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 dOMMA^DEI^y OF THE Dl^Tl^ldT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 WAR PAPERS. 
 
 74 
 
 DYtajor=(a:2n.eral ""Urilliam, Starke I^^osecrans, 
 V. 5. ^rmy. 
 
 prepared by companion 
 Lieutenant-Colonel 
 
 GILBERT C. KNIFFIN, 
 
 U. S. Volunteers, 
 
 AND 
 READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF NOVEMBER 4, 1908. 
 
RiKio 
 
 
\ 
 1 
 
 ; ila;nr-(intpral William i'tarli^ ISoHprrans. 
 
 \o 1. i>. Armg. 
 
 The mention of the name of Rosecrans never fails to fill me 
 with recollections of his heroic service. From the dawn of 
 the Rebellion until the shades of night closed upon its bier, 
 the Ufe of this superb soldier was devoted to the service of his 
 country. The most skilful strategist that the war produced, 
 the hardest and most persistent fighter, a strict disciplina- 
 rian, a thorough soldier, it was the fate of Major-General 
 William S. Rosecrans to carve the way for others to march 
 to glory, to sow the seed while others reaped the harvest of 
 his victories. 
 
 The echo of his rifles at Rich Mountain in 1861 had scarcely 
 ceased to reverberate among the hills of western Virginia, when 
 his superior in command, who had no part in the battle, was 
 selected to command the armies of the United States. It was 
 his victory over Van Dorn at Corinth in October, 1862, which 
 restored the waning confidence of the Government in its 
 Department Commander, and at last when the magnificent 
 Army of the Cumberland reorganized, and thrice led to vic- 
 tory at Stone's River, Tullahoma, and the capture of Chat- 
 tanooga in 1863, by General Rosecrans, the chaplet was torn 
 from his brow by the envy and jealousy of rivals, and placed 
 upon the head of the heroic Thomas. But there was no jeal- 
 ousy between these two great men. The lofty patriotism that 
 inspired each found expression in the confidence reposed in the 
 other. With entire confidence in the nobility of his character 
 I asked General Rosecrans in one of the confidential conver- 
 
sations tliat we frequently held while he was Member of Congress 
 and later Register of the Treasury, how it affected him to hear 
 General Thomas referred to as the "Rock of Chickamauga." 
 
 "Of course he was the Rock," he exclaimed, "he was my 
 rock, and he would not have been intrusted with the command 
 of my army on the field after my return to Chattanooga, if he 
 had not been a rock, and a solid rock at that." 
 
 And so with Thomas. At the organization of the vSociety 
 of the Army of the Cumberland at the Burnett House in 
 Cincinnati, in 1866, referring to the battle of Chickamauga, 
 General Thomas said : 
 
 "Chickamauga! A battle in which I received great credit 
 at the expense of a better soldier. General Rosecrans." 
 
 That is the way in which these great-hearted generals referred 
 to each other, and that is why I to-night can give my meed 
 of praise to one without abating one jot or tittle of my loyalty 
 to the other. 
 
 You who knew him as he lived among us in his old age, can 
 form little idea of the man of forty years as he appeared upon 
 the field of battle, mounted upon his favorite roan horse, 
 "Traveler," who spurned all obstacles. The general appeared 
 the impersonation of war. Of splendid physique and untiring 
 energy, he possessed that cool, unfaltering courage which 
 finds its best expression upon the battlefield. 
 
 To see him in battle was a military education; to follow 
 him, to win his approbation, men gave their lives. His face 
 shone with the inspiration of the grand occasion. To plant 
 a battery where its fire would be most effective, to hurl a 
 brigade with the impetuosity of a limited express train upon 
 an advancing line of the enemy, and above all to stand with 
 no thought of yielding a strong position, while his clarion voice, 
 rising above the full orchestra of battle, cheered the men whose 
 
courage his example inspired. And so men followed where 
 he led with the light of battle on their faces, wrenching victory 
 from the jaws of defeat, while billowing the ground over which 
 they fought with the forms of their fallen comrades. 
 
 The Rosecrans name is one closely allied to American mili- 
 tary history, no less than five of the family having served as 
 commissioned officers in the continental army and militia 
 during the revolutionary war. The root of the family tree 
 in this country was planted on the Hudson River by one of 
 the Knickerbockers early in the last century. 
 
