,
and after a bloody battle, which will never be forgotten by either the
blue or the gray, took about two thousand prisoners and intrenched
himself on the mountain-side in full view of Chattanooga. This contest
took place in the rain and mist, and was so high up that nothing of it
could be seen from below because of the clouds. At night the moon came
out through the scattering rain, and hundreds of victorious camp-fires
blazed at as many different points, telling of the victory gained.

Bragg was now almost at his wit's end. He had lost at Tullahoma, gained
nothing on the Chickamauga, failed in his siege of Chattanooga, and it
looked as if the remnant of his command was to be scattered to the four
winds of heaven. He had made some mistakes, officers under him had
failed to carry out his commands, and now, when it was too late, he
bitterly regretted having allowed a portion of his soldiers to move on,
to fight elsewhere.

The dawning of day, November 25, saw a hundred flags with the stars and
stripes floating from the peaks of Lookout Mountain, and Hooker prepared
to make a descent and sweep in the direction of Rossville Gap. In the
meantime Bragg marched his brigades along Missionary Ridge, his idea
being to either overwhelm Sherman or seize the railroad, which is not
definitely known. He had been driven out of Chattanooga Valley, and it
was now a question of fight or leave Chickamauga Valley.

Sherman was in need of reenforcements, not having brought all of his men
over the stream, and Howard marched the Eleventh corps to join him.
Sherman began, without delay, a furious assault on Bragg's right, and
leaving the knoll upon which he was intrenched, swept up that upon which
the enemy rested.

The line of battle, two miles in length, was now clearly defined, and at
half past three in the afternoon a general advance was ordered. The
Union skirmishers encountered at first a series of rifle-pits. The
orders had been to take these, and nothing more was expected. The battle
waged with great fury, and soon the Confederates were seen to waver and
abandon first one pit and then another.

"Let us go on! Down with the enemy!" was the battle-cry, and no sooner
were the pits gained, than the Union soldiers leaped over them and began
the steep ascent of the mountain before them, the Confederates from the
pits fleeing wildly in all directions, and a great number being made
prisoners.

The peril connected with the storming of Mis