class="sc">a.m., in time to witness the burning of the depot building and the greater portion of the supplies. A short distance beyond, the enemy was found partially intrenched, but was speedily forced to retreat. He was pursued and overtaken at dark, when a sharp conflict ensued, but the darkness covered his escape. In the morning Davis reached Graysville and found himself in the rear of Hooker's command. Gen. Howard advanced through Parker's Gap further east and detached a column to destroy railroad communication between Bragg and Longstreet. These movements terminated the pursuit of the enemy.

Gen. Burnside's condition was very critical and Gen. Grant deemed his relief of more importance than the pursuit of Bragg. He therefore directed Gen. Sherman to give his troops a rest of one day before starting to raise the siege of Knoxville. In addition to his own three divisions Gen. Grant gave him Howard's and Granger's corps and Davis' division of the 14th corps. Gen. Hooker was ordered to remain at Ringgold until Nov. 30, to cover Gen. Sherman's movement towards Knoxville and keep up the semblance of pursuit.

It is probable that Gen. Grant had 60,000 men in action in the battle of Chattanooga, and Gen. Bragg 40,000. The former had thirteen divisions including two detached brigades, and the latter had eight divisions. Gen. Bragg's loss in killed and wounded was between 2500 and 3000 men. He lost by capture 6142 men, forty-two guns, sixty-nine gun carriages, and 7000 stand of small arms. His loss in material was immense, part of which he destroyed in his flight, but a large portion which was uninjured fell to the Union army. The aggregate losses of the armies of the Cumberland and Tennessee were 753 killed, 4722 wounded, and 349 missing, making a total of 5824. These losses were small compared with those of other battles of similar proportions, and very small in view of the fact that the enemy generally fought behind intrenchments.

Chattanooga was a very important position for defense or aggression. Fortified on its outer lines by ranges of mountains, after the battle of Chickamauga it had been made strong by intrenchments, forts and redoubts, and heavy guns. Situated at the confluence of several streams and diverging valleys, and especially as the gateway of Georgia, it was the natural base for an invasion of the Gulf states from the north. This position had been the objective point of the army of the Cumberland for a long time, and as a result of a battle compassing all the elements of the most brilliant warfare, it fell into its possession when the troops reached the crest of Missionary Ridge. The issue of the battle produced a startling surprise throughout the South. Gen. Bragg had said that the Ridge ought to have been held by a skirmish line against an assaulting column, but no skirmish line could have held Missionary Ridge against even a portion of the brave men who dashed up its steep acclivity. The moral forces were with the assaulting columns. The battle had been opened by the splendid charge of Wood's division capturing Orchard Knob, and Lookout Mountain had been wrested from the enemy by Gen. Hooker in such a way as to change the martial tone of each army. Those assaulting Missionary Ridge had Chickamauga to avenge and Lookout Mountain to surpass, and the firm and resolute sweep of the charging column for more than a mile expressed in advance the resistless character of the attack. When fifty battle flags forming the foremost line approached the crest, the Confederate soldiers knew that they would wave over their defenses or those who bore them, and many of the 20,000 men who followed would fall. The men who fled had proved themselves brave on other fields and were perhaps less to blame than their impassive general, who had failed to perceive the ruling conditions of the battle. The loss of more than 20 per cent in the two central divisions in a contest of less than an hour shows that the enemy did not yield his position without a struggle. There was a panic, but its cause was not mere fear but the overwhelming impression that resistance was useless.

The battle of Chickamauga was fought on Sept. 19 and 20, 1863. After the battle of Chattanooga it was found that many of the Union dead were left unburied on the field of Chickamauga, and on Nov. 27 the brigade of Col. Wm. Grose of the 4th corps was detailed to proceed to that field and bury the dead. Col. Grose found that on the left of the line the dead had not been sufficiently covered, that toward the center and right few of our dead were covered at all, and that west of the road from Lee and Gordon's mills to Rossville but few burials had been made of either party. All good clothing had been stripped from the bodies. He buried 400 which had been the prey of animals for more than two months. He had not time to examine the entire field.

The first permanent National Cemetery for soldiers established by military order was the one founded by Gen. Geo. H. Thomas near Chattanooga. During the battle a reserve force, in line over a hill near the field position of Gen. Thomas, revealed its beautiful contour and suggested its use as a National Cemetery. This hill is located equidistant from Cameron Hill, which rises abruptly from the Tennessee river where it turns towards Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in the east, and is central between Gen. Hooker's point of attack on the mountain and Gen. Sherman's on the northern summit of Missionary Ridge. During the war it was known as Bushey Knob.

On Dec. 25, 1863, Gen. Thomas issued a general order of which the following is an extract:—