 Dr. Daniel Rosencrans, born in Dutchess County, N. Y., 
 emigrated to Wyoming Valley, Pa., where in 1782 he married 
 Miss Thankful Wilcox. In 1808 he headed an emigration 
 to the far west. The colony planted itself in Delaware County, 
 Ohio, and from these pioneers sprang the Rosecrans, Taylors, 
 Armstrongs, Van Sickles, Starkes, and other prominent fami- 
 lies in that State. Crandall Rosecrans, eldest son of Dr. 
 Rosecrans, adjutant of the light horse battalion which served 
 under General Harrison in the war of 181 2, was a successful 
 farmer and manufacturer of Delaware County, held in high 
 esteem by his neighbors as a man of undoubted courage and 
 stern, unflinching integrity. His wife was Miss Hopkins, 
 daughter of a lieutenant in the Continental Army. His mother 
 was one of the two adults who escaped the massacre at Wyo- 
 ming. Warned by the wife of one of the Tory conspirators, 
 she fled from her home with her two infant children, and 
 traveled on foot sixty miles through the wilderness to Easton, 
 Pa. The Hopkins family were of Connecticut extraction, 
 tracing their descent from Stephen Hopkins, who came over 
 in the Mayflower. 
 
 WilHam Starke Rosecrans, the eldest son of Crandall Rose- 
 crans, was born in Berkshire, Delaware County, on the 6th 
 
of vScpteinl)cr, 1819. Mis boyhood was spent in his native 
 place, where he gave early promise of future usefulness. 
 
 Reared in a healthful moral atmosphere, at a period when 
 the lore of the fireside i)arto()k largely of the then recent struggle 
 of the pioneers to establish themselves in their new homes, 
 and endowed with strong health and great physical courage, 
 it is not surprising that the ambition to rise above his sur- 
 roundings seized upon him at an early age. 
 
 Deeds of prowess in the Indian wars were fresh in the 
 memory of men still living. The story of his grandmother's 
 escape from the horrors of savage barbarity at Wyoming, 
 and of atrocities committed along the frontier, fired the heart 
 of the future general to emulate the heroism and win the glory 
 of a miUtary chieftain. 
 
 At sixteen years of age, a position was tendered him by 
 Mr. George B. Arnold, a merchant of Utica, Ohio, which he 
 accepted, and for one year applied himself to mastering the 
 details of business. While here, he was studious and an 
 eager devourer of books, those relating to history especially; 
 and, thenceforward, to obtain a miUtary education became 
 the absorbing desire of his Hfe. With the habit of going 
 straight to the point which has always been one of his chief 
 characteristics, he addressed a letter to his father's old friend. 
 Gen. Lewis Cass, stating his desires, and asked for the terms 
 and qualifications required, and means of gaining admission 
 to the Military Academy at West Point. The general sent 
 him the required information, and finding that the appUcant 
 was a son of Crandall Rosecrans, procured for him an appoint- 
 ment, which reached him before he had mailed his application 
 in regular form, accompanied by a long list of recommenda- 
 tions. In July, iS^S, at the age of eighteen, he entered the 
 Academy, which for four years was to witness his triumphs 
 
and defeats in the rigorous schooling given by the nation to 
 its embryo soldiers. General Rosecrans is described by his 
 associates at West Point as a sturdy, energetic young man, 
 fond of athletic sport and not averse to hard knocks when 
 occasion demanded. In many regards the boy gave promise 
 of the man. He was truthful, courageous, studious, fond of 
 going to the root of questions, and working upward ; scorning 
 imposture, and not afraid to acknowledge his ignorance of a 
 subject, if thereby he could obtain Hght upon it. 
 
 The class that was graduated at the Military Academy in 
 1842 contains the names of many prominent officers in the 
 Union and Confederate armies. vSecond on the list is the 
 name of John Newton, followed by William S. Rosecrans, 
 Seth Williams, John Pope, Abner Doubleday, Napoleon J. T. 
 Dana, and George vSykes, all of whom became major-generals 
 of volunteers twenty years later. 
 
 Intermingled with these— friends then, as now, for noblesse 
 oblige, these "West Pointers" stick pretty closely together 
 when the demands of duty do not require them to shoot at each 
 other— are such napies as James Longstreet, Earl Van Dorn, 
 Lafayette McUws, Daniel H. Hill, Martin L. Smith, Alexander 
 P. Stewart, and Gustavus W. Smith, who attained equal rank 
 in the army of the Confederate States. 
 
 Rosecrans was graduated July 18, 1842, and breveted second 
 lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, the ehte of the army, 
 third in mathematics and fifth in general merit, in a class of 
 fifty-six. 
 
