Hearts Touched by Fire

by Harold Holzer

  But that indomitable Virginia soldier, George H. Thomas,18 was there and was destined to save the Union army from total rout and ruin, by confronting with invincible pluck the forces of his friend and captain in the Mexican war. Thomas had ridden to his right to hurry up reënforcements, when he discovered a line advancing, which he thought at first was the expected succor from Sheridan, but he soon heard that it was a rebel column marching upon him. He chose a strong position on a spur of Missionary Ridge, running east and west, placed upon it Brannan’s division with portions of two brigades of Negley’s; Wood’s division (Crittenden’s) was placed on Brannan’s left. These troops, with such as could be rallied from the two broken corps, were all he had to confront the forces of Longstreet, until Steedman’s division of Granger’s corps came to his relief about 3 P.M. Well and nobly did Thomas and his gallant troops hold their own against foes flushed with past victory and confident of future success. His new line was nearly at right angles with the line of log-works on the west side of the Rossville road, his right being an almost impregnable wall-like hill, his left nearly an inclosed fortification. Our only hope of success was to get in his rear by moving far to our right, which overlapped the Federal left.

  Bushrod Johnson’s three brigades in Longstreet’s center were the first to fill the gap left by Wood’s withdrawal from the Federal right; but the other five brigades under Hindman and Kershaw moved promptly into line as soon as space could be found for them, wheeled to the right, and engaged in the murderous flank attack. On they rushed, shouting, yelling, running over batteries, capturing trains, taking prisoners, seizing the headquarters of the Federal commander, at the Widow Glenn’s, until they found themselves facing the new Federal line on Snodgrass Hill. Hindman had advanced a little later than the center, and had met great and immediate success. The brigades of Deas and Manigault charged the breastworks at double-quick, rushed over them, drove Laiboldt’s Federal brigade of Sheridan’s division off the field down the Rossville road; then General Patton Anderson’s brigade of Hindman, having come into line, attacked and beat back the forces of Davis, Sheridan, and Wilder19 in their front, killed the hero and poet General Lytle, took 1100 prisoners, 27 pieces of artillery, commissary and ordnance trains, etc. Finding no more resistance on his front and left, Hindman wheeled to the right to assist the forces of the center. The divisions of Stewart, Hood, Bushrod Johnson, and Hindman came together in front of the new stronghold of the Federals. [See map, this page.]

  It was now 2:30 P.M. Longstreet, with his staff, was lunching on sweet-potatoes. A message came just then that the commanding general wished to see him. He found Bragg in rear of his lines, told him of the steady and satisfactory progress of the battle, that sixty pieces of artillery had been reported captured (though probably the number was over-estimated), that many prisoners and stores had been taken, and that all was going well. He then asked for additional troops to hold the ground gained, while he pursued the two broken corps down the Dry Valley road and cut off the retreat of Thomas. Bragg replied that there was no more fight in the troops of Polk’s wing, that he could give Longstreet no reënforcements, and that his headquarters would be at Reed’s Bridge. He seems not to have known that Cheatham’s division and part of Liddell’s had not been in action that day.20

  Some of the severest fighting had yet to be done after 3 P.M. It probably never happened before for a great battle to be fought to its bloody conclusion with the commanders of each side away from the field of conflict. But the Federals were in the hands of the indomitable Thomas, and the Confederates were under their two heroic wing commanders Longstreet and Polk. In the lull of the strife I went with a staff-officer to examine the ground on our left. One of Helm’s wounded men had been overlooked, and was lying alone in the woods, his head partly supported by a tree. He was shockingly injured.21

  Hindman and Bushrod Johnson organized a column of attack upon the front and rear of the stronghold of Thomas. It consisted of the brigades of Deas, Manigault, Gregg, Patton, Anderson, and McNair. Three of the brigades, Johnson says, had each but five hundred men, and the other two were not strong. Deas was on the north side of the gorge through which the Crawfish road crosses, Manigault across the gorge and south, on the crest parallel to the Snodgrass Hill, where Thomas was. The other three brigades extended along the crest with their faces north, while the first two faced east. Kershaw, with his own and Humphreys’s brigade, was on the right of Anderson and was to coöperate in the movement. It began at 3:30 P.M. A terrific contest ensued. The bayonet was used, and men were killed and wounded with clubbed muskets. A little after 4, the enemy was reënforced, and advanced, but was repulsed by Anderson and Kershaw.

