Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/542

610 Rosecrans blockaded in Chattanooga. [i863 around which he posted in a flattened semicircle his own command of seven divisions, and gathered about it all the reserves which had not yet been under fire, with fragments of brigades and regiments whose organisation remained undestroyed by the defeat on the right. With these, forming a total of about one half of Rosecrans' effectives, he held his position against the whole of Bragg's force, flushed with victory, which repeated its assaults throughout the remainder of the day, but without shaking the lines or the courage of the "Rock of Chickamauga," as Thomas was rechristened by his devoted troops. It is the concurrent testimony of both Unionist and Confederate officers that better fighting was never done on any battlefield during the war. When night came on the 20th, the Confederates had been unable to drive Thomas from his position ; but that general, seeing that with his unequal forces he could not hold this advanced and exposed point, began a retreat which he was able to continue without serious molestation. By the morning of the 22nd, the Unionist army was within the protecting fortifications of Chattanooga, which Bragg had not destroyed when he evacuated the place, so confident was he of returning. The Federal army lost 16,179 men, the Confederate 17,804. The army of Rosecrans, though beaten and greatly weakened, was by no means destroyed ; on the other hand, it was still in danger. The victorious army of Bragg, now in greatly superior numbers, was still before it, and immediately established a close blockade. It was not long before the Confederates gained possession of heights which enabled them to cut off* Rosecrans' supplies, both by the railroad from Nashville and by boats on the Tennessee river, leaving the Federals dependent upon waggon transport by a road sixty miles long and crossing almost impassable moun- tains. The fifteen days' provisions and forage were soon exhausted; horses and mules perished by thousands; and famine was slowly creeping on the beleaguered garrison. A week before the battle, orders from Washington had directed all available reinforcements from Hurlbut at Memphis and Sherman at Vicksburg to be sent to Rosecrans, while, from the first, Burnside had been enjoined to assist him from the direction of Knoxville; but none of these reinforcements had arrived in time. On the third day after the battle 18,000 men under General Hooker were detached from Meade's army in Virginia and transported by rail in eight days to the vicinity of Chattanooga, but owing to lack of supplies they could not immediately proceed to that place. By October 19 the situation had become so critical that Rosecrans was relieved and Thomas placed in command to succeed him, while General Grant was placed in control of the three departments in the West, and ordered personally to Chattanooga, where he arrived on October 22. Up to this time, things appeared to be going from bad to worse under the management of Rosecrans ; but his chief