 Lieutenant Rosecrans had no sooner received liis brevet ap- 
 pointment, than he was sent to Fortress Monroe, to win his rank 
 under the veteran De Russy, where, after remaining one year, 
 he was returned to his alma mater as assistant professor of 
 engineering. 
 
8 
 
 It was while a professor at West Point that he met with 
 success in winning the heart and hand of Miss Anna E. Hegeman, 
 only daughter of Adrian Hegeman. Esq., a well-known lawyer 
 of New York City. They were married August 21, 1843. The 
 domestic relations of the general, owing to the amiable quaUties 
 of his estimable wife, who died on Christmas morning, 1883, 
 were more than usually happy. Their union was blest by the 
 birth of seven children, two only of whom are living, Lillie, the 
 wife of Governor Toole, of Montana, and Carl, of Tos Angeles, 
 California. 
 
 The next four years were spent at West Point, where he filled 
 successively the chairs of engineering, natural philosophy, and 
 finally of practical engineering. He was sent in 1847 to New- 
 port, R. I. where he took charge of the fortifications and the 
 construction of a large and permanent wharf, and thence in 1852 
 to New Bedford and Providence, where he took charge of the 
 surveys of harbors at those points, and the Taunton River. The 
 following year, in response to a request from the Secretary of the 
 Navy for a competent engineer. Lieutenant Rosecrans was 
 selected by the Secretary of War and assigned to duty at Wash- 
 ington Navy Yard, where he planned the immense shops now 
 in use at that place for forging heavy work. 
 
 At the age of thirty-four, when near the head of his profession. 
 Lieutenant Rosecrans decided to resign from the army, where 
 he had served eleven years without having reached the dignity 
 of a captain's commission, and seek employment in his pro- 
 fession in civil life. Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, 
 expressed great reluctance to accept his resignation, being 
 unwilling to lose so valuable an officer from the service, offering 
 him, instead, six months' leave of absence in which to determine 
 whether he preferred civil to military engineering. In April, 
 1854, his determination remaining unchanged, his resignation 
 
was accepted, greatly to the regret of General Totten. Chief of 
 Engineers, who expressed in his endorsement upon the resigna- 
 tion, his "regret that the country was about to lose the services 
 of so able and valuable an officer." 
 
 The call of the Government for troops with which to crush a 
 rebellion in the cotton States, brought him to the front as a 
 soldier fully equipped by education and practice to take his 
 place among the successful generals of the age. From the 
 moment that war was declared inevitable, Rosecrans gave no 
 thought to any business but that of his country. 
 
 On the 1 6th of May, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the 
 23d Ohio Volunteers, and four days later his commission as 
 brigadier-general reached him while actively engaged in assisting 
 Governor Dennison in securing clothing and equipment for the 
 troops then being mustered into service. 
 
 The First Brigade, commanded by General Rosecrans, was 
 composed of the 17th and 19th Ohio and the Sthand'ioth 
 Indiana Infantry. A soldier of one of these regiments writes 
 from the field of operations in West Virginia: 
 
 "Our general is an incessant worker. He is in the saddle 
 almost constantly. He has not had a full night's sleep since he 
 has been in Virginia, and he takes his meals as often on horseback 
 as at the table. His geniahty and affability endear him to all 
 who come in contact with him." 
 
 Within two weeks after he assumed command of these troops, 
 they had fought the battle of Rich Mountain under his leader- 
 ship, which decided the first campaign of the war. 
 
 This engagement, like that of Mill Springs fought by General 
 Thomas in Kentucky, though small as regards the numbers 
 engaged as compared with those which this commander was 
 destined later to plan and execute, was far-reaching in its results. 
 A strong and confident foe held position in the mountains of 
 
lO 
 
 Wfslcni \'ir,c:itiia. They were within their own territory, 
 where ever\- road and nioiuilain footpath was faniihar to them. 
 
 On the first of Augnst President JelT. Davis wrote to Gen. 
 Joseph K. Johnston: 
 
 "General Lee has gone to Western Virginia, and I liope may 
 be able to strike a deeisive blow at the enemy in that qnartcr; 
 or, failing in that, will be able to organize and post our troops 
 so as to check the enemy, after wdiich he will return to this 
 place." 
 
 Pitted for six months against the future commander of the 
 Confederate Army, Cxeneral Rosecrans not only held his position 
 against "a decisive blow," but within three months had placed 
 it beyond the power of General Lee to adopt the remaining 
 alternative of "posting his troops so as to check the enemy." 
 
