The National tribune., 1905-12-28
AROUND CHATTANOOGA.
George Thomas the Rock of Chckamauga-Ger Rose
cans the Master Straegs-The Armies Of the Cumberland and
the Tennessee.
By c. W. BARNES, 5th Wis. Battery, Waupaca Wis.

of the rebellion that they will for al
ages to come Withstand the tooth OF
time, and the assaults of the ignorant
the envious and the bigoted. Among
these certain, fixed things / reckon the
brilliant and unclouded fame of Gen
George H. Thomas, 1.-The Rock OF
Chickamauga," which to-day rests upor
q pedestal too firmly grounded for any
thing we may now say TO eltnel
strengthen or shake. And yet how peri
lousy near he came, because or the IN
clement weather and the unwarranteo
impatience of his superiors, to the loss
of the browning glory of his military
career, his victory over Hood at NaSn-
vile, which competent critics aver t6
have been the most complete OF any OF
the war.
Thomas was the Chevalier Bayard OF
our entire army, 1.-The man without fear
and without reproach,' and that Grant
speaks of him as he does in his Memoirs
Is to be deplored, as we'll as wondered
at. And the wonder is the greater, tC
any unbiased reader, IL conversant with
the military situation that obtained a,
Chattanooga on Nov. z. 1868, that such
an order was given, the result of obe-
dience to which is SO easy to forecast.
The pathetic note that Maj. Byers
thinks he sees in the Memoirs referred
to, at this point, would not, OF course
be there, but We would have in its place
truly written, appear much like the true
accounts of those ill-advised assaults
upon the works at VickSburg, and
honor more the superior wisdom and
GOODNESS of the sturdy and humane old
warrior who could and would, even al
the risk of his own place and fame, 1g-
more the order in question. Thomas
could well see that the certain repulse
OF an ill-timed and hopeless attack upon
Bragg could in no way aid Burnside, or
go far toward allaying the needlessly
nervous feeling of the country, and he
should be held in greater esteem for
that timely disobedience than for the
victories he won.
The Army of the Cumberland had
but $1,000 electives at Chickamauga
and having 1900 of that number
placed hors de combat in that encoun-
ter, as 1 believe it did, could not mus
ter man more than 10000, with scant
ammunition and few horses with which
to handle guns, and they to go out
against an intrenched enemy, of which
3. F. Taylor, in writing for the Chicago
Tribune, had a few days before said
100000 seasoned men will not exhaust
the rebel roll" Taylor may have cred
bly,; but even then the odds would make
further comment on this subject unnec-
essary
Before I pass to some of the many
Inaccuracies that / notice in Maj
Byerss recent article in The National
Tribune, entitled Wars Mighty Cost, -
/ wish to say few words about the
Army of the Cumberland and it's COM
mander, the man who about the mid
die of October, 1862, took from the
hands of Don Carlos Buell. what I re-
member to have been in greater part
an undisciplined, mutinous mob, a large
number of the members of which were
Wit N no
of few short weeks transformed that
mob into the magnificent fighting ma
chine called the Army of the Cumber-
land, with which at the close of that
year the battle of Stone River was
fought and won. 1t may be news even
to-day to many who are fond of belit-
thing Rosecrans, that he moved against
Bragg at the earliest possible moment
for him to move, with even chances of
success, and that when at the council
called the night before every one of his
Generals opposed the movement, and
with $4,000 men he ousted Bragg with
$4,000 men from his chosen position.
Rosecrans's Magnificent Strategy.
1t was Rosecrans's magnificent STRAIT
egg that played iagg out of invincible
TullahOma, point SO strongly fortified
that double our numbers could not have
taken it by direct assault. He hurried
the rebels out of Shelbyville, across
Duck River, over the Cumberland
Range, and to the other side of the
Tennessee; all that with insignificant
loss to ourselves. in spite of the rain
that began to fall before the movement
was fairly begun, and that continued
until ii was concluded, on the 18th day
We had to march night and day through
mud more than ankle deep in many
places, and men fell asleep at every
halt that was made, some even sleep
ing as they walked. After a brief res,
the Tennessee was crossed I'm face OF
the enemy, and he was forced over and
beyond the Raccoon and Lookout
Ranges and into Georgia. Then, with
Chattanooga in our possession, it wa.
time to call a halt, strengthen and make
ourselves sure of what was i'm our hands
and reinforce before a further advance
But not so thought the man at Wash.
ington, whose former policy had been
80 far as ii could, to hold back the Gen.
eral in the field at times when an ad-
vance ought to be made, now, with
purblind perversity. not taking into ac
count Observation-Disclosures and awak.
ened South, thought Atlanta in easy
reach, and ordered the army forward
At that time the dullest private ir
the army knew that trouble was immi-
ment, and j, though in the midst OF
tried and true comrades, felt more than
Lonesome, for i knew we lacked mum.
Ders Tor the work cut out for US.
1t has been said that Halleck, in re.
ply to a remonstrance against the fur.
ther advance at that time, said to Rose.
Grams, Go on, and i will reinforc.
YOU" To which Rosecrans replied, 81
will go on, then, trusting i'm God, bu
not in reinfOrcements." The logical re.
suit of obedience to that ORDER "Chicka.
mauga, came soon. and IT, but for the
error of one other than the General oil
the Army, would have different SOUND
TO Northern ears, for ii is not too much
TO assume that as the fiercest onsets OF
the rebel hordes upon our lines were
steadily repealed, often as they were
made, before the fatal gap in the line
was left open for them. that they could
not have broken the lines at all ha(
they been well joined before the figh
began. This is no extrayagant claim tc
put forward, when we consider tha
Thomas, with less than the center ant
left wing, withstood their fierce and re-
pcated efforts to overwhelm him, wher
they were flushed with their success In
powdering up the isolated right wing
and he offered them the battle all day
on Monday that they We're not I'm condi
tion &c accept, retiring to the city tn.
DAY after at his leisure.
II was on that field where both side
hurriedly threw together such object
as were at hand, such things as rails