Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[286] Summertown road, so as to cut off his retreat if he is delayed at the top of the mountain. Hooker will hold himself in readiness to advance into the valley of Chattanooga Creek to support Granger's right when Thomas shall have set on the march the Fourth and the Fourteenth corps.

During the night the north wind dissipates as by enchantment the clouds and the fogs; the weather is piercingly cold, the stars shine out with particular brilliancy, and the bivouac-fires, extending from the hills crowned by Sherman to the positions held by Hooker, trace with a bright streak the immense line of battle occupied by Grant's forces. The lights displayed on the side of Lookout Mountain, the summit of which is shrouded in darkness, acquaint the two armies with the success which Hooker has just achieved.

Now Bragg must part with his illusions: he understands the danger which threatens him, and also the weakness of his line. Toward sunset he hastened to the banks of the Chattanooga Creek, and it was after having himself recognized the impossibility of defending any longer Lookout Mountain that he gave orders to evacuate. It is positively stated that in the night, yielding to General Hardee's counsel, he thought of abandoning Missionary Ridge to cross the Chickamauga without giving battle. But it is too late, and, whether he has confidence or not in the strength of his position, he must defend it as best he can. Early in the morning Hardee's corps shall be massed on the right. Cleburne's division is in front of Sherman. Walker's division, the command of which, owing to his illness, the general has left to Gist, is posted more to the rear, even above the tunnel, in a sort of natural military park formed by a depression on the ridge. Stevenson and Cheatham, who have reached before daybreak the neighborhood of Rossville, are on the march to join Hardee by following the crest of the mountain. The troops of the former are almost intact; those of the latter have been cruelly reduced in battle. Stevenson and Cheatham will come on the north and the south of the gap to fill the space which Hardee's move beyond the tunnel has left vacant on the right of Breckinridge's corps. The latter occupies the three narrow ledges on the slopes of Missionary Ridge. His outposts are in the trenches at the