 "Disaster have come, and disasters are coming," wrote 
 Henry A. Wise to General Lee, after Carnifex Ferry, "which 
 vou alone, I fear, can repair and prevent." 
 
 When in January, 1862, General Lee was recalled to the 
 armv of Northern Virginia, the Confederates retired, leaving 
 West Virginia to be incorporated into the Union as a sov- 
 ereign State. 
 
 General Rosecrans, having rid West \'irginia of hostile forces, 
 was succeeded by P'remont, and in May, 1862, ordered to 
 report to General Halleck before Corinth. Ik-ing assigned 
 to the Army of the Mississippi, General Pope gave him command 
 of one half his army, where he remained until that oflicer was 
 transferred to his "headquarters in the saddle" in A'irginia, 
 when he assumed command of the army. General Halleck 
 having been called to Washington, the command of the anuics 
 of the Tennessee and the Missis.sippi — now incorporated 
 into one — fell to Crcneral Grant. 
 
 The greater part of the Confederate Army moved away from 
 
his front and concentrated at Chattanooga, for a movement 
 under Bragg, in conjunction with Gen. E. Kirby Smith, into 
 Kentucky. Having succeeded in reaching the center of that 
 State by flanking Buell's army. General Bragg at once ordered 
 co-operation from Generals Price and Van Dorn, then in occu- 
 pation of central Mississippi. 
 
 General Bragg was so far misinformed as to the movements 
 of Grant's forces as to believe that Rosecrans, who had, in 
 obedience to Halleck's order, detached two divisions to Buell's 
 assistance, was himself at Nashville with his entire force, leaving 
 the way open for Price to march through middle Tennessee, and 
 join him in Kentucky. General Price, though better informed, 
 resolved to attempt the movement bv flanking Rosecrans at 
 Corinth, and by a rapid march, crossing the river north of 
 luka, place several days' march between himself and pursuit. 
 The movement was regarded as entirely feasible by both 
 Price and Van Dorn as, in case Rosecrans followed Price, he 
 would leave the coveted prize of Corinth undefended, and should 
 Grant attempt to intercept him he could move by way of 
 Chattanooga. Simultaneously with information of Price's 
 movement came a rumor that Van Dorn was advancing upon 
 Corinth. By rapid movements there would be time to over- 
 whelm Price before Van Dorn's arrival before Corinth, and by 
 Rosecrans' advice. General Ord's division marched eastward 
 from Corinth to attack Price at luka, while Rosecrans was to 
 cut off" his line of retreat. Price passed through Jacinto on 
 the loth of vSeptember and captured luka, delayhig to fill his 
 supply trains from the captured stores. 
 
 General Grant reached a point seven and a half miles west 
 of luka, with Ord's, Ross' and McKean's divisions of six 
 thousand men on the i8th, at which time Rosecrans' advance 
 was at Jacinto, from which place he despatched a courier in- 
 
12 
 
 forming Grant of his position, saying that he should march 
 the next morning at five o'clock and hoped to reach luka at 
 not later than four P. M. 
 
 Within ten minutes of the time specified, Rosecrans, with 
 Stanley's and Hamilton's divisions, encountered the enemy's 
 pickets, drove them in, and Price opened upon him at once 
 with grape and canister. 
 
 The battle was on, but where was Ord? He was in position 
 early, awaiting the order to attack, but received an order 
 instead to move up to within four miles, and await the sound 
 of Rosecrans' guns. The latter, listening anxiously for sup- 
 port from Ord, saw the Confederate troops advancing from 
 that direction to support the already overwhelming forces 
 in front. Price had become aware of what he termed in his 
 report "the overwhelming odds against him," and determined 
 to crush the force in his rear before that on his right could join it. 
 
 The battle raged till night between these two forces without 
 a gun having been fired from Ord's column. With desperate 
 determination, Price hurled his strongest brigades upon Rose- 
 crans' right, only to find them repulsed with heavy loss. Mass- 
 ing another and heavier column, he repeated the assault, 
 but in vain. The Confederates wavered and fell back, just 
 at the moment that the exultant Union troops found that 
 their last cartridge was expended. During the fight Rosecrans 
 was ubiquitous, exposing his life as freely as any of his soldiers. 
 Mounted upon a white horse he was seen dashing from right 
 to left, wherever his presence was needed to form a column 
 or improvise a means of defense. Under cover of darkness 
 Price moved out of the town and took up his line of "march 
 southward to join Van Dorn in an attack upon Corinth. 
 
