Orchard knob
| exploded confederate caissOn on the sum
NIT, and the gun was seen being speedily
! taken TO the right, its driver lashing his
horses. party OF our soldiers intercepted
them, and the gun was captured with cheers
"A fierce musketry fire broke out to the
lett, where, between Thomas and Sherman
a mile or two of the ridge was still occupied
by the confederates.
Bragg left the house in which he had held
! his headquarters, and rode to the rear as our
| troops crowded the hill on either side of him
| Gen. Grant proceeded to the summit, and
then only did we know its height. Some of
| the captured artillery was put into position.
ArtllleristS We're sent for TO work the guns,
and ealSSonS were searched for ammunition.
The confederate log. breastworks were torn
10 pieces and carried to the other side of the
ridge and used IN forming barricades across.
A strong line of infantry was formed in the
rear OF Balfds line, and engaged in mus
kerry contest with the confederates to the
LETT and secure Judgment was soon effect
ed The other assault to the right of our CEN
ter gained the summit, and the confederates
threw down their arms and fled. Hooker,
coming into favorable position, swept the
right OF the ridge and captured many prison
ers Braggs remaining troops left early in
the night, and the battle of Chattanooga aft
er days of maneuyering and fighting, was
won. The strength of the rebellion in the
center is broken. Burnside is relieved from
danger in east Tennessee. Kentucky and
tennessee are rescued. Georgia and the
southeast are threatened in the rear, and an
other victory Is added to the chapter of I'm
conditional Surrender Grant. Tonight the
estimate of captures is several thousand pris-
oners and thirty pieces OF artillery. Our loss
Tor 50 great victory is not severe. Bragg
Is firing the railroad as he retreats toward
Dalton. Sherman is in hot pursuit To-day
1 viewed the battlefield, which extends for
SIX miles along Missionary ridge, and for
several miles on Lookout mountain. Prob
ably not so well-directed, so well-ordered
battle has taken place during the war. But
one assault was repulSed; but that assault,
by calling to that point the confederate re-
serves, prevented them Tepnlsing any of the
others. A few days since Gen. Bragg sent
TO Gen. Grant flag of truce, advising him
that 1t would be prudent TO remove any nom
combatants who might be still in Chatta-
nOoga. No reply has been returned but the
combatants having removed from this vicin-
ity, 1t is probable that n0n-cOmbatants can
remain without imprudence"
WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
Coincident with the resolution of
thanks to Gen. Grant adopted by con-
gress in December, 1868, was the intro
duction of bill by Mr.. Washburne re-
viving the grade of lieutenant general
of the army. Owing to some Disagree
ment in the senate, the bill went to a
committee of conference, in which it
was amended, making the appoint
ment OF lieutenant general to be during
the pleasure of the president, and on
the 1st of March, 1864, President Lin
coin approved the bill. and on the next
day sent into the senate his message
appointing as lieutenant general of the
armies of the United States Mai. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant The nomination
was unanimously confirmed by the
senate.
The operations of the Army of the
Potomac had been three years of disas-
trous experimenting. Gen. Mcdowell
had been wofully used up ut Bull run
and had been succeeded by Mcclellan.
The latter, after the failure of the PEN
insular campaign, through the inter-
meddling of Stanton and the politi-
clans, and the depletion of his army
for the defense of Washington, had
been superseded by Pope After a
good deal of maneuvering by Lee and
Pope the two armies came together on
the field of Manassas on August 30 and
80, near the spot where the first battle
of Bull run had been fought. The
struggle ended in the complete disrup-
ton of the army of Pope and the retire
ment of that bombastic officer from
command. Mcclellan was restored to
command, and fought the great battle
OF Antietam, driving Lee out of Mary
land, into which State he had pushed
after defeating Pope. He was savage
ly criticised for not pursuing ard de-
stroying his beaten enemy, and popular
clamor and the intrigues of the politi-
clans again secured his removal. Burn
side was put in command, and had sus-
tanned a defeat at fredericksburg that
had OBSCURE ed the country and bro
ken the spirit of the army. Hooker
was tried. and charlottesville, where
the union army was defeated with APP
palling loss, followed. Twice the Ar
my Of the Potomac had crossed the
Rappahannock, and on each occasion
1t had been driven back in disaster.
Fredericksburg and Charlottesville
had raised the spirit of Lees army
to the highest pitch. 1t had just cen
modified into three grand army corps
under the command OF Longstrcet, Hill,
and Ewell The hotspurs of the South
longed to sec the scene of o, crations
transferred to the North, and the close
lof May, 1868, found the confederate
army ready to Launch on the seductive
but fatal adventure which terminated
in disaster at Gettysburg. Hooker
was succeeded by Gen. George G..
Meade. Under his command the union
army fought the battle of Gettysburg,
one of the deadliest in history. The
invading army crushed by blow it
had received, began 10 withdraw from
Pennsylvania. and in Il few days it
crossed the Potomac for the last time
in its career, the victorious forces of
Gen. Meade being in close pursuit. AZ
ter many maneuyers along the line of
the Rapidan, in the course of which oo
Cured the bloody affair at Mine run,
the army settled down to the winter
quarters, and in the spring of 1864
found itself face TO face with its old
enemy on the line of the Rapidan.
THE WILDERNESS.
The country BY this time had grown
weary of this style of campaigning SO
long n.voguc. An incredible incoher-
ence prevailed in the general conduct
of the war. For three years there had
been three or four independent armies
in the field, working frequently at cross
purposes. while the commanders were
subject to continual interference and
annoyance from Gen. Halleck, the
nominal commander in chief, the gov
eminent and politicians. The opinion
was general in the North that expert
ment was ieopardizing all hope of
successful issue OF the war; II was
this sentiment that prompted the NOM
ination of Mai. Gen. Grant to the grade
of lieutenant general and his appoint
ment by special order of the president
to the command of all the armies of
the United States. Three years of dis
astrous experimenting had at last con-
vinced the administration that if a sue