CHATTANOOGA IN 1865.

A Paper read to the New York Commandery, October 2, 1889, by Brevet Major GEORGE G. HOPKINS, late U. S. V.

I SHALL only attempt to-night a brief sketch of a trip to that historic region, Chattanooga, just after the close of the war, in the early summer of 1865.

I will not enter into a description of the memorable engagements which bear this name. There are men here who took an active part in the struggles which have rendered this region famous, and who are more competent than I am to give an account of those military operations on which hung the fate of a nation.

Here were displayed to signal advantage the great qualities of generalship possessed by the commanding general, seconded by a galaxy of skilful generals such as has seldom been known in any age or country.

It was from this great victory that the Government began to divine where the genius was to be found who could bring this struggle to a successful issue, and General Grant was made commander of all the armies.

I had served my three years as a line officer, and had spent six months in West Virginia as surveyor. I was casting about for ways and means to prepare myself for my chosen profession, when I received a telegram offering me the position of paymaster of military railroads centring at Chattanooga. I accepted, and, soldier-like, packed my trunk, and the next train took me to the Southwest.

As an ex-officer of the eastern army, I was glad to have an opportunity to go over the ground already historic with the achievements of Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and Hooker.

My first halt was at Louisville, where I was compelled to

spend the night, as there were no night trains. My next stop brought me to Nashville.

This city, situated on the south bank of the Cumberland River, on a high limestone bluff, was anything but an attractive place in the summer of 1865. It had been a place of considerable strategical importance during the war, having been the base of supplies for Chattanooga during its military occupation. Many of the streets are laid out on the native limestone rock, which is not over hard, and pulverizes readily under heavy wagon wheels. The constant passage of wagon trains filled the air with an impalpable powder, which was drawn in with each breath, irritating the air passages, rendering the heat of a summer sun almost unbearable by day, and rest at night almost impossible.

I awaited with impatience the starting of the first train the morning after my arrival, taking the direct road over the Cumberland Mountains.

The train consisted only of box freight cars, with boards stretched from side to side for seats, windows being altogether wanting, the open doors served for light and ventilation. My only companions were half a dozen soldiers, and as there were no rules for passengers posted, we did exactly as we pleased. Finding we were passing through a most picturesque country, and the view from the door being unsatisfactory, I concluded to try the roof of the car, and was soon seated, with two of my fellow-travellers, on the brakeman's walk. We had to hold on for dear life, as neither road-bed nor cars were such as would be thought serviceable to-day.

We had ridden in this position two or three hours, enjoying the wild mountain scenery, when suddenly we found the train was entering a tunnel, which is at the highest point of the grade over the Cumberland Mountains. There was only one thing to be done, simply to lie down and hold on as best we could, and all came safely through. On emerging from the tunnel the grade descends very rapidly, and the road is carried on spiles, or trestle-work, with numerous bridges, the hillsides strewn with old wrecks of cars that had been thrown

from the tracks, twisted rails and charred ties giving ample evidence of the difficulty with which this line of road had been kept open during the period of active operations in this region. It would seem as if a company of natives should have been able to keep this road disabled unless every mile of it were guarded. Our route was southeasterly until we crossed the Alabama line, to get south of the Racoon Mountains, to Stevenson, where the road turns abruptly to the northeast. This is the junction of the two roads from Nashville, the longer route being by way of Columbia and Decatur. From Decatur to Nashville the road had been completely wrecked when General Grant assumed command at Chattanooga.

General Dodge was detailed to open this route. In the short space of forty days he constructed more than a hundred miles of railroad, with one hundred and eighty bridges, gathering most of his materials and implements from the surrounding country, and sustaining his eight thousand men by foraging. This was probably the most wonderful feat in railroad building executed during the war.

Ten miles from Stevenson the railroad crosses to the south of the Tennessee River, and passes under the point of Lookout into the Chattanooga Valley.

We found Chattanooga bearing the marks of war. The place was almost devoid of trees, and scattered among the dilapidated houses were tents in all directions, while on the east side of Cameron Hill, with its two remaining trees, were the white tents of the garrison and the temporary hospital buildings.

Before the siege this was a beautifully shaded city, and Cameron Hill on its west was well wooded. During the siege, supplies of wood, as well as provisions and forage, were exhausted. While a few days' rations could be made to last double that time, wood could only be had by first clearing the hill and then despoiling the city of its beautiful shadetrees.

The sufferings of Rosecrans's army have never been fully

appreciated. So hungry were the men that the corrals had to be guarded, to keep them from appropriating the grain, which was fed out sparingly to the few horses that were kept alive. Ten thousand horses, it is sad to record, starved to death during the siege.

The city presented a most dilapidated appearance. The roadways cut into deep ruts by the constant passage of army wagons, fences generally down, stumps of trees that had been felled on every hand, a tent here and a battered house there, added to the disorder of the scene. Yet the location of the city is charming, and the view on every hand grand and imposing.

Here it was that the great struggle between Grant and Bragg took place, which rescued this important position from its perilous situation. Here it was that Sherman, Thomas, Hooker, and others, under the direction of one clear head, displayed severally their great and varied qualities. Sherman was on the left to carry Missionary Ridge and drive the enemy from this strong position, the most difficult work of the day.

Thomas was in the centre, where his staying qualities would tell best, with his firm belief that if he were mancuvring according to strict tactical rules, he could not be beaten by an enemy who was fighting contrary to them. Thus they say he sat on his horse and would not move when the enemy were making their tremendous assaults upon his lines and were pressing them back. But as the troops fell back and found" Pap" Thomas sitting there on his horse, as calm as he would have been in a drawing-room, they stood firm too, and saved the centre.

On the right Hooker was flanking the troops who occupied the summit of Lookout Mountain, by ascending on the west side of the range and swinging round the point of the mountain, under the palisades, to cut off that portion of Bragg's army who, to save themselves from isolation, evacuated their position twenty-two hundred feet above sea level, which is often above the clouds.

The peculiarity of the mountain ranges in this locality is the palisades which crown most of them. The mountains ascend at an acute angle, until within from fifty to one hundred feet of the summit, where they break into perpendicular or overhanging bluffs; on the summits of these are arable plains.

The Lookout range comes to a point about twenty-two hundred feet high, at the base of which flows the Tennessee River, making just here the moccasin, which is an exact representation of the Indian shoe.

The summit plain of Lookout broadens as it extends south, and forms a table-land which is inhabited by a hardy set of farmers.

The road by which you ascend the mountain is several miles down the Chattanooga Valley, and you cross Chattanooga Creek, which lies in a deep gulley, by a high bridge.

The surrounding country was at this time infested by outlaws, and murders and robberies were of frequent occurrence. It had been reported that there was a ghost in this region who inhabited the banks of this creek.

I started to ride to the mountain one evening, and when my horse came to the bridge he refused to go over. I put spurs to him and attempted to force him over; when he got to the bridge, he reared up and came over backwards. It was with difficulty that I left the saddle and cleared the horse as he came over. I rolled over in the dust, and was up before the horse, unhurt, and caught him before he could get away. I backed him to the middle of the bridge, got on, and continued my journey. What frightened him I never could tell. He may have seen the reputed ghost. I did not. I reached the summit without further difficulty.

In riding from the point where the road reaches the summit to the north end of the plateau, in places you hear a distinct reverberation from the cave underneath, proving the cavity to be large, and surface shell comparatively thin.

The view from Point Lookout on a clear day is as grand and imposing as one could wish to see. To the north,