Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
February 27, 1897



Co. H, 24th Wisconsin
Chapter 5

Acting as the rear guard of the 20th corps during the retreat from Rossville on the night of Sept. 21st, Sheridan's division reached the Union lines near Chattanooga the next morning at 8 o'clock, and an hour later had taken up a position within the heavy line of intrenchments, the greater part of which had been thrown up since the army commenced, arriving there the previous day. Bragg's army having recovered somewhat from the shock of the recent battle, followed carefully, and in a short time had made a close investment of the Union position, throwing up a parallel line of rifle-pits. The enemy also began the erection of permanent lines of earthworks on Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and sent his cavalry north of the Tennessee to threaten Rosencransí supply line. The occupation of Lookout Mountain forced Rosencrans to haul his supplies by a circuitous wagon road that was a very poor one in the best of weather, and almost impassable in the rainy seasons. The distance thus traversed by the wagon trains was sixty miles, and the numerous passes, coves and small valleys through which the road ran offered tempting opportunities for the destruction of the trains, and the rebel cavalry were not slow to take advantage of them.

The position occupied by Sheridan's division was near the old iron-works, under the shadow of Lookout Mountain, from the summit of which the enemy dropped shells daily into the intrenchments of the division. Our artillery was unable to elevate their guns enough to effectively answer the rebs. Our boys were pretty well protected by their earthworks and did not suffer much loss, but were considerably annoyed by this fire.

In October, the rain began to fall and the supply road was soon almost impassable. The troops could not get enough to eat, the draft mules were dying from starvation, the artillery horses would soon go too, and the prospect was a very gloomy one for Rosencrans and his army. The division of Gen. Sheridan fared much better than the balance of the army at this time. A company of the 2d Kentucky cavalry, which had been attached to Sheridan's headquarters, was sent into the Sequatchie Valley for the purpose of collecting supplies for the division. The company hid itself in a deep cove in the upper end of the valley, and by keeping very quiet and paying for everything it took from the people, was able to send the division large quantities of food for the men and corn for the animals and in this way, the troops and teams of the division were carried through in pretty good condition.

Meantime, the army had been reorganized and Sheridan's division was given some additional regiments and became the 2nd division of the 4th army corps, Gen. Gordon Granger commanding. The first brigade, now composed of eight regiments besides our Twenty-fourth Wisconsin, was commanded by Col. Francis T. Sherman. The Twenty-fourth was commanded by Major Von Baumbach, and Company H by John G. Tannutt, who was commissioned Captain Oct. 4, 1863. Geo. Coote was promoted 1st Lieutenant on the same date. When the division was assigned to the 4th corps, it moved to the position occupied by that command near the center of the line and took position facing Missionary Ridge.

On the 15th of October, Gen. Grant was assigned to the command of the "Military Division of the Mississippi," which embraced the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland and the Tennessee. The same order relieved Rosencrans and placed Gen. Thomas in command of the Army of the Cumberland. Just before Gen. Rosencrans had been relieved, his army had been reinforced by the arrival of the 11th and 12th army corps from the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. Jos. Hooker, and preparations had been started looking to the opening of the short road to the base of supplies at Bridgeport, but when he received the order relieving him of the command, Rosencrans turned over the army to Gen. Thomas, and quietly slipped away before his troops had heard of the change.

During the next month, a sad incident occurred in the camp of Sheridan's division, which is thus described in his "Memoirs:" "Three men of my division had deserted their colors at the beginning of the siege and made their way north. They were soon arrested, and were brought back to stand trial for the worst offense that can be committed by a soldier, convicted of the crime, and ordered to be shot. To make the example effective, I paraded the whole division for the execution and on the 13th of November, in the presence of their former comrades, the culprits were sent, in accordance with the terms of their sentence, to render their account to the Almighty. It was the saddest spectacle I ever witnessed, but there could be no evasion, no mitigation of the full letter of the law; its timely enforcement was but justice to the brave spirits who had yet to fight the rebellion to the end."

