第81章

And now it bore full fruit.The quiet, patient soldier, who from his first day's service in Kentucky had never swerved a line from the strict performance of his duty to his Government, according to his oath, without reference to self, had now met his reward.His fame had steadily grown and rounded from the time he gained the first Federal victory in the West, at Mill Springs, up to the battle of Chickamauga, where he saved the Army of the Cumberland to the nation.He had always been the main stay of that army, holding the command of the centre--either nominally or actually the second in command.Upon his judgment and military skill every commander of that army depended, and no movement was made without his approbation.

Yet so modest was he that his face would color with blushes when his troops cheered him, which they did at every opportunity; and so diffident, that, prior to the battle of Chickamauga, he doubted his ability to handle large bodies of troops upon the battlefield, and for this reason refused to accept the command of that army, just prior to Perryville, when tendered him.His kind consideration for the feelings of others was one of his marked characteristics.

With a pure mind and large heart, his noble soul made him one of the greatest of Nature's noblemen--a true gentleman.The experience of Chickamauga ripened his powers and developed him to his full height.As the General who won the first victory in the West, who saved an army by his skill and valor, and who was the only General of the war on either side able to crush an army on the battlefield, George H.Thomas, "the true soldier, the prudent and undaunted commander, the modest and incorruptible patriot," stands as the model American soldier, the grandest figure of the War of the Rebellion.

One of Grant's first acts on taking command was to telegraph Thomas to hold Chattanooga at all hazards.The commander who had seen his troops on less than half rations for nearly a month, with steadily approaching signs of starvation, hardly needed an intimation that what had been gained by the sacrifice on Chickamauga's field was not to be yielded up without a struggle.Thomas replied "We will hold the town till we starve." On the 24th, Grant, in company with Thomas and W.F.Smith, made a personal inspection across the river of the situation, with reference to carrying out the plan of Rosecrans for the opening of the road by Brown's Ferry, and approving of it, Thomas was directed to proceed to execute it.

This plan required the greatest secrecy of movement, otherwise Longstreet's entire command would resist the landing, and contemplated the co-operation of Hooker's moving up from Bridgeport, holding the road to Kelley's Ferry.The latter was to meet a force sent from the town down the river in pontoons under cover of night, which was to seize the landing on the left bank of the river, driving back the rebel pickets and fortifying their position, and then swinging the bridge across the river.Thomas says in his official report of the battle of Wauhatchie, that "preliminary steps had already been taken to execute this vitally important movement before the command of the Department devolved on me." Thomas on the 23d ordered Hooker to concentrate the Eleventh Corps, and Geary's division of the Twelfth Corps at Bridgeport and sent him instructions as to his movements, and directed him to advance as soon as possible, co-operating with the force from Chattanooga.Hooker was also ordered to move into Lookout Valley, and to protect the bridge when laid from any attack by Longstreet in that direction.Thomas also sent two brigades under Palmer to co-operate with Hooker.Palmer moved across the river to Brown's Ferry, and then took the road through Whitesides to Rankin's Ferry, establishing himself securely at these points, protecting the river communication from attack from the south.Thomas placed W.F.Smith in charge of the expedition, and detached Turchin's and Hazen's brigades, with three batteries under Major John Mendenhall.Smith was directed to organize a picked force, armed from these brigades, to be divided into fifty squads of twenty-four men each, under the command of an officer, who were to float down the river in pontoons that night--a distance by the bends of the river of some nine miles.The boats were placed under the charge of Colonel T.R.Stanley of the Eighteenth Ohio, the bridge to be placed in position under direction of Captain P.

V.Fox, First Michigan Engineers.The troops under Hazen were to take the gorge and hills to the left, and Turchin was to extend from the gorge down the river.Turchin in command of the remainder of the troops marched across Moccasin Point to the ferry, where they were to cross in the same boats, supporting the troops already landed, when the position was to be strongly fortified and held by them until the arrival of Hooker.

At midnight the troops who were to take part in the expedition were marched to the river and placed in the boats manned by crews with oars, and on two flat boats.The force that marched under Turchin moved out under cover of dense woods over the point to the ferry, where they remained in readiness to cover the landing of the troops coming down the river.The artillery accompanied this part of the command and remained under cover.