  General Bushrod Johnson claims that his men were surely, if slowly, gaining ground at all points, which must have made untenable the stronghold of Thomas. Relief was, however, to come to our men, so hotly engaged on the left, by the advance of the right. At 3 P.M. Forrest reported to me that a strong column was approaching from Rossville, which he was delaying all he could. From prisoners we soon learned that it was Granger’s corps. We were apprehensive that a flank attack, by fresh troops, upon our exhausted and shattered ranks might prove fatal. Major-General Walker strongly advised falling back to the position of Cleburne, but to this I would not consent, believing that it would invite attack, as we were in full view.22 Cheatham’s fine division was sent to my assistance by the wing commander. But Granger, who had gallantly marched without orders to the relief of Thomas, moved on “to the sound of the firing, attacked with vigor and broke our line.”23 Rosecrans thus describes the timely help afforded by Granger to the sorely beset Thomas:

  “Arrived in sight, Granger discovered at once the peril and the point of danger—the gap—and quick as thought he directed his advance brigade upon the enemy. General Steedman, taking a regimental color, led the column. Swift was the charge and terrible the conflict, but the enemy was broken. A thousand of our brave men killed and wounded paid for its possession.”

  Longstreet was determined to send Preston with his division of three brigades under Gracie, Trigg, and Kelly, aided by Robertson’s brigade of Hood’s division, to carry the heights—the main point of defense. His troops were of the best material and had been in reserve all day; but brave, fresh, and strong as they were, it was with them alternate advance and retreat, until success was assured by a renewal of the fight on the right. At 3:30 P.M. General Polk sent an order to me to assume command of the attacking forces on the right and renew the assault. Owing to a delay in the adjustment of our lines, the advance did not begin until 4 o’clock. The men sprang to their arms with the utmost alacrity, though they had not heard of Longstreet’s success, and they showed by their cheerfulness that there was plenty of “fight in them.” Cleburne ran forward his batteries, some by hand, to within three hundred yards of the enemy’s breastworks, pushed forward his infantry, and carried them. General J. K. Jackson, of Cheatham’s division, had a bloody struggle with the fortifications in his front, but had entered them when Cheatham with two more of his brigades, Maney’s and Wright’s, came up. Breckinridge and Walker met with but little opposition until the Chattanooga road was passed, when their right was unable to overcome the forces covering the enemy’s retreat. As we passed into the woods west of the road, it was reported to me that a line was advancing at right angles to ours. I rode to the left to ascertain whether they were foes or friends, and soon recognized General Buckner. The cheers that went up when the two wings met were such as I had never heard before, and shall never hear again.

  Preston gained the heights a half hour later, capturing 1000 prisoners and 4500 stand of arms. But neither right nor left is entitled to the laurels of a complete triumph. It was the combined attack which, by weakening the enthusiasm of the brave warriors who had stood on the defense so long and so obstinately, won the day.

  Thomas had received orders after Granger’s arrival to retreat to Rossville, but, stout soldier as he was, he resolved to hold his ground until n
ightfall. An hour more of daylight would have insured his capture. Thomas had under him all the Federal army, except the six brigades which had been driven off by the left wing.24

  Whatever blunders each of us in authority committed before the battles of the 19th and 20th, and during their progress, the great blunder of all was that of not pursuing the enemy on the 21st. The day was spent in burying the dead and gathering up captured stores. Forrest, with his usual promptness, was early in the saddle, and saw that the retreat was a rout. Disorganized masses of men were hurrying to the rear; batteries of artillery were inextricably mixed with trains of wagons; disorder and confusion pervaded the broken ranks struggling to get on. Forrest sent back word to Bragg that “every hour was worth a thousand men.” But the commander-in-chief did not know of the victory until the morning of the 21st, and then he did not order a pursuit. Rosecrans spent the day and the night of the 21st in hurrying his trains out of town. A breathing-space was allowed him; the panic among his troops subsided, and Chattanooga—the objective point of the campaign—was held. There was no more splendid fighting in ’61, when the flower of the Southern youth was in the field, than was displayed in those bloody days of September, ’63. But it seems to me that the élan of the Southern soldier was never seen after Chickamauga—that brilliant dash which had distinguished him was gone forever. He was too intelligent not to know that the cutting in two of Georgia meant death to all his hopes. He knew that Longstreet’s absence was imperiling Lee’s safety, and that what had to be done must be done quickly. The delay in striking was exasperating to him; the failure to strike after the success was crushing to all his longings for an independent South. He fought stoutly to the last, but, after Chickamauga, with the sullenness of despair and without the enthusiasm of hope. That “barren victory” sealed the fate of the Southern Confederacy.