On the 23rd of October, Gen. Grant arrived and assumed command at Chattanooga and began at once to carry out the plans that had been formed for opening the short road to Bridgeport. Four days later the route was open and supplies began to pour into Chattanooga. Four weeks were then spent in recuperating and refitting the army, and on Nov. 18th, Gen. W. F. Sherman reached Chattanooga with the 15th corps, which had marched overland from Memphis, Tenn. In the meantime, Bragg committed the fatal error of detaching Longstreet's corps and sending it to aid in the siege of Knoxville in East Tennessee. Thus while the Union army was being reinforced, Bragg's was being greatly weakened, and Gen. Grant was not slow to take advantage of the situation.

On the 23rd of November, the 4th corps moved out of its works, and took possession of Orchard Knob, an elevation on the plain between the Union lines and Missionary Ridge, the enemy making but a slight resistance. Wood's division intrenched itself on the Knob, and Sheridan on a low ridge to the right of the Knob and directly opposite Bragg's headquarters on the Ridge. On the 24th, Gen. W. F. Sherman made an assault on the north end of Missionary Ridge, and although he did not succeed in carrying it, he did succeed in scaring Bragg, who weakened his lines on the left to send reinforcements to his threatened right, which circumstance was very favorable to a column that was led up the northern slope of Lookout Mountain that afternoon by Gen. Hooker, and which after a short sharp fight that has gone into history as the "battle above the clouds," took possession of and held the position on the summit. The boys of the Twenty-fourth were eyewitnesses of as much as the fight on Lookout Mountain as could be seen below the clouds.

On the morning of Nov. 25th, Bragg's entire army was holding only the line on Missionary Ridge, and the Union army, being now connected from Sherman on the left to Hooker on the right, confronted it with the Army of the Cumberland in the center. Early that day, Sherman made another determined assault on Bragg's right, but his efforts were not crowned with the success anticipated, the enemy being in his front in large numbers and strongly entrenched.

Meanwhile, the Union right descended Lookout Mountain and began to swing across Chattanooga Valley in the direction of Missionary Ridge, using Sheridan's division as a pivot.

At 2 o'clock P.M., the Army of the Cumberland received orders to carry the line of works at the foot of the Ridge, the attack to be made at a signal of six guns. Sheridan's division being directly opposite Bragg's headquarters, and in the right center of the assaulting force, was exposed to the full force of the enemy's fire from he time it left its trenches until it had gained the crest of the Ridge. Sheridan, in preparing for the assault formed Wagner's and Harker's brigades in the customary two lines of battle, but F. T. Sherman's brigade of nine regiments, which held the right of the division, was formed in a column of attack, with a front of three regiments, the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin being one of the three regiments in the first line.

The distance from the Union line at Orchard Knob to the enemy's first line of intrenchments at the foot of the Ridge, was about half a mile, mostly an open plain broken only by a thin patch or two of timber, and a small stream of water. From the works at the foot of the Ridge to the main line on the crest, was a steep ascent of some five hundred yards, covered with large rocks and fallen timber. About half way up the slope a light line of works had been thrown up manned like those at the foot by infantry. Heavy works crowned the crest of the Ridge, which contained heavy forces of infantry and artillery, there being some fifty guns bearing on the Army of the Cumberland.

Bragg, seeing the preparations made to attack his center, hurried troops from his left flank to strengthen the threatened point. These movements were noted by both officers and men in he Union line, and Sheridan says: "I began to doubt the feasibility of our remaining in the first line of rifle-pits when we should have carried them." It was plain that the Union troops would hardly be able to hold the first line of works, exposed as they would be to a plunging fire from the two lines on the Ridge, and many of the officers, Sheridan among the number, thought that the wisest thing to do under the circumstances was to keep on and endeavor to drive the enemy from the Ridge.

A little later than 3:30 P.M., the signal guns boomed their command from Orchard Knob, where Grant, Thomas and other leaders gathered to see the boys go in. And a grand sight it was, for owing to the almost unobstructed view of the plain, and the elevated position of the rebel army, the battle of Missionary Ridge proved to be one of the greatest spectacular battles of the war. The echoes of the signal guns had not died away when the divisions of the Army of the Cumberland were in motion, and with flying colors and glistening bayonets, swept forward in magnificent array, determined to avenge Chickamauga. The rebel artillery immediately opened fire and rained shot and shell upon the advancing blue coats, and the opposing skirmish lines were soon adding the rattle of musketry to the din.

