The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-12-07

Georgia, and northeastern
Alabama were as severe as any that ever took
place on this continent, bat the movements
were so important. the losses so heavy, and the
results SO momentous that only the students Of
war history and those who participate In these
battles have been enabled to understand them
in all their parts.
These gentlemen represented the orgaDiza-
tons participating in the engagements around
Chattanooga. in the party which recentIy lett
New York City for the scenes Of conflict:
Ireland's formerly Greene's) Brigade. Geary's
Division Slocum's Twelfth Corps: Goth n. Y,
Capt. Jesse II. Jones. North Abingdon. Mass;
18th N. Y. Col. Harvey S. Chatfeld. 243 DAD
way. New York; 102d N. " Maj. John X
Elliott, Newark N. j.; 18th ". Y. Maj. VIM.
II. Bristol Binghamton, N. Y; 149th N. Y,
Capt. George K. Collins, Syracuse, N. Y.
Howards eleventh. Corps: 45th N. Y. Capt.
A. B. Searles. Pawtucket, x. J.; 6Sth N. Y,
Capt. Paul Botticher. Newark, N. j.; bath N.
Y, Col. Allan H. Jackson. Fort Logan. Colo
RADIO; 18th n. Y, Capt E. Owen, Warsaw.
Y, l43d N Y. Capt. Peter E. Palen, Month
cello ". Y; l54tb N. Y, Capt. Stephen Walsh,
Allegany, n. Y; Wheeer's Battery, William
Boo, Plainield, N. J.; Wiedrich's Battery. Gen.
John A. Reynolds, Rochester, N. Y.
Hooker's staf-Gen Paul A. Oliver, Hon.
VIM w. Goodrich Col. Hosmer. DR.. Castle, Gen.
William LIE Due, of North Carolina; General
Manager Wren of the East Tennessee, Vir-
GINA q Georgia, and Assistant Passenger
Agent Bond, of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road.
Not one of the veterans had been in the
vicinity since the war, and yet there was
not one who was not able to find the exact
spot which his command either held or over
| which il marched during the affairs at Wau-
! hatchie Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge,
| and RinggoId.
The party reached Chattanooga at 10 o'clock
| on the night of Saturday, Nov. II, says writer
| in the New York Times, in describing this in
! tcresting excursion. Before arriving, however,
Gen. Butterfield. Chairman of the Commission,
| summoned the entire party into his car. where
/ he formally introd uced them to Gen. Fullerton
| and to Gen. Henry V. BoyntoD, tho Historian oil
| the National Commission. He explained that
| the Commission was organized by an act OF the
| last Legislature, which had appropriated S3.OO0
| for the work. He distributed regimentai marx
ers to the di ferent representatives to be placed
| in the position held by their command on the
several battlefeids.
! Gen. Fullerton enlightened the party as to
| the progress made by the National Commission,
| and Gen. Boyuton and Gen. Butter6eld enter
| tanned them with numerous "reminiscences oil
| several of the great Union commanders.
| The party left the National Chattanooga Rail-
| road station at 7.30 o'clock the next morning,
| and ran down TO Wsuhatchie. passing under
| the base of Lookout Mountain, whose ragged
| nose was barely visible through the dense morn
| ing fog. The railway station aud the roads had
| been changed somewhat, but the party found
| no difficulty whatever in taking the position
| they had occupied when Longstreet made his
| famous night attack. IL the first scrimmage
| the Eleventh aud Twelfth Corps got into after
l. their departure from the Army OF the Potomac.
Longstreet had been sent from the Army OF
Northern Virginia to succor the hard-p pressed
| Bragg, and had succeeded in transporting his
| entire command FROM Virginia to southern
| Tennessee over the toughest railways IN all
/ creation within five days, and without being
| discovered by the Union scouts. Rosecrans,
| far outnumbered before Bragg received this re-
| inforcemept, implOred Halleck to send him
| assistance and it was in response to his appeal
| that Towards Eleventh Corps and Slocum's
| Twelfth Corps, under the general command OF
| Fighting Joe Hooker, were dispatched to Nash
vile.
| The position of the Twelfth Corps at Wan
| hatchie was one of the grsvest Importance, for
| it held the road to Keliy's Gap and to Kelly's
| Ferry, which was the base OF the famous
| crack crime to Thomas's army at Chattanooga.
| If LoDgstreet could capture and hold Kelly's
! Ford road Thomas's base of supplies and his
| supplies themselves would be imperiled. Until
the arrival of the Twelfth Corps the Confef-
/ erates held undisputed sway Of over II miles of
| the river front. A continuation OF this posses
| sion meant starvation or surrender to the Union
| army SO serious was the condition OF affairs
| thas arinsd guards stood over the horse troughs
| in the streets OF Chattanooga to prevent the
| troops from stealing oats. Along the Tennessee
| River it was estimated that over 10000 mules
| had died from starvation.
| LongstIeet was not aware that the Army OF
| the Potomac troops were in front Of him until
| he made his dash across Lookout Creek
/ through the timber to the railway track,
| where he struck our skirnishers. Gen. George
s. Greene's Brigade was formed Oh the left OF
| the pike in clump Of cedars which have
since been cut down. Along our front ran q
| little thicket. Gen. Reynolds had no difficulty
| whatever in finding the clump. or the spot
where Gen. Greene was wounded, and Col
I Chatfeld pointed out the line of the 18th
N. Y to the railway track. and whore he had
protected one of the guns of Knap's Pennsyl-
| vania (Co. E. Battery after Lieut. Geary had
| been killed.
| The proprietor of the land, w. Dobbs, took
the greatest interest in the work Of the vet
Grams, and offered to give the State Of New
| York all the land that was necessary TO mark
! the position held by her troops.
One hundred and fifty yards in the rear of
Greene's Brigade line. the old log house still
stands where Hooker and Geary and their stats
were scattered by the bursting of a she'll which
had been fred from q battery on Lookout
| Mountain, and which covered them all with dirt.
Two miles back on the Kelly's Ford road is
the Cummings House, where Gen. Geary made
/
Is in an excellent state Of preservation, and
the broad 10 acre field where division reviews
were held is as level to-day as it was 80 years
ago. Then the entire Twelfth Corps, except
enc division-which, under Gen. Siocum, WAS
| protecting the railroad-was encamped on one
of the spurs of Raccoon Mountain, and here five
log huts are still left which were used as regi-
mental headquarters.
Back to Wauhatchie across the railroad
track, tho party followed the line Of march
taken by the Twelfth Corps the early
morning of Nov. "a, when Hooker's troops be-
gan the movement to Lookout Mountain. Ad-
ditional interest was given to this trip from
the fact that Col. Stegman commanded the
brgade's skirmishers, who were the first to
cross Lookout Mountain Creek, which was
then much swollen with recent rains. So sue
cessful was Geary's Division movement that the
Confederate pickets we're captured without the
discharge of gun.
Gazing up at the precipitous sides of Lookout
Mountain il seems almost incredible that troops
could manuver without the presence of an enc
N.Y. let alone in the face of earthworks crowded
with determined riaemen and batteries COM
manding every approach. Yet not only was
the charge up the mountain made, but followed
for distance of four miles, down ravines, over
Irecks, across gulleys, and mp slopes where q
foothold was almost impossible to obtain, the
Pine of battle steadily maintained.
L., The Confederates had long before this become
panic.strieken but even before Hooker's vail