  * * *

  1 At the beginning of the Civil War I was asked the question, “Who of the Federal officers are most to be feared?” I replied: “Sherman, Rosecrans, and McClellan. Sherman has genius and daring, and is full of resources. Rosecrans has fine practical sense, and is of a tough, tenacious fiber. McClellan is a man of talents, and his delight has always been in the study of military history and the art and science of war.” Grant was not once thought of. The light of subsequent events thrown upon the careers of these three great soldiers has not changed my estimate of them; but I acquiesce in the verdict which has given greater renown to some of their comrades. It was my lot to form a more intimate acquaintance with the three illustrious officers who I foresaw would play an important part in the war. I fought against McClellan from Yorktown to Sharpsburg (Antietam), I encountered Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and I surrendered to Sherman at Greensboro, N.C.—each of the three commanding an army.—D.H.H.

  2 His cheerfulness was a mystery to me. Within a fortnight the Pennsylvania campaign had proved abortive. Vicksburg and Port Hudson had fallen, and Federal gun-boats were now plying up and down the Mississippi, cutting our communications between the east and west. The Confederacy was cut in two, and the South could readily be beaten in detail by the concentration of Federal forces, first on one side of the Mississippi and then on the other. The end of our glorious dream could not be far off. But I was as cheerful at that interview as was Mr. Davis himself. The bitterness of death had passed with me before our great reverses on the 4th of July. The Federals had been stunned by the defeat at Chancellorsville, and probably would not have made a forward movement for months. A corps could have been sent to General Joe Johnston, Grant could have been crushed, and Vicksburg, “the heart of the Confederacy,” could have been saved. The drums that beat for the advance into Pennsylvania seemed to many of us to be beating the funeral march of the dead Confederacy. Our thirty days of mourning were over before the defeat of Lee and Pemberton. Duty, however, was to be done faithfully and unflinchingly to the last. The calmness of our Confederate President may not have been the calmness of despair, but it may have risen from the belief, then very prevalent, that England and France would recognize the Confederacy at its last extremity, when the Northern and Southern belligerents were both exhausted. Should the North triumph, France could not hope to retain her hold upon Mexico. Besides, the English aristocracy, as is well known, were in full sympathy with the South.—D.H.H.

  3 A regiment was placed at Sivley’s Ford, another at Blythe’s Ferry, farther north, and S.A.M. Wood’s brigade was quartered at Harrison, in supporting distance of either point. The railroad upon which Rosecrans depended for his supplies ran south of Chattanooga, and had he crossed the river above the town he would have been separated many miles from his base and his depot. But he probably contemplated throwing a column across the Tennessee to the north of the town to cut off Buckner at Knoxville from a junction with Bragg, and inclose him between that column and the forces of Burnside which were pressing toward Knoxville.—D.H.H.

  Buckner’s division was promptly withdrawn south of the Hiawassee.—EDITORS.

  4 Colonel J. T. Wilder, who led the reconnoissance, says: “The enemy opened fire upon the command from their batteries, which was replied to by Captain Lilly’s 18th Indiana battery.”—EDITORS.

  5 My sympathies had all been with Bragg. I knew of the carping criticisms of his subordinates and the cold looks of his soldiers, and knew that these were the natural results of reverses, whether the blame lay with the commander or otherwise. I had felt, too, that this lack of confidence or lack of enthusiasm, whichever it might be, was ominous of evil for the impending battle. But ignorance of the enemy’s movements seemed a still worse portent of calamity.—D.H.H.

