hand. The curtain had only gone down on an act; the
drama itself had not been played out.

Bragg advanced to besiege Chattanooga, and Rosecrans's communications
were so imperfect that his troops were put on short rations. On the
other hand, Mr. Lincoln bestirred himself vigorously. He promptly sent
Sherman from the West, and Hooker from the East, each with considerable
reinforcements, en route for the beleaguered town. Also he saw plainly
that, whether by fault or misfortune, the usefulness of Rosecrans was
over, and on October 16 he put Thomas in place of Rosecrans,[47] and
gave to General Grant the command of the Military Division of the
Mississippi, including the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and
the Tennessee. Grant at once telegraphed to Thomas to hold Chattanooga
at all hazards; to which Thomas replied: "We will hold the town till we
starve!" Grant well knew that they were already getting very hungry. He
showed his usual prompt energy in relieving them; and a little fighting
soon opened a route by which sufficient food came into the place.

It was now obvious that the decisive conflict between the two armies,
which had so long been striving for the advantage of strategic position,
and fighting in hostile competition, was at last to occur. Each had its
distinctive advantage. The Federals were led by Grant, with Sherman,
Thomas, Sheridan, and Hooker as his lieutenants,--a list which may
fairly recall Napoleon and his marshals. On the other hand, the
Southerners, lying secure in intrenched positions upon the precipitous
sides and lofty summits of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, seemed
invulnerably placed. It does not belong to this narrative to describe
the terrific contest in which these two combatants furiously locked
horns on November 24 and 25. It was Hooker's brave soldiers who
performed the conspicuous feat which was conclusive of victory. Having,
by command, stormed the first line of rifle-pits on the ascent, upon the
Confederate left, they suddenly took the control into their own hands;
without orders they dashed forward, clambered upward in a sudden and
resistless access of fighting fury, and in an hour, emerging above the
mists which shrouded the mid-mountain from the anxious view of General
Grant, they planted the stars and stripes on top of Lookout Mountain.
They had fought and won what was poetically christened "the battle above
the clouds." Sherman, with seven divisions, had meanwhile