The National tribune., 1906-10-11

ear Of the Union army had been driven
from the field In hopeless rout- From
yIniard's Field to Snodgrass Hill all
that was left OF 1t were his trophies
Thousands II prisoners. scores OF can
n,n. ghast,y rows Of dead. wounded
miles Of wagons.
Two miles away to the left Thomas's
guns were still laundering in what
seemed to Longstreet hopeless obStt-
, macy. That remnant Of the army
which had with difficulty withstood the
assaults of Pofk's right wing could not
expect to maintain Itself against the
United Confederate army. flushed with
It's recent success.
: Longstreet at once began reorganiz-
ing his broken battalions-shattered by
success as we'll as by the fierce resist
complete the victory. Bragg had aban-
doned the field. like Rosecrans. believ-
/ ing the battle lost, and left It's direction
to his suberdinates. II was a queer
coincidence for both chiefs to believe
themselves beaten, and resign the clos
iEg Of the contest to their lieutenants.
On both sides, the fighting blood OF
these was up. and they were bent upon
settling the issue by hard, relentless
hammering. Thomas's position could
have been easily made untenable by a
wide sweep around either Of his un-
guarded f1anks. But Longstreet. Polk
and Hill could think of nothing but
crushing, sledgehammer blows directly
! at his front. Thomas received orders
from Rosecrans to fall back to Mission
Ridge, at McFarland's and Ross Gaps,
but he was too good a soldier to fall
back under pressure. He would not
fall back until he had beaten all the
aggressiveness out of his assailants. SO
that his retreat would be orderly and
unmolested.
The Snodgrnss Ridge.
Snodgrass Ridge, Or Horseshoe Ridge,
as II Is variously called, is one Of the
foothills Of Mission Ridge. and some
two and a half miles from McFarland's s
Gap and six from Ross Gap. The
ridge is about 100 feet lower than Mis-
sion Ridge. and 12o feet higher than
the ground in front The toe of the
Lafayette road. and the left curve points
toward the northeast. and ends about a
half mile from the center and rear OF
the barricade where Baird, Palmer
johnson and Reynolds were defending
the Union left, east OF the Lafayette
Road. The right curve points north
west toward the Dry Valley Road. and
branch t. the Fiditoe House. On the
northeast curve. near its end. stood the
Snedgrass cabin. with its rude outbuild.
tngs. Beyond were open fields and a
tolerably level country. traverssd by the
La Fayette Road and by-roads. One
mile and third from the Snodgrass
House TO the northeast was the Nc
Donald II ouse, on the La Fayette Road
The southern slope of the ridge. to-
ward the enemy. was in places easy OF
ascent and in others rough and diff
cult At the beginning 1t was heavily
covered with bushes and underground
but this was soon shot away by the
fierce firing. The northern slope wa,
open, and much of II cultivated, being
part Of the Snodgrass fields.
Upon receiving Capt. Kellogg's re.
port that he had been fired on by forces
advancing from the direction in which
Sheridan was expected. Gen. Thomas
had ridden forward anxiously to deter
mine the meaning Of this. and me,
Wood. who told him that he had been
ordered to close up on Reynolds. and
support him. Thomas answered tha,
Reynolds was doing very well and no,
needing support. but to send the bri-
gade that was with him-Barnes's-to
the left TO help Baird. Gen Thomas
then learned of the sweeping disaster
on the right. and that Brannan had
been forced out of position to the rear
He thereupon ordered Brannan to take
up position on the Horseshoe Ridge
and for Wood to form on his left This
was the position Thomas had ordered
Negley to take. This extended Bran
ans line from the Snodgrass House 70
crest to the south near the gorge, and
Wood formed along the open crest fror,
the Snodgrass barn to the woods
Longstreet's Movements.
Longstreet had much trouble in re-
forming his command. and was still