 General Van Dorn had commanded the corps on Beaure- 
 gard's right at the siege of Corinth and was bitterly opposed 
 
13 
 
 to evacuating the city without a fight. Left in command of 
 the troops in Mississippi by General Bragg, he had used every 
 effort to organize a force with which to recapture that impor- 
 tant point. He had obtained maps of the country surrounding 
 it, and on the return of Price from luka was overjoyed to 
 receive from him a topographical map, made by a United 
 States engineer, containing a detailed description of the country, 
 with the location of every road and water-course in North 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Van Dorn's plan of attack depended for its success upon 
 taking Rosecrans by surprise. To this end he moved from 
 Holly Springs to Ripley, where he was joined by Price, and 
 thence by rapid marches in the direction of BoHvar, near which 
 place the main body of Grant's army was concentrated, leav- 
 ing Corinth to the right. To more successfully deceive his 
 enemy, he caused his men to work all night upon a bridge over 
 which his army must pass on its way to BoUvar. 
 
 Meantime, Rosecrans had returned to Corinth and resumed 
 work upon an inner line of intrenchments, mounting artillery, 
 keeping his cavalry out on every road upon which the enemy 
 could advance upon him. On the 2d of October his vigilance 
 was rewarded by the discovery of Van Dorn's column moving 
 on the Bolivar road. His first thought was that a good oppor- 
 tunity would be afforded to him to fall upon the enemy's rear 
 while he was engaged with the troops at that point, but his 
 efforts to place Corinth in a condition to resist attack were 
 not relaxed. His force consisted of four divisions of infantry 
 and artillery, under command of Generals Stanley, Hamilton, 
 McKean and Davies, 20,384 strong, and 2,300 cavalry under 
 Colonel Mizner. His information of the strength of the com- 
 bined armies of Van Dorn and Price led him to believe that it 
 was not less than 35,000, an opinion in which he afterwards 
 
H 
 
 felt himself sustained by the fact that he captured prisoners 
 from fifty-three regiments of infantry, eighteen of cavalry, 
 and sixteen batteries. 
 
 In his rei)ort Van Dorn places the entire strength of his 
 command at 22,000. Price's corps consisted of two divisions, 
 seven brigades, under command of Generals Hebert and Maury ; 
 Van Horn's of one division. General Lo veil's of three brigades, 
 commanded by Generals Rust, Villi pi gue and Bowen. It will 
 be observed that, provided Van Dorn's estimate is correct, the 
 contending forces were nearly equal in numerical strength. 
 
 Disposing his command so as best to meet the enemy should 
 he advance direct or attempt a flank movement, Rosecrans 
 enjoined upon all the utmost vigilance, and calmly awaited 
 the approach of the enemy. 
 
 The march northward, from Ripley to Pocahontas, was a 
 feint upon Bolivar. On the morning of the 3d of October 
 Van Dorn turned sharply to the east from the latter place, and 
 marched straight upon Corinth. He had fatigued his troops 
 to no purpose, for his watchful antagonist was fully apprised 
 of his coming, and ready to meet him. 
 
 Van Dorn's army came within reach of the Union pickets 
 by nine o'clock A. M., but lost much time in forming line of 
 battle, so that it was near noon when Davies, who was in ad- 
 vance, felt himself so pressed as to call for reinforcements. 
 But it was no part of General Rosecrans' plan to fight at the 
 outer works. Hisorders, however, were "to hold positions pretty 
 firmly, to develop the enemy's force." Davies fell back, and 
 Lovell pressed forward, when Price found his left flank attacked 
 so vigorously as to prevent co-operation, and the Confederates 
 contented themselves for the day with the capture of the outer 
 line of works. 
 
 Charges were subsequently preferred against General Van 
 
15 
 
 Dorn for his management of this campaign, by General Bowen, 
 one of the spccilications of which was that he did not press 
 forward into Corinth on the evening of the 3d, Bowen claiming 
 that Rosecrans received heavy reinforcements during the 
 night. The battle was fought throughout by the troops 
 already enumerated. 
 
 The night was spent by both commanders in forming their 
 lines — the one for attack, the other for defense. Van Dorn 
 formed a heavy column for attack upon the center, while 
 Rosecrans formed his lines upon his batteries so as to bring 
 Van Dorn's next attack within converging artillery fire. With 
 his matchless capacity for hard work, he felt no fatigue. He 
 sent for his division commanders and gave explicit instructions 
 to each, and going out among the camps he encouraged the boys 
 by quoting Barkis. 
 
