concealed "by Hooker’s corps of the Army of. Cumberland, which corps, forming Thomas’s^Sht, marching from Ringgold via Niekajack Gapan <l Trickum, hid the flank movement of McPher-s °n. r phe plan was for Hooker to seize Dug Gapaa d push forward sufficiently to protect the flankMcPherson, and strike the flank of Johnston ife turned on McPherson; while McPherson,^arching through Snake Creek Gap to Eesaca,Should not only destroy but hold the only railroadl butary to Johnston. The possession of Dug Gapy Hooker not only would render Dalton untenable,ut Would make a retreat from Dalton by the line of6 railroad extremely hazardous, and completely^ctect McPherson from attack on his left flank.
1 Hooker descending from Rocky-face on ourTli ® ail k and rear, McPherson holding Kesaca,phobias, with the corps of Howard and Palmer,^ as hing to Dalton , and Schofield to his left, our
Jhy would have been in a perilous situation.
he march of Hooker and McPherson was dis-Ve red early on the morning of May 8th by theinf U ^ 8 Kentucky Cavalry, and timely
° r *nation was given that at least an attack ona 8 Gap was certain, and that the columns on the°h were very heavy and their movements weredp r< * e< ^ hy forces too large to be either resisted orVe loped by the detachments sent out by the 9thQ^htucky. On this information the remainder ofre ^f^’ 8 brigade was ordered to Dug Gap, and^ e ° ae d there none too soon. All possible delay to
2 hiarch of Hooker’s corps was made, but about
Geary’s division of that corps drove theKentucky across the creek and slowly up theutain-side, until the regiment fell back in itsBad 61 Position in the gap, where it found the bri-°f tt ^ lawa i 11 mere skirmish-line along the edgemountain-side. As one-fourth of cavalry
g^-1,. AS UIit!*lUUllll UJL UtbYctiJU^
lers a re detailed to hold the horses, I presumeand ^ 800 of our brigade in the fight
250 Arkansas troops; and this handful ofag i that gap until nightfall, repelling everyr e j. r u b- After nightfall Granbur.y’s Texas brigade
fail 6 ?? UR > but the assault was over. Hooker had0ll „ ed bi his part of the mission. That flank ofwas safe.
f 6g . ® importance of holding that gap was somani-s taff, ^nerals Hardee and Cleburne, with theirthej]?’ ^boped to the scene to encourage us bysug presence and to aid Colonel Grigsby by theird ej .?? st .i° u s; and though the fight was made un-U, 6 teir e ye, that command needed no encourage-h 0 jj.’ an( i its officers and men knew that they wereI ®" e t ' 1G ( i°°rs to Dalton .
G eai !° ^ * n my hand the official report of General^ by whom that attack was made, and on thelu; st ® lt i® a fair and soldierly report. But he istr e]le j ei1 m his belief that we had two lines of in-fir^ or that wo wmre ever driven from our
a a( j position. Our loss was very small — in killedhiade ?, Un< ^ e< i n °t a score. He reports that hean<d . tha t attack with two brigades of infantry45oo WO batteries, being an aggregate of pex-liapstejj eg tneri ) or about four to one, besides the bat-o’ e ; 0 1 Assault after assault was made from 3until after dark, and each assault was re-
279
pulsed with loss. At first, in a mere spirit of exuber-ant fun, some of the men rolled stones down themountain-side; but when the effect was noticedthey were directed to use these means as part ofour defense ; great stones were rolled down on thesupporting lines on the mountain-sides or at itsfoot; and as these bowlders would go leaping,crashing, breaking off limbs, crushing down sap-lings, we fancied we could see the effect of theunexpected missiles. It also proved a valuableresource to us, for without them our ammunitionwould have given out; indeed it was about ex-hausted when the attack ceased.
General Geary reports an aggregate loss of 357officers and men, of whom some 50 were the ad-venturous advance, who actually reached the crest,only to be made prisoners. After dark our bri-gade, being relieved by the Texas brigade of Grau-bury, was ordered to the foot of the mountain tofeed and to obtain ammunition.
While this attack had been going on, McPher-son had steadily marched toward Snake CreekGap, to protect which no steps had been taken.Undoubtedly if a cavalry force had been startedto ’Snake Creek Gap at the moment Grigsbywas ordered to Dug Gap, it would have reachedthere before McPherson, and held it during thenight of the 8th, during which time infantry sup-port could have reached there. I do not wish tobe understood as offering any criticism on thesefacts; I am merely stating the facts as I believethem to be. Why these gaps were left unguarded,why a prompt effort was not made to hold SnakeCreek Gap, I neither pretend to know nor ventureto guess ; nor do I offer any criticism. That theywere not guarded, and that this gave Sherman theeasy means of causing the evacuation of Dalton and the retreat to Resaca, is undoubtedly true.That we could have held Dalton or made an attackon Sherman if these gaps had been held is a prob-lem over which military men may differ. Whatevermay have been the reason or cause, the fact is thatthe provision made to hold Snake Creek Gap wasan order to Grigsby during the night of the 8thto move his brigade to its mouth. The 9th Ken-tucky had been on duty continuously for overtwenty-four hours ; the whole brigade for overtwelve hours, and under fire all the afternoon.But with cheerful alacrity the command began itsmarch as soon as it could feed, after being relievedby Granbury—possibly about 10 o’clock. Thenight was dark, the road rough and unfamiliar,and it was difficult to find guides. But just at dawnwe came in sight of the eastern mouth of the gap,and, contrary to our information, found it in pos-session of the enemy. Colonel Grigsby had beeninformed that a company of Georgia troops w'ason picket on the road to the gap, and at or near itseastern outlet. We had not seen that company,and Colonel Grigsby naturally concluded that thetroops we saw a few hundred yards before us werethose. The usual confusion of an all-niglit marchand the halt of the head of the column had jammedthe different organizations somewhat together in anarrow lane. The advanced vidette reported thetroops to be Federals. Colonel Grigsby, still sup-