Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/545

 1863] 'Battle of Chattanooga. 513 unmindful of the fire of musketry and cannon on the sides and crests of the hill. This accomplished, they halted for a moment, as their orders commanded them to go no further. Grant had only intended this much, as a demonstration in aid of Sherman's and Hooker's advance on the enemy's flanks. But the men had waited all day in a fever of excite- ment, and were still under the withering fire of the enemy's cannon and musketry, and by a common impulse regiment after regiment started up the hill, not only without orders but in spite of them, to the momentary dismay of the assembled commanders on Orchard Knob. First, in some- thing of a line, then broken into parties and groups by the rocks and fallen timber that obstructed the steep ascent, the men worked their way steadily and stubbornly upward over the second line of rifle pits, and still pressed on, driving the retreating enemy before them, until, at the end of about an hour after the signal guns, they broke almost simultaneously over the crest of the ridge in six different places, capturing the batteries that up to nearly the last moment had been firing on them one of the most splendid exhibitions of veteran courage and moral that military history has recorded. The final success was so sudden, that Bragg, Breckmridge, and several other Confederate generals barely escaped capture. It must not be supposed that this feat of arms was per- formed without heavy loss. The regiments that made the assault were twice decimated; they left twenty per cent, of their number in killed and wounded at the foot and on the rugged sides of Missionary Ridge. Even this extraordinary effort, however, did not completely exhaust their energies. Several of the brigades swept down the opposite side of the mountain, and across Chickamauga Valley, capturing another ridge on which were planted eight of the enemy's guns. The defeat of Bragg was so complete and overwhelming that the next morning, November 26, found his whole army in rapid and demoralised retreat. The Unionist forces pursued about twenty miles, making many additional captures, raising their aggregate to over 6000 prisoners, 40 pieces of artillery and 7000 small arms. The Union loss in killed and wounded was 5824, that of the Confederates 6687. Grant took immediate measures to send an expedition under Sherman to the relief of Burnside who at last accounts was held in close siege by Longstreet, at Knoxville, 84 miles distant ; but, before Sherman reached Knoxville, Longstreet had been effectually repulsed. He rejoined Bragg's retreating army ; whereupon active military operations in Georgia ceased for the winter. C. M. H. VII. OH. XV.