 "Things is workin'," said he. 
 
 Before dayhght he was informed that the enemy was planting 
 a battery not over six hundred yards from Battery Robinett. 
 "Let them plant it," said the General. "It will be a used-up 
 battery when our guns open," a prediction that was verified 
 about daylight. 
 
 The magnificent charge of Price's cor])S at Corinth on the 
 4th of October has become historic. It compares with that 
 of Breckenridge at vStone's River, Thomas at Mission Ridge, 
 or Hood at Atlanta. 
 
 Sweeping forward in irresistible force, leaving its dead and 
 wounded upon the ground like grain behind a reaper, its ragged 
 front dashed down into the center of the town. vStormed at 
 with shot and shell and a torrent of minie balls, it halted only 
 inside of the fort, where, cowering under the guns from the 
 storm of cannon shot and musketry rained upon it from the 
 rear of the fort, it clung with desperate eagerness to turn them 
 upon the Union forces. 
 
i6 
 
 There are times in every hard-fought battle, when the ex- 
 ample of the general is worth a whole division of fresh troops. 
 It was so here. It lives in the memory of every soldier who 
 fought that day, how the magnificent form of Rosecrans was 
 seen in the thickest of the fight, rallying his men by his splendid 
 example until the charge was repulsed, and the torn and 
 bleeding columns of the Confederates retired from the field. 
 
 It was a glorious victory. A strong and confident enemy 
 had been defeated on a fair field, for after they had gained 
 position in the town the fighting was hand to hand. General 
 Rosecrans gave his exhausted troops a few hours in which to 
 prepare supper and take much-needed rest, then ordered pur- 
 suit. General McPherson arriving, with his brigade, just as 
 the column was forming, was given the advance, and came 
 up with the enemy at the Hatchie Bridge, when, after a brisk 
 skirmish with the rear- guard, the Confederates were driven 
 in a disordered mass toward Holly Springs. Now was the 
 opportunity to capture Vicksburg from the rear, and Rosecrans 
 knew it. He knew then by the instinct of a soldier what Con- 
 federate records have since revealed, that Van Dorn's army 
 comprised all the available troops in his department, and that, 
 demoralized as they were by defeat and rapid pursuit, they 
 could offer no sufllcient opposition to an advance of the Union 
 Army as far southward as they chose to march. 
 
 Pressing forward in pursuit, General Rosecrans despatched 
 Grant at Bolivar, stating the condition of affairs and urging 
 that supplies should be pushed forward to overtake him. 
 The Confederates passed through Holly vSprings and crossed 
 the Tallahatchie, offering no opposition to their vigorous 
 pursuers. While in the full tide of success, sweeping on toward 
 the Yalobusha River, Rosecrans was halted by a peremptory 
 order from Grant to return to Corinth. The order was obeved, 
 
17 
 
 but not without protest by the general, whose blood was up, 
 and as a consequence, in Grant's report of the engagement, 
 he passed by the battle of Corinth with a single clause, devot- 
 ing the iHost extravagant praise to the troops engaged in the 
 skirmish at Hatchie Bridge, and at the same time telegraphing 
 to Halleck to. have a favorite brigadier appointed major- 
 general before the reports of the battle of Corinth should 
 reach Washington. A coolness naturally sprang up between 
 the two major-generals, which increased as time went on, 
 enhanced probably by the reports brought to each by gossiping 
 staff-ofificers, anxious to curry favor with their several chiefs. 
 
 But if a clause in an official report was deemed sufficient 
 by the department commander in which to describe the severe 
 and hotly-contested battle of Corinth, the people demanded 
 a further account, and the country again rang with the praises 
 of General Rosecrans. 
 
 In the War Department his star was rapidly rising to its 
 zenith. A commander was required to relieve Gen. Don Carlos 
 Buell in command of the Army of the Cumberland, and Rose- 
 crans was selected. 
 
 He assumed command of that army on the 27th of October, 
 and almost his first act was to antagonize ithe War Department. 
 
 Halleck insisted that he should countermarch his army 
 from the vicinity of Bowling Green, where Buell had left it, 
 to Cumberland Gap, in pursuit of Bragg, who had retreated 
 into East Tennessee, and was at that moment on his way 
 around to Murfreesboro, within thirty miles of the advance 
 of the Union Army. 
 