Gen. Sheridan, in his "Memoirs," gives such a graphic and interesting description of the part his division took in the assault that I may be pardoned for quoting from it. He says:

"Placing myself in front of Harper's brigade, between the lines of battle and the skirmishers, accompanied only by an orderly, so as not to attract the enemy's fire, we moved out. Under a terrible storm of shot and shell, the line pressed forward steadily through the timber, and as it emerged on the plain took the doublequick and with fixed bayonets rushed at the enemy's first line. Not a shot was fired from our line of battle, and as it gained on my skirmishers, they melted into and became one with it, and all three of my brigades went over the rifle-pits simultaneously. They then lay down on the face of the Ridge for a breathing spell and for protection from the terrible fire of cannister and musketry pouring over us from the guns on the crest. At the rifle-pits there had been little use for the bayonet, for most of the Confederate troops, disconcerted by the sudden rush, lay close in the ditch and surrendered, though some few fled up the slope to the next line. The prisoners were directed to move out to our rear, and as their intrenchments had now come under fire from the crest, they went with alacrity, and without guard or escort, toward Chattanooga.

After a short pause to get breath, the ascent of the ridge began. Just at this time I was joined by Captain Ransom, who, having returned from Granger, told me that we were to carry only the line at the base, and that in coming back had directed Wagner, who was up on the face of the Ridge, to return, and that Wagner was recalling his men to the base. I could not bear to order the recall of troops now so gallantly climbing the hill step by step, and believing we could take it, I immediately rode over to Wagner's brigade and directed it to resume the attack." (When the other divisions saw Sheridan's going up the slope, they went too, and without orders.) "In the meantime Harker's and F. T. Sherman's troops were approaching the partial line of works midway of the Ridge, and as I returned to the centre of their rear, they were being led by many stands of regimental colors. There seemed to be a rivalry as to which color should be farthest to the front; first one would go forward a few feet, then another would come up to it, the color-bearers vying with one another as to who should be foremost, until finally every standard was planted on the intermediate works. The enemy's fire from the crest during the ascent was terrific in the noise made, but as it was plunging, it overshot and had little effect on those above the second line of pits, but was very uncomfortable for those below, so I deemed it advisable to seek another place, and Wagner's brigade having again pressed up the ridge, I rode up the face to join my troops.

As soon as my men saw me, they surged forward and went over the works on the crest. The parapet of the intrenchment was too high for my horse to jump, so, riding a short distance to the left, I entered through a low place in the line. A few Confederates were found inside, but they turned the butts of their muskets toward me in token of surrender, for our men were now passing beyond them on both flanks.

The right and centre of my division gained the summit first, they being partially sheltered by a depression in the face of the ridge, the Confederates in their immediate front fleeing down the southern face. When I crossed the intrenchments at the top, the Confederates were still holding fast at Bragg's headquarters, and a battery located there opened fire along the crest, making things most uncomfortably hot. Seeing the danger to which I was exposed, Col. Joseph Conrad, of the Fifteenth Missouri, ran up and begged me to dismount. I accepted his excellent advice, and it probably saved my life, but poor Conrad was punished for his solicitude, being seriously wounded in the thigh, at the moment he was thus contributing to my safety.

Wildly cheering, the men advanced along the ridge towards Bragg's headquarters, and soon drove the Confederates from this last position, capturing a number of prisoners, among them Breckenridge's and Bate's adjutant generals, and the batteries that had made such stout resistance on the crest -- two guns which were named Lady 'Breckenridge' and Lady 'Buckner' -- Gen. Bragg himself having barely time to escape before his headquarters were taken."

Sheridan's division, following the retreating enemy down the southern face of the ridge and for several miles beyond capturing eleven pieces of artillery and large numbers of prisoners and wagons. The division continued the pursuit until after midnight, but as it was not supported by the remainder of the army, the pursuit was abandoned at Chickamauga Creek.