Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1912-05-17

MISSIONARY RIDGE"
The Story Of missionary Ridge" by
Private Who Was There.
[Times-Dispatch, April %, 1921
Bon Air. Va. June 26. 1911,

My Dear M. and L.
This is written at Bon Air, but If
you crafty me by replying, which
hope you will do, you mus9 address
1907 w. Grace ST., Richmond, Va"
For l leave for "a trip in few days.
and all letters will be forwarded from
there. l haye chosen this paper, for |
| am going to attempt account of !
Chickamauga' and Missionary
Ridge battles, in return for the COM
pliment paid me in sending from there
those valued cards, and In thinking
of me while there. Sickness and much
affection prevented a prompter &C.
acknowledgements, and sickness or rather
weakness will prevent my finishing
this letter at one sitting. You will
pardon therefore the slowness or de-
lay in its reaching you.
"Chickamauga, one of the fiercest,
bloodiest battles of the war compare
list Of casualties or with any of Ma
poleon's battles or with any of Lee's)
was fought September 10 and 20, 1868.
1t was magnificent victory for our
army, complete rout for the
Yankee" in which they were saved
from destruction or capture, only
through the timidity of Bragg, our
leader. Forest, our chief of cavalry,
implored Bragg to 'follow them up"
Bragg refused; yet 5000 fresh rein
forcements came to him just after the
enemy broke and turned to fly. On
such things the fate of armies, ma
tons and the coloring of the future
often depend. The armies were about
equally matched; the Federal some
what in the majority.
tMissionary Ridge" one OF the
most disgracetul and complete routes
southern arms ever sustained was
fought just two months after (Novem-
Der % aud 26, '63, by the same south
ern army that so completely defeated
the Yankees at Chickalnauga
How can such astonishing paradox
be sustained or explained?
The explanation. after all, is simple,
although made up of several elements:
First, it was the ''sickly season." and
| the bulk or large part Of our army
spent those intervening 1.-TWO months"
in the swampy bottom" of the Chick
manga River, one of the crookedest
Of streams, making miles of bottom
land" which heavy rains could con-
vert into vast mOrass or quagmire.
This, in fact, happened. Heavy rains
came on US, making sickness worse,
making roads impossible, cutting off
supplies of every kind from US, and
reducing US by November Is aud Is to
an army of half-sick (even those fit
for duty"), half-starved, half-clothed
men, our ranks thinned by the thou
sands under medical care. To put
this picture markedly before you, take
one fact, well known at the time, and
i fact l can take my oath on, for
saw it myself, Incredible as it may
/ seem to you. Just as you draw near
t. our bivouac 1--WE had no tents or
shelter save "booths'' of tree branches
and few little "fy" tents) in the
middle of the main road (which was q
lake Of mud fifty or sixty feet or more
wide), long stake stuck up, with
board sign on it. On the board writ
ten. "Mule underneath heren' A mule
had actually sunk out of sight in the
! mud at that spot. l saw that myself.
Imagine then, if you can, the state
of all the camps throughout that vast
bog; and the condition of the men af-
ter two months. The wonder is that
there was any fight at all left in US.
Confirmation of the sickness OF
"Chicamauga bottom" came in the
Spa nish- American War;" when even
at that late day, the ''camp of instrac-
ton" established there, became one
vast hospital.
Why didn't we camp on Mission
Ridge lat the foot of which We lay?
Answers are many; one is sufficient.
There was no water.
An army must have water, and
nearby, and plenty Of it. A few mex
| were up there all the time, and when
Bragg four leader) was compelled to
change from the offensive" to the
ID defensive" he towards the end OF
the two months threw up slight
breastwork of logs, rails, etc., here
and there along the top OF the ridge,
aud put his half-sick, disg listed and
demoralized army behind these shabby
defences; that is, he put what was left
OF his army behind them! And this
brings me to reason No. 2 for our de-
feat, namely, General Bragg COM
mitted the fatal and astounding blum
der of weakening his already much
reduced force, by sickness, etc.,,
Weakening it by sending nearly one.
half thereof, under General Long
street, far away, up to Knoxville, to
invest and capture that place; did this,
in the face of the ever increasing num-
Der of the enemy (which he must have
known off, and in the face also that
his position on Missionary Ridge and
Lookout Mountain was tenable
save by LARGE army. This is seen
easily by any one familiar with the
ground. For instance, the distance
to be defended WIS ast. Lookout
Mountaie itself separated from Mis-
sionary Ridge by wide valley hall
mile or so wide can easily be turn
ed Il. e., taken from the rear), unless
held by men enough to meet attack
from all points of its great area. And
when taken" 1t ''enfilades" the
Ridge, ''commsnding" it entirely ,and
al SO the valley between il and the