The National tribune., 1906-11-29
THE ENEMYs STUBBORN STAND AT THE CRAVEN HOUSE

THE ENEMY'S STUBBORN ST
vance was given. The troops moved
out of their intrenchments just before
! o'clock, and remained in line for
three-quarters of an hour, in full view
of the enemy. At last, everything be-
ing ready, Granger gave the order to
advance, and HaZen and Which pushed
out simultaneously. The first shot was
fred at o'clock, and in five minutes
HaZen's skirmishers were briSkly en-
gagged. while the artillery of Forts
Wood and Thomas was opened upon
the rebel rifle pits and camps behind
the line of fighting. The practice of
our gunners was splendid, the camps
and batteries of the enemy being about
mile and three-quarters distant, but
elected no reply. and it was soon evil
dent that the rebels had no heavy ar
tillery in that part of their lines at
least. Our troops. rapidly advancing as
steadily as if on parade, occupied the
knobs upon which they were directed
at 20 minutes past 2. Ten minutes
later Willich, driving forward across an
open field, carried the, rifle pits in his
front, whose occupants fled as they fired
their last volley, and Sheridan, moving
thru the forest which stretched before
dloNt liz ihc tbeuiy DithtlS anu
halted his advance, in obedience to or
ders, on reaching the rifle pits, where
the rebel force was waiting for his at.
tack. No such attack was made, how.
ever the design being to secure ths
nights on our left but not to assault
the rebel works. We have taken about
200 prisoners. mostly Alabama troops
and have gained a position of great
Importance. should the rebels still at
nj tn hnr ha n
as with these nights in our possession
n column marching to turn Missionary
Ridge Is secure from flank attack. The
rebels fired three small guns only dur
ing the affair, and this tends to confirm
the impression that they have with
drawn their main force. Prisoners who
have been examined say that they be-
long to Hindman's Division, and know
nothing of any general evacuation.
Troops withdrawn have been sent to
Knoxville. they say. Our losses not yet
sscertained.
"She1 nan wrote Grant this morning
expressing his sorrow and modification
at the failure of his forces to get up.
1t seems that Blair reported his whole
command at Stevenson before they had
really arrived which led Sherman to
make erroneous calculations. But the
fault of marching with trains Sherman
attributes to himself, Grants orders
that he should get all his troops here
before Friday night having been posi-
tive. and it was his own duty to see
that nothing hindered his arrival. Clear.
&C. A. Dana.
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War"
Another Spectacular Event.
The striking pageant eliminating in
the seizure of Orchard Knob was fol-
lowed the next day by another event
of even more spectacular impressive
ness. In pursuance of Gen. Grants
orders, Gen. Hooker had begun a
movement of his force across the river
right of the Army OF the Cumberland
at Chattanooga, and advance thence
upon Bragg's left. The Eleventh Corps
had already made both crossings and
reached Chattanooga when the river,
booming under the heavy rains, swept
away the pontoons at Browns Ferry so
that the bridge could not be readily
restored This left on that side of the
river Geary's Division of the Twelfth
Corps, Osterhaus's Division of the FiG-
teenth Corps, which was prevented
from joining Sherman, and part of
Crufts Division of the Fourth Corps.
All of these came rather unexpectedly
under the command of Gen. Hooker
and gave him altogether seven bri-
gades. with about 10000 effectives.
Gen. Thomas attached more importance
to the capture of Lookout Mountain
than did Gen. Grant, and at last OBJ
tanned from the latter permission to
order Hooker to make, if circumstances
favored. a serious attack instead of a
demonstration, as he had been in
structed. This was a departure from
Grants first plan, but it seemed the
best thing to do. since Hooker could
not cross the river in.time to carry out
his original order and make the at
tack on Rossville in conjunction with
Sherman's attack upon Bragg's right.
Quite unaccountably, in the face or
what had happened and was threaten
ing, Bragg kept Walthal's Brigade ami
some other troops on the west of Look
out Mountain. holding the line of in
trenchments along Lookout Creek. He
also kept the other two brigades Of
Stevenson's Division on the summit of!
Lookout Mountain, where they were ofI
no use whatever, and could only act|
as spectators of the grand movementsl
and incidents happening thousands OIL
feet below them The only way thatl
they could get down from this emil
nence was by the ,zigZag road running
down the east side. of the mountain and
crossing Chattanooga Creek short
distance from the Federal line Afterl
the departure of Longstreet Cheathaml
was In command of this portion of the
line, and besides Stevenson's Division
he had under him Jackson's and Walk
er's, which occupied the nose of the
mountain and the banks of Chatta-
nooga Creek. Thence thin line ranI
across Chattanooga Valley to where
Bragg had the rest of his army massed
along the crest of and foot of Mission
Ridge, from ROssville to the railroad
tunnel six miles to the northeast Or
dinary military prudence would seem
to have suggested to Bragg that the
offensive demonstration of Nov. 23 de- |
manded his quickest and strongest con-
centration. and that he should lose no
time In bringing his three divisions
back to his main line Stevenson,
watching Hooker's every movement
from his post of observation on the
crest of Lookout Mountain, became GER
tain that an attack was intended, andl