The National tribune., 1885-10-08

ordered by the President of the United States
to take command of that department. His first
act was to assign Thomas to the command of
the department and the Army of the Cumber-
| land in place of Rosecrans. His next was to
! telegraph Thomas to hold Chattanooga at all
hazards; that he wApld be there as soon as
| possible. To which Old Gen. Thomas replied:
aas will Ill hSd til l,D we ssrys rsoc5sa cn.s On the
nooga. Burnside was at Knoxville. Sherman
was on his way from Vicksburg With al the
! available force at his command, and Hsoker
! was moving from the east with two corps \
| column of the enemy moved against Knoxville.
! By the 18th of November Grant had his forces
! well in hand and ready for an assault. Rains
and storms prevented this for few days; but
| on the 23d he assaulted Lookout Mountain, the
men climbing from crag to crag and from tree
| to tree, until finally they on the crest of
the ridge; the rebels retreated, and they planted
! the flag of the Republic thereon. The Oath and
25th the battle of Mission Ridge was fought and
THE ENEMY COMPLETELY ROUTED.
! A portion of the Armies of the East and West
and Center, combining, fought side by side,
| bravely as men ever fought. Passing through
! the dangers of that great battle linked them
| together in bonds of friendship which have
lasted until now After he had defeated Bragg,
and driven him back from this stronghold
Grant commenced maturing plans for the
great final campaigns. lie began by order
| ing Sherman back to Vicksburg; also n large
| force to march from Corinth down along the
| railroad to Jackson, destroying the road as they
went. Sherman was ordered with his force
| from Vicksburg in the direction of Meridian,
| in order that the railroad and lines Of commu-
| nication in that part of the country might be
destroyed, SO that when he commenced his cam
paigu in contemplation he could withdraw all
the troops from there and concentrate them
into one grand army to march against the
enemy in the center.
The troops under Thomas were assisting in
| guarding the railroads and lines Of communi
cation north from Chattanooga and west to De-
| cStur. He directed Thomas, while the railroads
| were being destroyed from Corinth to Nicks-
| burg south and east from Vicksburg, to
keep up continuous demonstration in the en-
emys front, so as to deceive him into the belief
that an advance was 10 be made very soon. He
also directed me to cooperate with Thomas,
then being in command Of the Fifteenth Corps,
with my headquarters at Huntsville Ala,
sent a force by his orders in the direction of
Rome, Ga. At the same time we were notified
to be ready at the earliest possible moment in
the Spring for a general advance. His idea was
then to move
FROM CHATTANOOGA TO ATLANTA,
and then to Mobile. unless something should
intervene in the meantime to change the plan
loECt 10 HOSc III inc ulrtClioI vi 'od-
vannah from Atlanta. Grant said in a letter
during that Winter that sharp fighting would
occur in the Spring, and if our army was sue
cessful the war would be ended in year.
Grant was now made Lieutenant-Gencral
and placed by the President of the United
States in command of the armies OF the Repub
lie. But one single person had ever held the
position prior to Grant; that was George Wash
ington. Winfield Scott merely had the brevet.
On the Sd day of March, 1864, he was ordered
TO Washington. His intention at that time was
to return from Washington and lead the armies
of Sherman. Thomas and Schoield to Atlanta
i'll person. Unforeseen events, however, changed
his intention of leading the army himself, and
forced him to the East. His campaign, how
ever, was carried out almost to the letter. but
by other hands. Grant received his commission
as LieutenantGeBeral
FROM THE HANDS OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN
in the presence of the Cabinet. On the 10th of
March he was at the front in Virginia; on the
14th he was back at Nashville Tenn, giving
instructions to Sherman. On the 18th he as
sumed supreme command of all the armies, and
and on the 23d he was at Washington. and
at once proceeded to make his headquarters in
the field at Culpeper, Va. Heretofore the cam
paigns Of the different armies had been con
Quoted without any reference to or relation one
with the other.
Grants intention now was that his campaign
should proceed with one common end in view.
His plan was simple. 1t was to concentrate all
the available forces of the West and combine
them into one grand army under Sherman, and
the same concentration of the armies of the
East under Meade; then by simultaneous
and persistent advance of these two grand
armies toward common center. The object
i've point OF each to be the enemy in his front,
and the ultimate point to be rcachcd-Rich-
mond. Other points that might in the mean
time become objective to be operated against as
the circumstances of the case at the time should
suggest. At the appointed time FOR an advance
his intention was that Sherman should move
directly against Johnston, and
HAMMER, POUND, AND FOLLOW HIM
until his army was destroyed or captured. If
neither the destruction nor capture should oc-
cur to drive him on to Mobile and then crush
him, or on to Savannah and back on to Rich
mond, and there crush both the armies between
the two great armies of the Union. At the
same time Meade should advance upon Lees
forces and strike him at every point, and fight
him in every place, wherever and whenever he
should find him, until he should break bis
army to pieces or capture it. Neither Of the
armies should hesitate in carrying out this
common purpose. So that when Richmond
should fall the two great armies of the rebel
lion should fall with it. This plan was carried
ont, and was a success. 1t caused US TO achieve
EHe NlCLOrleS CHaC saved the Republic. lNeFc
was but one failure in carrying it out to the
letter, on both lines; that was when Hood was
permitted to escape from Sherman's front from
Lovejoy's Station, back into our rear, marching
against Nashville. 1t forced Thomass army to
return and follow him while the remainder Of
the forces moved without obstruction to the
sea. This failure was, however, redeemed
afterward. In the West the grand army moved
forward fighting battles at Dalton, Buzzard's
Roost, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Lost Mountain,
Dallas, Big and Little kencsaw, Peach Tree
Greek, and at and around Atlanta. Flank
movement after flank movement was executed,
and battle after battle was fought upon fields
that
FAIRLY RAN WITH BLOOD
until our victorious army occupied Atlanta.
The Army of the Cumberland under Thomas
moved TO the nOrthward in pursuit of Hood, rs
before stated, striking and hammeriug him to
pieces at Franklin and Nashville.
The Army of the Tennessee and Georgia,
under Sherman, marched through Georgia To
Savannah, and thence through the Carolinas,
driving before them from Savannah the rebel
forces through State after State marching tri-
Gmphantly and rapidly in the direction Of
Richmond. During this while the great Army
of the East. under Meade, its cavalry command
ed by Sheridan, the Army Of the James cooper
ating, all under the immediate command of
Grant, was striking Lees veteran Army of
Northern Virginia wherever found. The bloody
battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court