THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND AT CHATTANOOGA.

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almost entirely cleared. At the foot of the ridgewere heavy rifle-pits, which could be seen fromOrchard Knob, and extending in front of them, forfour and five hundred yards, the ground was cov-ered with felled trees. There was a good plain forboth direct and enfilading fire from the rifle-pits,and the approaches were commanded by the en-emy’s artillery. At this point the ridge is five orsix hundred feet high. Its side, scored with gul-lies and showing but little timber, had a roughand bare appearance. Half-way up was anotherline of rifle-pits, and the summit was furrowedwith additional lines and dotted over with epaule-ments, in which were placed fifty pieces of artil-lery. Directly in front of Orchard Knob, and ontho summit of the ridge, in a small house, wasBragg’s headquarters.

At twenty minutes before four the signal-gunswere fired. Suddenly twenty thousand men rushedforward, moving in line of battle by brigades, witha double line of skirmishers in front, and closely fol-lowed by the reserves in mass. The big siege-gunsin the Chattanooga forts roared above the lightartillery and musketry in the valley. The enemy’srifle-pits were ablaze, and the whole ridge in ourfront had broken out like another H3tna. Notmany minutes afterward our men were seen work-ing through the felled trees and other obstructions.Though exposed to such a terrific fire, they neitherfell back nor halted. By a bold and desperate pushthey broke through the works in several placesand opened flank and reverse fires. The enemywas thrown into confusion, and took precipitateflight up the ridge. Many prisoners and a largenumber of small-arms were captured. The orderof the commanding general had now been fullyand most successfully carried out. But it did notgo far enough to satisfy these brave men, whothought the time had come to finish the battle ofChickamauga . There was a halt of but a fewminutes, to take breath and to re-form lines; then,with a sudden impulse, and without orders, allstarted up the ridge. Officers, catching their spirit,first followed, then led. There was no thought ofsupports or of protecting flanks, though the enemy’sline could be seen, stretching on either side. 4.

As soon as this movement was seen from OrchardKnob, Grant quickly turned to Thomas, who stoodby his side, and I heard him say angrily: “ Thomas,who ordered those men up the ridge?” Thomasreplied, in his usual slow, quiet manner: “I don’tknow; I did not.” Then, addressing General Gor-don Granger, he said, “Did you order them up,Granger?” “No,” said Granger; “they startedup without orders. When those fellows get startedall hell can’t stop them.” General Grant said some-thing to the effect that somebody would suffer if itdid not turn out well, and then, turning, stoicallywatched the ridge. He gave no further orders.

As soon as Granger had replied to Thomas, heturned to me, his chief-of-staff, and said: “Ride

4 The Confederate line from right to left on the ridgewas as follows : Hardee’s corps on the right, Cleburne’sdivision confronting Sherman; Stevenson and Cheathamcame next, the latter joining on Breckinridge’s corps,which occupied the slope of the ridge, with outposts in

at once to Wood, and then to Sheridan, and askthem if they ordered their men up tho ridge, andtell them, if they can take it, to push ahead.” AsI was mounting, Granger added: “ It is hotover there, and you may not get through. Ishall send Captain Avery to Sheridan, and otherofficers after both of you.” As fast as my horsecould carry me, I rode first to General Wood, anddelivered the message. “I didn’t order them up,”said Wood; “ they started up on their own account,and they are going up, too! Tell Granger, if weare supported, we will take and hold the ridge ! ”As soon as I reached General Wood, Captain Averygot to General Sheridan, and delivered his mes-sage. “I didn’t order them up,” said Sheridan;“but we are going to take the ridge!” He thenasked Avery for his flask and waved it at a groupof Confederate officers, standing just in front ofBragg’s headquarters, with the salutation, “ Here’sat you!” At once two guns — the “ Lady Breckin-ridge” and the “Lady Buckner” — in front ofBragg’s headquarters were fired at Sheridan andthe group of officer's about him. One shell struckso near as to throw dirt over Sheridan and Avery.“Ah!” said the general, “that is ungenerous; Ishall take those guns for that! ” Before Sheridanreceived the message taken by Captain Avery,he had sent a staff-officer to Granger, to inquirewhether “the order given to take the rifle-pitsmeant the rifle-pits at the base, or those on thetop of the ridge.” Granger told this officer that“the order given was to take those at the base.”Conceiving this to be an order to fall back, theofficer, on his way to Sheridan, gave it to GeneralWagner, commanding the Second Brigade of thedivision, which was then nearly half-way up theridge. Wagner ordered his brigade back to therifle-pits at the base, but it only remained there tillSheridan, seeing the mistake, ordered it forward.It again advanced under a terrific fire.

The men, fighting and climbing up the steephill, sought the roads, ravines, and less ruggedparts. The ground was so broken that it was im-possible to keep a regular line of battle. At timestheir movements were in shape like the flight ofmigratory birds — sometimes in line, sometimes inmass, mostly in Y-shaped groups, with the pointstoward the enemy. At these points regimentalflags were flying, sometimes drooping as thebearers were shot, but never reaching the ground,for other brave hands were there to seize them.Sixty flags were advancing up the hill. Bragg washurrying large bodies of men from his right to thecenter. They could be seen hastening along theridge. Cheatham’s division was being withdrawnfrom Sherman’s front. Bragg and Hardee wereat the center, urging their men to stand firmand drive back the advancing enemy, now so nearthe summit — indeed, so near that the guns, whichcould not be sufficiently depressed to reach them,became useless. Artillerymen were lighting the

trenches at the foot of the slope. Breckinridge’s owndivision, under General Bate, was in the center, in frontof Truman’s house, Bragg’s headquarters. [See map, p.686.] Stewart’s division, deployed, formed the left ofthe line.— Editors.