Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-28


 hall was making stand farther up the mountain he hurried Pettus' bri- gade forward to join Walthall.s A po- sition was taken up overlooking Chat tanooga valley, where Grants army lay and there the fighting ragged all day. Here" says Colonel Hundley, Sis where the battle above the clouds was really fought. The previous en- gagement could hardly be called a bat tie at all But here the two armies confronted each other, and, although not over 100 yards apart, each was totally invisible to the other. Their termined by the lines of fire as volley succeeded volley. The scene presented was weird and indescribable.
 T did not long remain on the field, for my duty was on the mountain top. Returning there, t hastened to the Confederate battery stationed on Point Lookout, the guns of which were work ing vigorously. If the scenes just wit messed below had impressed me as weird I now had before me scene grand beyond comparison and awful in it's grandeur. It is permitted man but once in his lifetime to behold so |, sublime spectacle The guns were close 10 Jne brow of the mountain. Not word was being spoken by officers or men, but the latter loaded their pieces and fired with deliberation and regu- larity. They saw nothing before them but seemingly fathomless abyss of lurid darkness, but into this darkness they poured their live thunders with a right good will. In the distance from Federal batteries on Moccasin point came the answering boom, and occa- sionally a shell went screaming .over our heads, while mimic balls were sp1nnng past uS continually. Below us the battle continued to rage with un- abated fury, neither side advancing nor retreating. Just after dark the Point Lookout battery ceased to belch forth it's thunGiers, and the combat be- low also gradually died away. Bragg had ordered the mountain, evacuated forthwith
 Colonel Hundley adds that Lookout mountain properly defended could have resisted the assault of 100000 men. There were men enough on the mountain at the time If properly dis tributed to have held it against double the number under Rockers command.
 General Nesbitt, who commanded the Confederate reserve brigade of Geor- gians st the base of the mountain, took no part in the lighting, but received from Walthall's retreating men their fresh stories of what happened when Geary's Federals struck the crest Be- ginning with the action on the plateau between Geary and WaIthall, the gen. eral says: t'Walthall, with his depleted brigade of 1000 men, finding that he was attacked by large column on his left and rear,. after fighting half an hour gave the order to retreat The order should have been given sooner, for about half his men were captured there. The small number of killed and wounded was due to the clouds, which obscured the troops, and to the protec- ton afforded by earthworks. The Fed erals were likewise protected by rocks and trees. Many of WalthaIl's Mis- sissippians came down to my head quarters and informed me of the status of affairs, stating that General Geary's StANASAOiA udA s@oC UCtW S0A tAGIl Huu tue cliffs and turned their flank One bri- gade of Geary's division pushed on and had heavy skirmish under the pail sades and was driven back. The des- ultory firing which followed was con tinued during the night by a few Con- federate pickets from behind trees on the mountain side, which served to draw heavy fire from the Federal lines, thus producing the impression that a battle was going on. Thus it ap- pears there was no battle, but heavy skirmish."
 The Federal flag was unfurled on Point Lookout, the site of the Confed- crate battery described by Colonel Hundley and the extreme point of the jutting ridge, by soldier of the Eighth Kentucky, who picked his way among the rocks in the night. When Old Glo- " was discovered next morning danc- Ing in the air the cheers of Rockers men all along the mountain side greet ed it and were taken up and re-echoed throughout all the camps in the Ten nessee valley, around Chattanooga and in Lookout valley, where the troops were mastering for attack upon Mis- sionary ridge.
 The account of Rockers achieve ment which Grant finally placed upon