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November, 1863

24-25-After the battle of Chickamauga, Grant superceded Rosecrans and at once went to Chattanooga. General Hooker with twenty-three thousand reinforcements, was sent to his aid from the army of the Potomac, while Sherman hurried on to the same point, by forced marches, from Iuka, two hundred miles distant. Hooker's two army corps were transferred by rail a distance of eleven hundred and ninetytwo miles in seven days, an unprecedented feat. Grant fearing that Thomas, who meantime held command in Chattanooga, might surrender before the arrival of reinforcements, telegraphed him to hold fast, and received the memorable reply, "I will stay till I starve." On November 24, Hooker attacked the fortifications on Lookout Mountain, called "the battle above the clouds," but which Grant declares to be all poetry, there having been no action there worthy the name of battle. Hooker next day having pressed on to Missionary Ridge, and Sherman having hammered the Northern flank, the Confederate line in front of Grant was weakened to repel these attacks. Grant saw his opportunity, and flung Thomas' corps on the Confederate centre. The movement having succeeded, Grant ordered a charge along the whole front, and in a brief time one of the most important battles of the war was decided. The Union forces now controlled East Tennessee and opened a road to Virginia, the two Carolina's, Georgia and Alabama.