The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-22

! After the battle OF Gettysburg General
Lee detached one of his ablest corps uong-
street's) to join Bragg and crush Rose
Grams; army of the Cumberland. The Con-
federates, according to the plan, fell on
Rosecrans at Chickamauga, defeated him
and drove him into Chattanooga.
| As General Sherman, in his memoirs,
SAYS: 1.-THE whole country seemed para
lyzed by this unhappy event, and the
authorities in Washington were thor
oughly stampeded."
Immediately the Eleventh and Twelfth
corps consolidated and, under the COM
mand of Hooker, moved at once from the
Potomac to the Tennessee. Simultan-
eously Sherman's Fifteenth Army Corps
| OF the Army of the Tennessee was ordered
| from the field of it's greatest achievement,
| Vicksburg, and fastened to the rescue OF
| the Army of the Cum berland. Meanwhile
| Grant had been placed in command of all
| the troops concentrating at Chattanooga,
and was daily urged by dispatches from
| Halleck to push operations in his lmme-
| date front in order to relieve General
Burnside at Knoxville, in East Tennessee.
President Lincoln was greatly perplexed
| for fear East Tennessee would be wrested
from Burnside, and his fears were con-
| stantly communicated to Grant. How
ever, Grant had resolved to fight the
| enemy in his front at Missionary Ridge
| and Lookout Mountain as soon as Sherman
| arrived, but'not to attack before the ar
rival of troops fresh from the victories of
| Vicksburg.
Rainy weather, heavy roads and the
continued harassment of Confederate
cavalry delayed Sherman's column.
Meanwhile the Confederates had drawn
! their lines close TO Chattanooga. Lookout
Mountain. with it's Confederate flags and
batteries, stood out boldly. Sherman in
| his Memoirs makes this allusion to the
| situation when he arrived:
"All along Missionary Ridge were the
tents of the rebel beleaguering force; the
lines of trench from Lookout up toward
rebel sentinels in continuous chain were
walking their posts in plain view, not a
thousand yards off. Why said I, Gen
eral Grant, you are besieged, and he seid.
| 1T is too true Up to that moment l had
no idea things were so bad. The rebel
! lines actually extended from the river be-
| low the town to the river above, and the
| Army of the Cumberland was closely held
to the town and its immediate defenses."
| Sherman, with three divisions of his
army corps, succeeded in crossing the river
| below and again above Chattanooga and
getting in position i'll front of the enemy's
extreme right on the north end of Mission
airy Ridge. The First Division, under Gen
| eral OSterhaus, was left below the town of
| Chattanooga because of the breaking of
| the pontoon bridge across the Tennessee,
and was placed therefore under Hooker at
the base of Lookout Mountain.
On November "a, 1868, Grant was thor
oushly prepared to open the great battle.
Sherman was in position. On the
! extreme left were threedivisions of
the Fifteenth Corps and some other troops
! General Thomas commanded the Army of
| the Cum berland in the center, and Hooker
! faced Lookout Mountain with Osterhaus
division of the Fifteenth Army Corps and
| two divisions of the corps from the Po-
| tomac.
| belonged to the Fourth Iowa Infantry
of Williamsons Iowa Brigade of the First
Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, and there
fore served under Hooker. We had been
| in line of march for three days and three
nights previous to November %. That
night we received orders to march and
| fight" at O'Clock on the morrow. We
slept ten or twelve hours on the field. In
! fact we cared for nothing but sleep, so
great had been the exhaustion of the
march to get there. We were Western
troops and had been 'jollied" good deal
about winning our victories on the Missis-
sippi with gunboats. Lookout Mountain,
looming loftily, was poin ted out to us with
| the remark You will have to fight there
Sure enough we went into line early on
| the morning of the 24th. 1t was new sem
sation to fight along with the Army of the
Potomac soldiers. They were better clothed
and equipped than the Western troops, and
| had corps badges and caps. We advanced
in line until we found the Confederates in
force behind railroad track running along
Lookout Creek, near where the creek emp
ties into the Tennessee. We threw out
skirmishers and began to exchange the
compliments of the season the same as
we did at Vicksburg. Further up the val
! ley some of our troops had crossed the
creek and gained a good position ON the
| side of the mountain. Presently we were
ordered to charge across the creek and cap
ture the railroad track. This order was
executed in good style. We remained quite
awhile waiting for orders. Meanwhile the
firing was growing heavier up the noun
tain. Presently General Geary, for whom
Geary street in this City is named. came
along and said he had an order for the
to the brigade, and Geary said to follow
! him.
| We went up the mountain and relieved
| Carlin's brigade. The musketry firing as
we advanced became very heavy. A misty
| rain had set in and the smoke held close
to the bushes and rocks. Darkness seemed
| to come early and by the flashes of fire we
could easily distinguish the Confederate
| line above us and to our left front. The
bullets flew very high and not many men
were hit. Finally we got in position and
began to bang away at our foes. There
was more or less confusion during the
night. The ''rebs" kept shouting, "You
are firing into your own men," and our
troops would slacken the fire, fearing a
mistake had been made. About o'clock
in the morning there seemed to be great
excitement in the Confederate line. There
was shouting, and orders were cried,
Everybody that is going to support the
Georgia Brigade fall in" Subsequently
we learned from prisoners that this was
ruse to cover their retreat. The Georgia
Brigade got in, however. and made us
believe that general charge was on.
Hooker and Geary, who put our division
in to relieve Others, never thought to re-
| lieve us, SO we remained in line all night
and at the first flush of dawn began climb
ing to the summit of the mountain, to find
that the Confederates had vanished
Our troops on the crest of the noble
mountain waved the old flag in the sun
light, and soon the cheering below was
carried across the valley to the Army of
the Cum berland in front of Missionary
Ridge, and miles further on to Sherman s
column at Tunnel Hill.
| On the morning of the 25th we moved