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

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[288] Lookout Mountain rise above the mist floating over Chattanooga Creek. Upon the top of the mountain a spot appears in relief against the sky: the Union staff officers, whose field-glasses are soon trained to that spot, have readily recognized the starry banner. Grant, who has just taken a position on the knob of Indian Hill with Thomas, Granger, Wood, and some other important personages, such as General Hunter, General Meigs, quartermaster-general, and Mr. Dana, assistant Secretary of War, is thus made aware of retreat on the part of the enemy's left. The national emblem has been planted on Pulpit Rock by some soldiers of the Eighth Kentucky, whom Whitaker had sent out as a reconnoitring-party before daylight. Hooker, disengaged on that side, has only to ascend the left bank of Chattanooga Creek to fall in line on the right of Granger. But before setting his troops in motion he deems it necessary to reconnoitre the banks of this stream, now hidden from view by the fog. It will not be long ere new orders shall modify the role which has been assigned to him.

As soon as daylight enabled him to take in at a glance the vast battlefield of which he occupied the centre, Grant recognized the error which he was induced to commit in the evening of the preceding day by the report, no doubt too vague, emanating from Sherman. He saw on the north of the tunnel the enemy's forces strongly posted in front of his lieutenant. If the latter does not succeed in dislodging them, the direct attack on Missionary Ridge by the Army of the Cumberland cannot take place, for it must be prepared by the turning movement of the Fifteenth corps. When he announced to Sherman that Thomas would begin the fight at an early hour, it was with the conviction that this turning movement was already half accomplished, and that the Fifteenth corps would soon reach the head-waters of Citico Creek. He is so engrossed with his plan, in accordance with which the Army of the Cumberland is to be set in motion only after the first success by the left wing, that he does not even think of recalling this essential condition to Sherman, to whom he confides all his projects. But if the enemy's right, thanks to the inactivity of Thomas, holds its own until nightfall, if Sherman cannot throw it back sufficiently to the southward to bar Bragg out of the road to