The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1885-03-12

| per cent. of his men in four hours, and Bran
nan, before his front was cleared for the last
time, at dark, had lost % per cent. OF those who
! went into action on the left the day before.
| From 2 o'clock till Z at night LongStreet deliv-
cred assault after assault as rapidly as he coald
mass his men. But though they moved with a
! courage which left nothing for commanders to
! ask for or imagine, their columns were con-
! stantly tumbled down the slopes in disorder.
/ Several times BTaunan and Wood had cleared
| their fronts with the hayonet-ammunition be-
! ing reduced to a single round, or TO what could
| be gathered from the boxes of the dead and
| wounded.
THE LAST ASSAULT.
Isongstreet's last assault began shortly before
3 O'Clock aud lasted two hours. In preparing
for il, he asked Bragg for re-cnforcements from
/ the right, but was informed, Hs longstreet re-
ports, that they had been beaten back SO badly
! that they could be of ne service 10 me-" Pres
ton's fine division OF four brigades, which mp TO
that hour had not been in the battle, were
] given the advance Behind this line Were
/ kershaw's troops and Johnson's aud Hind
/ mans and S;ewart's Divisions. All these,
/ with yells and mighty momentum, once more
rushed up the slopes OF the range. An army
| was asSa9lsing three thin divisions. There
| were 10 Confederate bTigSdes in front of the
/ four which BEannaa and Granger had ia line,
| and four Of these in l.ongstTeet's column were
! tie. The sssaUIting force before Wood was
| about ia the same proportion. Bat Graq-
/ ger, Brapnan and Wood stood immovable. 10
those present on either side the memory Of those
hoars IS OF the SevereSt musketry of their eXTe-
I riencc. 1t never s!ackened, except ss aIninu-
milton ran low at times on the Union side, and
in place of firing came the cheers of the charg-
ing lines rs they rushed down with the bayonet
upon the ascending columns. Hindman, from
The Army of Northern Virginia, declared he had
] never seen Union soldiers fight as well, and
/ never saw Confederate troops fight better. Seen
/ from tiae base of The range, its summit was
sheejed with fire and smoke, or cleaned with
its hedge Of steel. Pressing up its slopes line
/ followed line from below, aud iUom above came
| line after line torn, bleeding, dying tumbling
/ over on those behind, while on the crest the
! contracting Union lines closed over their
| wounded and their dead and stood unmoved
in their places under the flag till the san went
| down and the road for which they had con-
| tended was woa.-
,1ust before dusk Steedman was Withdrawn
/ from Brannan's right, leaving Van .DorFeer s
| Brigade the right Of the army for the closing
half hour OF the fight, IS 1t had been the left oi
| the liae when the battle opened on the first
day. And here the SSth Ohio, of this brigade,
which the first day received the brunt of the
final rebel effort the left drove back a liae
of Iongstf1et'S men, which had gained the
/ GiuSe NHen SISduilldh SajfafSN, dliu llttu tue
last voley of the day. BTauaan's Division had
formerly been Gen. Themas's own command,
and Van Derveer's Brigade IN it ThomaS's Bri-
gade as far back As Mill Springs. He well knew
! both brigade and division, and made of both
his flying forces for use on all parts OF The line
For a time after Woods withdrawal allowed
Iongstreet 10 penetrate the center, and while
Gen. Thomas was giving his entire attention to
re-estabiIShGng his right, an incident occurred
on the left never before made public, and on
which, for brief space, hung the fate of The
army. Reynolds, who had rot as vet been able,
after the break, to connect with Brannan, rode
over 50 Palmer and Baird on his left, and in
formed them that in his Judgment the entire
right was broken, and suggested that Palmer,
as senior officer, should assume command, and
march the left three divisions to Rossville
Before decision was reached Longstreet'S
tremendous onslaught against the right made
its presence and its stability manifest, and the
left remained.
Gen. Thomas had relied implicitly on Baird
to hold his left, and sent him no order after the
first one to hold the place pointed out TO him
when he first took position. Troops Were sent
TO sustain his left, but, for the rest, Baird Pal
meT, and johnson were trusted 10 fight on till
the orders TO withdraw were given, and this
immovablc left, equally with the right, reaped
boantifai harvest OF honor.
RETIRING TO RossvILLE.
Shortly before dark the left divisions Of
Baird, johnson ana Palmer had been with
drawn and started toward Rossville, some three
miles in the rear Some of them we're
attacked while in movement by. an as
sault on that portion of the line, but it was
promptly beaten back, and the rest Of the army
came off in quiet. Gen. Thomas would have
held the field and through the night brought up
ammunition, rations, and the troops which were
broken off the right. But ROsecrans, in Chatta-
neega, had 40 idea Of the steadfastness and un-
broken spirit of ThomasS men, and before he
learned them had directed the occupation OF
Rossyille. Thomas's plan would have deprived
Bragg Of the sembiance Of victory by never
yielding the field to the enemy. But, as their
historians show, they fully understood that
Thomas's movement from the field was al
together voluntary. He felt that it could GER
tainly be held, but the order TO withdraw
would place his army across the road TO Chat
tanooga at tic gap through which it led to that
city, and assured the occupation of that place.
There was further reason for the move in the
danger that the enemy might continue his
plan of battle, and march in the dark to seize
the Rossviile passes. The forces on the hill
were not Withdrawn till O'Clock, when all
firing had ceased, and the troops on that sorely
battered crest held it in undispured possession.
BEanpas then marched down, alfd back TO Ross
vile. Here Thomas disposed his lines, offered
Oattft- WHICH As5 Eot gwen lDlOuSH lat %iSJ,
and that night marched his troops into Chatta-
D0oga. Al sunrise on the 23d the Army of the
Cumberland was, for the FIRST time, in military
possession OF its objective. BY this test was
Chickamauga Union victory. The battle was
not f"T these tangled woods in which the fight
had ragged bui for the city beyond them. The
city WAS won and held till the war was over.
When Gen. RosecTans was caught in the frag-
ments of the right his ride to Rossyille was
necessity. The signs OF the broken bFigadcs
about ham bore strong evidence Of stampeded
army. Under such circumstances the work for
a commander was in selecting new lines in the
rear. II, when reaching Rossyille. where all
/ the rctrc2ting troops from the right were cas-
lily stepped, he had again advanced with them
to IhomasS position, which the sounds OF bat
tie Showed him 10 be holding, the occasion
senght for removing him would never have
come. But believing the army broken, and
advised 10y Garfield, his Chief Of staff, he rode
!. 70 Chattanooga with GrttenGen and McCooL
10 select positions for his troops and organize
them as thcy arrived Garields return to
Thomas proved the way open for troops. SheII-
dau's Division and the troops which Negley had
brought OF could readily have reached the front
had they been ordered up, and the question Of
withdrawing would not have arisen.
Such, IN outline, was Chcllaplau2a. No de-
scriPtioa can convey more than an idea of the
stoadiast yaioF au, tise terrific omscts Of that
field. Only The strength of defensive position
and furious, nevcr-finching fighting saved
ihomss's lines from the magnificent assaults
Of BIagg's forces. When the sun went down
the second day $4,000 killed aud wounded at