Third Brigade. Brig. Gen. CHARLES L. MATTHIES. Col. JABEZ BANBURY. 93d Illinois: Col. Holden Putnam. Lieut. Col. Nicholas C. Buswell. 5th Iowa: Col. Jabez Banbury. Lieut. Col. Ezekiel S. Sampson. 10th Iowa, Lieut. Col. Paris P. Henderson, Artillery. Capt. HENRY DILLON. Cogswell's (Illinois) Battery, Capt. William Cogswell. No. 4. Reports of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, U. S. Army, commanding CHATTANOOGA, TENN., November 23, 1863-3 p. m. General Thomas' troops attacked the enemy's left at 2 p. m. to-day, carried the first line of rifle-pits running over the knoll, 1,200 yards in front of Fort Wood, and low ridge to the right of it, taking about 200 prisoners, besides killed and wounded. Our loss small. The troops moved under fire with all the precision of veterans on parade. Thomas' troops will intrench themselves, and hold their position until daylight, when Sherman will join the attack from the mouth of the Chickamauga, and a decisive battle will be fought. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, U. S. GRANT, General-in-Chief. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., November 24, 1863-6 p. m. The fight to-day progressed favorably. Sherman carried the end of Missionary Ridge, and his right is now at the tunnel, and left at Chickamauga Creek. Troops from Lookout Valley carried the point of the mountain, and now hold the eastern slope and point high up. I cannot yet tell the amount of casualties, but our loss is not heavy. Hooker reports 2,000 prisoners taken, besides which a small number have fallen into our hands from Missionary Ridge. Major-General HALLECK. U. S. GRANT, WASHINGTON, November 25, 1863-8.40 a. m. Your dispatches as to fighting on Monday and Tuesday are here. Well done. Many thanks to all. Remember Burnside. Maj. Gen. U. S. GRANT. A. LINCOLN. President United States. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 25, 1863-11.30 a. m. I congratulate you on the success thus far of your plans. I fear that General Burnside is hard pressed, and that any further delay may prove fatal. I know that you will do all in your power to relieve him. H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief. Major-General GRANT, Chattanooga, Tenn. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., November 25, 1863–7.15 p. m. (Received 10 p. m.) Although the battle lasted from early dawn till dark this evening, I believe I am not premature in announcing a complete victory over Bragg. Lookout Mountain top, all the rifle-pits in Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge entire have been carried, and now held by us. I have no idea of finding Bragg here to-morrow. U. S. GRANT, Major-General, Commanding. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., November 25, 1863-7.30 p. m. (Received 2.10 a. m., 26th.) I have heard from Burnside to the 23d, when he had rations for ten or twelve days. He expected to hold out that time. I shall move the force from here on to the railroad between Cleveland and Dalton, and send a column of 20,000 men up the south side of the Tennessee, without wagons, carrying four days' rations and taking a steam-boat loaded with rations, from which to draw on the route. If Burnside holds out until this force gets beyond Kingston, I think enemy will fly, and, with the present state of the roads, must abandon almost everything. I believe Bragg will lose much of his army by desertion, in consequence of his defeat in the last three days' fight. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, U. S. GRANT, Major-General, Commanding. General-in-Chief. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 26, 1863—11.15 a. m. I congratulate you and your army on the victories of Chattanooga. This is truly a day of thanksgiving. H. W. HALLECK, Maj. Gen. U.. S. GRANT, CHATTANOOGA, TENN., November 27, 1863-1 a. m. (Received 3.10 a. m.) I am just in from the front. The rout of the enemy is most complete. Abandoned wagons, caissons, and occasional pieces of artillery are everywhere to be found. I think Bragg's loss will fully reach sixty pieces of artillery. A large number of prisoners have fallen into our hands. The pursuit will continue to Red Clay in the morning, for which place I shall start in a few hours. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief. U. S. GRANT, RINGGOLD, GA., 2 p. m., Via Chattanooga, Tenn., November 27, 1863-7 p. m. (Received 1.30 a. m., 28th.) The pursuit has continued to this point with continuous skirmishing. It is asserted by citizens that Longstreet is expected to-morrow, and that the enemy will make a stand at Dalton. I shall not take their word, however, but will start Granger this evening to Burnside's relief. I am not prepared to continue pursuit farther. U. S. GRANT, Major-General, Commanding. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., November 28, 1863-9.20 p. m. (Received 12.35 p. m., 29th.) The pursuit of the enemy to beyond Ringgold shows their great defeat and demoralization. Prisoners taken must amount to 6,000 or more. Over forty pieces of artillery have fallen into our hands. The roads everywhere are strewn with wagons, caissons, small-arms, and ammunition. Troops are now on their way to the relief of Burnside. Granger goes to Knoxville, or until he knows Longstreet has left East Tennessee. Sherman goes to the Hiwassee, and will be sent farther if it becomes necessary. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief. U. S. GRANT, Major-General. CHATTANOOGA, TENN., December 7, 1863-7 p. m. Our losses in killed, wounded, and missing in recent battle about 4,000. Enemy's loss in killed about the same. We took over 6,000 well prisoners, forty-two pieces of artillery, and caisson and battery wagons for a large number of pieces. Number of small-arms collected about 5,000. Many have, no doubt, been collected by regiments and not accounted for. Major-General HALLECK. U. S. GRANT, Major-General. HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, In Field, Chattanooga, Tenn., December 23, 1863. COLONEL: In pursuance of General Orders, No. 337, War Department, of date Washington, October 16, 1863, delivered to me by the Secretary of War at Louisville, Ky., on the 18th of the same month, I assumed command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, comprising the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, and telegraphed the order assuming command, together with the order of the War Department referred to, to Maj. Gen. A. E. Burnside, at Knoxville, and to Maj. Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, at Chattanooga. My action in telegraphing these orders to Chattanooga in advance of my arrival there, was induced by information furnished me by the Secretary of War, of the difficulty with which the Army of the Cumberland had to contend in supplying itself over a long mountainous and almost impassable road from Stevenson, Ala., to Chattanooga, Tenn., and his fears that General Rosecrans would fall back to the north side of the Tennessee River. To guard further against the possibility of the Secretary's fears, I also telegraphed to Major-General Thomas on the 19th of October, from Louisville, to hold Chattanooga at all hazards; that I would be there as soon as possible. To which he replied on same date, "I will hold the town till we starve." Proceeding directly to Chattanooga, I arrived there on the 23d of October, and found that General Thomas had immediately, on being placed in command of the Department of the Cumberland, ordered the concentration of Major-General Hooker's command at Bridgeport, preparatory to securing the river and main wagon road between that place and Brown's Ferry, immediately below Lookout Mountain. The next morning after my arrival at Chattanooga, in company with Thomas and Brig. Gen. W. F. Smith, chief engineer, I made a reconnaissance of Brown's Ferry and the hills on the south side of the river and at the mouth of Lookout Valley. After the reconnaissance, the plan agreed upon was for Hooker to cross at Bridgeport to the south side of the river with all the force that could be spared from the railroad, and move on the main wagon road by way of Whiteside's to Wauhatchie, in Lookout Valley. Maj. Gen. J. M. Palmer was to proceed by the only practicable route north of the river from his position opposite Chattanooga to a point on the north bank of the Tennessee River and opposite Whiteside's, there to cross to the south side to hold the road passed over by Hooker. In the meantime, and before the enemy could be apprised of our intentions, a force under the direction of Brig. Gen. W. F. Smith, chief engineer, was to be thrown across the river at or near Brown's Ferry to seize the range of hills at the mouth of Lookout Valley, covering the Brown's Ferry road, and orders were given accordingly. It was known that the enemy held the north end of Lookout Valley with a brigade of troops, and the road leading around the foot of the mountain from their main camps in Chattanooga Valley to Lookout Valley. Holding these advantages he would have had little difficulty in concentrating a sufficient force to have defeated or driven Hooker back. To remedy this the seizure of the range of hills at the mouth of Lookout Valley and covering the Brown's Ferry road was deemed of the highest importance. This, by the use of pontoon bridges at Chattanooga and Brown's Ferry, would secure to us by the north bank of the river, across Moccasin Point, a shorter line by which to re-enforce our troops in Lookout Valley than the narrow and tortuous road around the foot of Lookout Mountain afforded the enemy for re-enforcing his. The force detailed for this expedition consisted of 4,000 men, under command of General Smith, chief engineer, 1,800 of which, under Brig. Gen. W. B. Hazen, in sixty pontoon-boats, containing 30 armed men each, floated quietly from Chattanooga past the enemy's pickets to the foot of Lookout Mountain on the night of the 27th of October, landed on the south side of the river at Brown's Ferry, surprised the enemy's pickets stationed there, and seized the hills covering the ferry, without the loss of a man killed and but 4 or 5 wounded. The remainder of the forces, together with the materials for a bridge, was moved by the north bank of the river across Moccasin Point to Brown's Ferry without attracting the attention of the enemy, and before day dawned the whole force was ferried to the south bank of the river, and the almost inaccessible heights rising from Lookout Valley and its outlet to the river and below the mouth of Lookout Creek were secured. By 10 a. m. an excellent pontoon bridge was laid across the river at Brown's Ferry, thus securing to us the end of the desired road nearest the enemy's forces, and the shorter line over which to pass troops if a battle became inevitable. Positions were taken up by our troops from which they could not have been driven except by vastly superior forces, and then only with great loss to the enemy. Our artillery was placed in such position as to completely command the road leading from the enemy's main camps in Chattanooga Valley to Lookout Valley. On the 28th, Hooker emerged into Lookout Valley at Wauhatchie by the direct road from Bridgeport, by way of Whiteside's, to Chattanooga with the Eleventh Army Corps, under Major-General Howard, and Geary's division of the Twelfth Army Corps, and proceeded to take up positions for the defense of the road from Whiteside's, over which he had marched, and also the road leading from Brown's Ferry to Kelley's Ferry, throwing the left of Howard's corps forward to Brown's Ferry. The division that started under command of Palmer for Whiteside's reached its destination and took up the position intended in the original plan of this movement. These movements, so successfully executed, secured to us two comparatively good lines by which to obtain supplies from the terminus of the railroad at Bridgeport, namely, the main wagon road by way of Whiteside's, Wauhatchie, and Brown's Ferry, distant but 28 miles, and the Kelley's Ferry and Brown's Ferry road, which, by the use of the river from Bridgeport to Kelley's Ferry, reduced the distance for wagoning to but 8 miles. |