Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/95

 CHAPTER II

T last, on the 25th day of September, 1863, the Eleventh Corps was cut loose from the Army of the Potomac and dispatched, together with the Twelfth, both under the command of General Hooker, to the western field of operations. General Rosecrans had maneuvered the rebel general, Bragg, out of Chattanooga, but suffered a grievous defeat on September 19th and 20th at Chickamauga, where the Army of the Cumberland was saved from total destruction only by the heroic firmness of General Thomas. It may be remarked here, by the way, that the rout of our right wing in that battle was far more disastrous and discreditable than the defeat of the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville had been, but that nobody ever thought of branding that part of the Army of the Cumberland with cowardice on that account. Our defeated hosts found refuge in Chattanooga, where they entrenched themselves. The Confederate General Bragg did not feel himself strong enough to carry their works by assault, but he besieged them closely enough to threaten their lines of communication with the Union forces in the West, as well as their bases of supplies. In fact, the Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga was reduced to very short rations, and there was such a scarcity of forage that there were not nearly sound horses enough to equip the artillery. Under these circumstances the Eleventh and the Twelfth Corps were detached from the Army of the Potomac and hurried westward to succor the Army of the Cumberland in its precarious situation, and in the first place