 The occupation of East Tennessee had from the first been 
 an object dear to the heart of President Lincoln. General 
 Buell had been relieved of the command for persistently 
 refusing to follow Bragg (barefoot and hungry, for he had no 
 
i8 
 
 adequate transportation for such a movement), and when 
 Rosecrans declined to move into Kast Tennessee, as he said, 
 to meet an enemy who was moving as rapidly as possible to 
 meet him, the President reciuested Halleck to designate a 
 successor to Rosecrans. General Rosecrans replied to General 
 Halleck's note informing him of this in his usual manly, 
 straightforward fashion : 
 
 "My appointment to the conunand having been made with- 
 out any solicitation from me or my friends, if the President 
 continues to have confidence in the propriety of the selection, 
 he must permit me to use my judgment and be responsible 
 for the results; but if he entertains doubts, he ought at once 
 to appoint a commander in whom he can confide, for the good 
 of the service, and of the country." 
 
 The new commander now bent every effort to the thorough 
 organization of the different departments of his army. It had 
 been well drilled and disciplined by his predecessor, and was in 
 good fighting trim. He organized a topographical bureau and 
 an inspector-general's department; divided the army into three 
 grand divisions, the right wing under command of Maj.-Gen. 
 A. McD. McCook, the left wing commanded by Maj.-Gen. 
 Thomas L. Crittenden, and the center under Maj.-Gen. George 
 H. Thomas. 
 
 General Bragg had advanced as far as Murfreesboro in Nov- 
 ember and formed his army across the Chattanooga road, as if 
 to dispute any further advance of the Army of the Cumberland. 
 The gage of combat was accepted as soon as the completion of 
 the Louisville and Nashville Railroad warranted an advance by 
 giving promise of abundant supplies, and the battle of Stones 
 River was the result. The space given to this article will not 
 admit of a description of this desperately fought engagement. 
 For three days victory coquetted with each side before perching 
 
19 
 
 upon the Union banners. Bragg retreated sullenly from the 
 field, and made his first halt at Tullahoma and Shelby ville, 
 where he erected a Hue of works absolutely impregnable to 
 direct assault. A delay incomprehensible to the civilians who 
 had charge of the War Department, but easily accounted for by 
 mihtary students of the campaigns of the Civil War, followed the 
 first victory over the Confederate forces. The army moved, 
 however, when the commander willed, and not in the direction 
 which the enemy expected. As he lay at Tullahoma and 
 Shelbyville, Bragg's right was protected, as he supposed, by 
 rugged mountains, through which there were few roads, and 
 none of them favorable for artillery; his left was advanced so 
 as to compel a wide detour to enable the Union Army to reach 
 the railroad in his rear. The country around the left was more 
 open and intersected by good roads. To the surprise of all, 
 General Rosecrans selected the former route for the excellent 
 reason that he was not expected to do it. A quick dash through 
 Hoover's Gap by Wilder's incomparable brigade of mounted 
 infantry opened the way for the center. Further to the right 
 through Guy's gap. General Stanley forced a passage and 
 attacked Shelbyville with his cavalry, while Willich and Miller 
 seized Liberty Gap, and covered McCook's flank. The left 
 wing, by the most laborious march of all, moving clear around 
 the enemy's right, threatened his rear, and communications 
 with Chattanooga. There was no help for it — Bragg rr.ust go, 
 and go quickly, which he did, and middle Tennessee was cap- 
 tured without a battle, which must have been fought if, like less 
 skilful generals, the commander of the Army of the Cumber- 
 land had attacked in front, through an abatis, in mud up to the 
 knees of the men. ' 'This is the grandest campaign of your life," 
 exclaimed the usually imperturbable Thomas, as he seized the 
 hand of General Rosecrans after his return from the pursuit of 
 the enemy across Elk River. Still, it was lacking in the pyro- 
 
20 
 
 technics of the battlefield, and was lost to view amid the smoke 
 and carnage of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. 
 
 A good deal of spicy correspondence had passed in the mean- 
 time between General Rosecrans and vSecretary vStanton, in 
 which the former had on one occasion expressed his regret that 
 there was so little military knowledge at army headquarters in 
 Washington. It may well be imagined that the peppery Secre- 
 tary bided his time to strike a return blow which should crush 
 his adversary. 
 
 The opportunity came with Chickamauga, when the two 
 enemies of Rosecrans, the one General of the Army, and the 
 other Secretary of War, were all-powerful with the President. 
 
