BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.
November 24, 1863.
General Grant’s forward movement against the rebel position on Lookout Mountain commenced on the 24th. The preliminary movements had been successfully carried out, the Tennessee having been bridged on the 23d, and General Sherman’s troops pushed across the river. The ascent to Lookout Mountain is very difficult, and was, of course, rendered all the more arduous and perilous, by the enemy’s fortifications. But difficulty was no bar, either to the gallant Army of the Cumberland or to its brave leaders. Early on the morning of the 24th, General Hooker’s forces commenced to move along the valley, greatly to the astonishment of the rebels, who were watching the movement, from their vantage ground upon the mountain, and who made no immediate opposition to the attempted ascent of Lookout.
About twenty-five feet from the summit of the mountain is a line of perpendicular rocks, known as “Palisades.” General Hooker’s division, having reached these palisades, formed into line of battle, so as to face the north, the right wing resting against the palisades and stretching down the slope of the mountain. General Hooker’s army advanced in three distinct lines. The front consisted of General Geary’s division, with a brigade of New York troops, under Colonel Ireland, on the right: the Sixtieth New York held the extreme right of the line, while the extreme left and front were held by the One hundred and second, the One hundred and thirty-seventh, and the One hundred and forty-ninth New York. The second line was formed of the two brigades of Grove and Whittaker. The third was formed by General Osterhaus’ division, which held itself in readiness to aid either of the other lines. These dispositions having been made, the entire corps, with a strong line of skirmishers thrown out, was ordered forward. After a short march they came upon a detachment of the enemy, which totally unsuspicious of the movements of the Union forces, was taken by surprise. The enemy, outnumbered and outmanœvred, attempted to escape by running up the hill; but they were instantly assaulted by the Union soldiers from above, and finding themselves thus between two fires, were compelled to make a stand and to fight. The rebel batteries on Lookout Mountain, and the Union batteries on Mocassin Point, now opened a heavy fire upon each other. The rebels, attacked on both rear and flank, were not capable of making a steady resistance, although their skirmishers, sheltering themselves behind trees and rocks, poured in a heavy fire upon the Union line, but were at length driven back by General Geary’s skirmishers. The enemy on the point of the mountain being severely pressed, gradually gave way, and fell back, in disorder, till they reached the line of breastworks on the eastern slope of the mountain. General Geary here drew his line parallel with that of the enemy, and boldly advanced; but finding himself met by strongly organized troops, he was obliged, for the time, to retire. In the mean while very large numbers of the enemy had been captured—for, whenever the Union troops succeeded in bringing in the rebels, they secured them by hundreds; and in this manner, over a thousand prisoners were taken, in a short space of time.
A pause in the battle occurred after the repulse of Geary’s second attack on the rebel line; and, as the enemy was found to be in a very strong position behind his breastworks, General Hooker—after a careful reconnoissance, in which he incurred great personal danger—decided on a change in the disposition of his forces, for an attack on the enemy’s works. The rebels had every natural advantage on their side, and were also expecting reinforcements; but the latter failed to arrive, and Hooker’s next attack caused the enemy to contract his line, and expose his left flank. This attack began at two o’clock in the afternoon and resulted in the severest fighting of the day, which lasted, in undiminished fury, for the next two hours. Hooker’s dispositions were made as follows. The Eighty-fourth Illinois, Colonel Waters, and the Seventy-fifth Illinois, Colonel Burnett, were sent to hold the road which crosses the mountain on the east. The line of battle, moving against the rebel works in part, consisted of the command of Geary on the right, that of Osterhaus on the left, and that of Whittaker and Grove in the centre. Colonel Ireland’s force clung close to the palisades. From all quarters, a destructive fire was poured in upon the enemy. Those who, from Chattanooga and Orchard Knob—the latter point, captured on the 23d, was still held by the troops of the gallant General Wood—watched the battle, saw only clouds of smoke mingling with the mist that enveloped the mountain. But the troops engaged could see each other, and beneath the pall of mist they fought, on both sides, with desperate valor. At four o’clock, General Hooker ordered a general charge of his whole line. It was made, with the utmost gallantry—the Union forces dashing onward, through a terribly heavy and continuous fire—and carrying all before them. In five minutes the left flank of the rebels had been turned, and, falling back upon the Summerton road, they abandoned their position, artillery, works, and all, which were immediately seized by the victorious troops of Hooker.
But, though flanked and driven back the rebels manifested no disposition to yield their redoubts without a final struggle. Rapidly reforming, they soon advanced to the assault of Geary, in their own former position. The fight that ensued was bitter and furious. The Union soldiers were nearly out of ammunition, and were already, for this reason, evincing a disposition to straggle out of line. The enemy perceived their advantage and tried to make use of it. General Hooker had twice sent to Chattanooga for ammunition. The moment was exceedingly critical. But, at the very moment when further delay must have proved fatal to the success of the Union arms, the ammunition train of General Thomas’s soldiers deployed across Chattanooga creek, and marched up the hill, bringing an ample supply to their comrades in the fight. These men consisted of General Carlin’s brigade of Johnston’s division, Fourteenth corps, and upon them devolved the work of concluding the battle. Night was now coming on, yet the outline of the contending masses could be seen from Chattanooga, while the flashes of musketry were distinctly visible in the gathering darkness. The pageant, as witnessed from the town, was exceedingly gorgeous. The mountain was all ablaze with intermittent fire, and all vocal with strange, unearthly sounds, as of a giant groaning in pain. The great guns on its summit answered the lesser ones on Moccasin point, and all was commotion, and bloody strife, and ghastly pageantry of terror.
The result of this final charge was the complete defeat of the rebels. They fell back along the Summerton road, guarding a convenient point to check pursuit, and employed the long hours of the night in evacuating the mountain. There was some skirmishing during the night, but with no important results. General Hooker had gained a splendid victory.