  6 General Bragg had said petulantly a few days before the crossing into Will’s Valley: “It is said to be easy to defend a mountainous country, but mountains hide your foe from you, while they are full of gaps through which he can pounce upon you at any time. A mountain is like the wall of a house full of rat-holes. The rat lies hidden at his hole, ready to pop out when no one is watching. Who can tell what lies hidden behind that wall?” said he, pointing to the Cumberland range across the river.—D.H.H.

  7 Breckinridge’s division of my corps had come up from Mississippi and was substituted for Stewart’s, sent to Knoxville to join Buckner.—D.H.H.

  8 Invidious critics have attributed many of Stonewall Jackson’s successes to lucky blunders, or at best to happy inspirations at the moment of striking. Never was there a greater mistake. He studied carefully (shall I add prayerfully?) all his own and his adversary’s movements. He knew the situation perfectly, the geography and the topography of the country, the character of the officers opposed to him, the number and material of his troops. He never joined battle without a thorough personal reconnoissance of the field. That duty he trusted to no engineer officer. When the time came for him to act, he was in the front to see that his orders were carried out, or were modified to suit the ever-shifting scenes of battle. —D.H.H.

  9 Thomas’s corps, after crossing at Bridgeport, Shell Mound, and Caperton’s Ferry, arrived, September 4th, near Trenton, in Will’s Valley (east of Sand Mountain). On the 6th Negley’s division, with Baird’s supporting, reached Johnson’s Crook, and on the 10th crossed Missionary Ridge into McLemore’s Cove. On the 11th Negley and Baird retired to Stevens’s Gap after feeling the enemy in front of Dug Gap, in Pigeon Mountain. Meantime Davis’s and Johnson’s divisions of McCook’s corps crossing the Tennessee at Caperton’s Ferry passed over Sand Mountain and seized Winston’s Gap, while Sheridan’s division, moving via Trenton, was close at hand. On the 10th McCook’s three divisions were at Alpine. Crittenden’s corps by September 4th was across the Tennessee (at Bridgeport, Shell Mound, and Battle Creek). On the 9th Wood’s division occupied Chattanooga, and Palmer and Van Cleve marched to Rossville. On the 10th Crittenden, leaving Wagner’s brigade to occupy Chattanooga, pursued the enemy toward Dalton and Ringgold. Wood reached Lee and Gordon’s Mills on the 11th, and Crittenden was now ordered to close up his whole force on Wood.—EDITORS.

  10 T
he Comte de Paris states that Bragg sent word to Hindman, at 11 A.M. September 11th, to retire if he deemed it not prudent to attack.—EDITORS.

  11 General Lee sought for no vicarious victim to atone for his ONE disaster. “I alone am to blame; the order for attack was mine,” said he, after the repulse of the assault upon Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg. Lee and Bragg were cast in different molds.—D.H.H.

  12 Hood’s division, about 5000, was the only part of Longstreet’s corps in the action of the 19th. —D.H.H.

  13 The great commander is he who makes his antagonist keep step with him. Thomas, like the grand soldier he was, by attacking first, made Bragg keep step with him. He who begins the attack assumes that he is superior to his enemy, either in numbers or in courage, and therefore carries with him to the assault all the moral advantage of his assumed superiority.—D.H.H.

  14 While lying on the Rapidan in August, after that disastrous day at Gettysburg, Longstreet had suggested to General Lee the reënforcing of Bragg. The general went to Richmond, and after a time got the consent of the Confederate authorities to send Longstreet, without artillery or cavalry, with the much reduced divisions of McLaws and Hood. Lee followed Longstreet to his horse to see him off, and as he was mounting said, “General, you must beat those people.” (Lee always called the Federals “those people.”) Longstreet said, “General, if you will give your orders that the enemy, when beaten, shall be destroyed, I will promise to give you victory, if I live; but I would not give the life of a single soldier of mine for a barren victory.” Lee replied, “The order has been given and will be repeated.”—D.H.H.

  15 The ringing of axes in our front could be heard all night.—D.H.H.

  These breastworks were described as follows by William F. G. Shanks, war correspondent of the “New York Herald”: