The National tribune., 1907-01-03

With deatn 10 BraSS Sserried noStS, TN
woods were green.wih september's full
ness and the brjghtssun burned in {
drouthy sky SiEe-4ien had come Oc
teber's chill raihs Eovember's bitini
frosts, and sorro4ing nature ha'
the scars left be the fierce wrath o
man. Mingled with the wrecks AM
| debris of the battle were the broke,
and abandoned wagons and caissons
| exhausted horses and mules and cast
away arms and c1othfi1g of the Confed
crates fleeing from the rout of Mission
Ridge. Every step of the pursuers mus
recollections The Lafayette road hat
| been the battles fiery heart during
those two mortal days. Every rod o.
it was consecrated by a brave man:
life given for his country. Far to the
right. toward Lee & Gordon's Mills
had been the awful tumult when Long.
street hurled his mass of 10000 mer
thru McCook's then disorganiZed lines
There the chivalric Lytle and the
Viking Heg had fallen. On the
Kelley field Wood had taken revenge
for his rout, with Harker's Brigade
pouring a tempest of fire into the faces
of the swarming victors,- which laid
Hood low and took all the fight out OF
them for the rest of the day. To the
left were the rude log barricades and
the trampIed crest of Snodgrass Hill
where the lion-hearted Thorn stood ali
that long Sunday afternoon with Rey-
nolds, Palmer, Johnson, Baird, Wood
Granger and Steedman, where Long
street, Hill, Breckenridge, Cheatham
and Cleburne had dashed out their
mems blood like spray upon the rocks
in fruitless beating upon the firm
standing men of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
IT. i ,.al-r, T1,r
thin covering of earth thrown upon the
hastily buried dead had been shrunken
by the Fall rains about the moldering
forms until they looked like clay eff
gies of the slain. So recently had the
dead fallen, and 30 palpable was the
field still with their presence. that it
seemed they must be yet near. some
where, the Confederates to bewail the
failure of all for which they had died,
the Union soldiers to exult over the
complete triumph of their cause.
The Army Had Done It's Work.
On the sky-bearing crest of Mission
Ridge the Army of the Cumberland
ended the special work for which i.
had been created, in a sunburst of glory.
Farseeing Gen. Winfield Scott. in his
first comprehensive plan of the war,
proposed the formation at Xenia. o., of
capture Chattanooga, the great interior
gateway of the South. Military men on
both sides regarded the possession Of
this portal of the mountains as vital to
the existence of the Southern COnfed-
eracy. If 1t could be held the Confed-
eracy could be established; If wrested
away the Confederacy was doomed.
The swift rush of events did not per-
nit the deliberate organization of the
vybfp lob n1a
Army of the Cumberland was born in
the presence OF the enemy, and grew
in size and strength in graphing with
him. /. learned the Sart of war by
making war, and to beat the enemy by
beating him. 1t began It's history by
electrifying the countrys Winter OF de-
spondency with brilliant little vic
tory-the first success, Of equal num-
bers on an open field Thenceforward
wherever its banners led was stalwart,
heroic breast-to-breast' fighting, with
the Army of the Cumberland marching
upon its enemy and giving its
dearest blood as the price OF victory.
At Mill Springs the army received It's
first battle lesson. and was stamped
with the character it was ever after to
display. Gen. Thomas imprest his own
traits upon l.. No impressive pomp. no
gaudy display. no cOunding proclamation,
but steadfast, infiexible purpose, as
irresistible as the current of the mighty
rivers over which 1t campaigned. 1t
had marched weary leagues thru Win
ter storms. the rain and the mud, to
meet its enemy, and then, face to face,
and man to man, it had beaten him
into rout by sheer force Of heavier
blows. Buell. gave 1t perfect organiza
ton and discipline. and Rosecrans
taught i. strategy, but from first to last
it was dominated by Thomas's spirit,
that of getting into arms length Of the
enemy and crushing him by main
and superior determination.
Thus i. had driven the Confederates
from their dearly purchased ground at
Shiloh, it had withstood Bragg's tenn
pestuous attack at Perryville, It had
wrested victory from bloody defeat at
Stone River, 4. had foiled Bragg's over
powering masses at Chickamauga, and
finally routed him from his impregnabi
position on Mission Ridge.
The army was almost wholly made
up of the sons of the hardy pioneers
who had taken the ak and plow into
Michigan, Ohio. Indiana. Illinois and
and built up great States of
fertile farms and homes ruled by thrift,
industry and the love of God. The for
eigners were Irish, Germans, Scotch
and Scandinavians, Of the same stamp
as the native born, and who had lived
their lives with them. Farm-bred,
youths when they enlisted,
as ignorant of war as of Egyp. Ian HERO
glyphics, they speedily developt into
the superior of which the
world has never seen.
ImperishabIe Glory.
The military history of the world
blazes with brilliant charges. A charge
is something fascinating in the highest
degree to the mind. 1t is the las. and
fullest expression Of the drill, disci-
pline, courage and spirit of troops. It
Is all the vast human force concentrated
Since the dim, remote days when or
themselves upon each other, there has
never been such a charge as that of the
Army of the Cumberland upon Mission
Ridge. Never did so great q mass of
brave and more determined men storm
such obstacles to beat another SO great
a mass of brave and determined foes
into utter rou..
The most famous of the charges of
the Napoleonic wars was that made by
Marshal Macdonald at Wagram with
Ii 900 men, which pierced the Austrian
center. won the victory, and made Mac
Donald a Prince of the Empire. That
only moved few hundred yards, over
easy ground, and agaiffst foemen who
were in the habit Of being whipped.
Popular Imagination has fastened upon
Picketts charge at Gettysburg as the
acme of American valor. Pickett had
from $1,000 to $4,000 men, who moved