 West Tennessee held by a division of troops, and middle 
 Tennessee occupied by the Army of the Cumberland East 
 Tennessee was evidently the next objective. To accompUsh its 
 occupation, two expeditions were fitted out. The Army of the 
 Ohio, under General Burnside, was directed to move eastward, 
 across the Cumberland Mountains from Kentucky, to attack 
 General Buckner at Knoxville, while Rosecrans moved against 
 Bragg at Chattanooga. The Army of the Tennessee was lying 
 idle at Vicksburg, and little knowledge of the situation was 
 required at Washington to dictate the union of that army with 
 the Army of the Cumberland. 
 
 General Rosecrans' suggestions to this end, however, were, 
 as usual, unheeded, and against his judgment he obeyed the 
 peremptory order to move upon Chattanooga. Meantime, 
 General Bragg had determined to concentrate all his force upon 
 Rosecrans, knowing that the destruction of his army would 
 open the way for his unimjx'ded march upcMi the northern 
 States. To this end he recalled Buckner, who evacuated 
 East Tennessee, leaving Burnside an unmolested passage to 
 Knoxville; solicited and obtained a corps from the Anny of 
 Northern Virginia under General Longstreet, and prepared 
 
to meet his old antagonist with an overwhehning force. The 
 movement upon Chattanooga in all that goes to makeabrilhant 
 strategical march, must forever stand without a parallel in 
 the War of the Rebellion. 
 
 To attack Chattanooga direct, with a navigable river in its 
 front, was madness; to flank it was well nigh impossible. 
 Between Rosecrans' right and Bragg's left were two ranges 
 of mountains, impassable except by long and toilsome marches, 
 which would carry the Union Army so far southward as to 
 endanger his communications with Nashville. The busy brain 
 of the commander had perfected his plans, however, and they 
 were carried out by his skilful subordinates without a balk in 
 the arrangements, until the enemy, taking the alarm, had 
 evacuated Chattanooga, and marched southward to Lafayette, 
 beyond his extreme right. 
 
 The movement of the army with its artillery and supply 
 trains, over Raccoon and Lookout mountains, will always remain 
 a monument to the boldness of the commander and to the endur- 
 ance and discipline of his magnificent army. Artillery and 
 wagons were dragged for miles up almost inaccessible cHffs 
 by hand, over roads constructed by the Pioneer Corps, and 
 then lowered into the valleys. On the loth of September 
 the left wing of the army — the 21st Army Corps — under com- 
 mand of General Crittenden, marched around the nose of 
 lyookout Mountain into Chattanooga. Rapidly concentrating 
 his army in the Chickamauga Valley, the battle was fought 
 without support of any kind either from Burnside or Sherman — 
 both lying within supporting distance when the movement 
 began — and Chattanooga was won. 
 
 Common gratitude would have dictated a glowing general 
 order from army headquarters thanking the army and its 
 noble commander for the successful termination of so glorious 
 a campaign. 
 
A telegram from the Assistant vSecretary of War, who was 
 present at the battle and witnessed every movement from the 
 beginning to the end, would have set the country wild with 
 the praises of General Rosecrans. He might truthfully have 
 telegraphed as follows: "General Rosecrans has fought a ter- 
 rible battle in rear of Chattanooga. He has been compelled 
 to withdraw from the field, but Chattanooga is ours." Instead 
 of which, rushing in wild affright from the field with the first 
 fugitives, he telegraphed the defeat of the army. 
 
 The occasion had come, and the downfall of Rosecrans, long 
 decreed in the War Department, was near at hand. He was 
 permitted to remain in command a few weeks, long enough 
 to set in motion the plan subsequently carried out by his 
 illustrious successor, to capture Moccasin Point, and thus open 
 communication with his supply depot at Bridgeport, when he 
 was removed from command of the army he had thrice led to 
 victory. 
 
 He received the order reUeving him without a murmur. He 
 knew that history would vindicate him, and condemn his 
 enemies. More than all, he felt that consciousness of duty 
 well done, that goes far to assuage the deepest wounds to pride. 
 
 The war is ended, and the Union, purer and stronger by the 
 baptism of blood through which it has passed, better for all 
 work which the great Ruler of Nations has for it to accomplish, 
 stands to-day the peer of any upon earth. 
 
 Among the names of great and successful soldiers, to whose 
 skill in planning and executing great campaigns, to whose 
 courage and constancy under the most trying circumstances, 
 and to whose unswerving loyalty to the general Government 
 we, as a people, are indebted for this glorious consummation, none 
 will, as time goes on, outshine in the history of the War of the 
 Rebellion that of William Starke Rosecrans. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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