Personal Memoirs of General U.S. Grant, vol 2 | Page 8

expected from me in response. I was relieved, however, the
people assembled having apparently heard enough. At all events they
commenced a general hand-shaking, which, although trying where
there is so much of it, was a great relief to me in this emergency.
From Nashville I telegraphed to Burnside, who was then at Knoxville,
that important points in his department ought to be fortified, so that
they could be held with the least number of men; to Admiral Porter at
Cairo, that Sherman's advance had passed Eastport, Mississippi, that
rations were probably on their way from St. Louis by boat for
supplying his army, and requesting him to send a gunboat to convoy
them; and to Thomas, suggesting that large parties should be put at
work on the wagon-road then in use back to Bridgeport.
On the morning of the 21st we took the train for the front, reaching
Stevenson Alabama, after dark. Rosecrans was there on his way north.
He came into my car and we held a brief interview, in which he
described very clearly the situation at Chattanooga, and made some
excellent suggestions as to what should be done. My only wonder was
that he had not carried them out. We then proceeded to Bridgeport,

where we stopped for the night. From here we took horses and made
our way by Jasper and over Waldron's Ridge to Chattanooga. There had
been much rain, and the roads were almost impassable from mud,
knee-deep in places, and from wash-outs on the mountain sides. I had
been on crutches since the time of my fall in New Orleans, and had to
be carried over places where it was not safe to cross on horseback. The
roads were strewn with the debris of broken wagons and the carcasses
of thousands of starved mules and horses. At Jasper, some ten or twelve
miles from Bridgeport, there was a halt. General O. O. Howard had his
headquarters there. From this point I telegraphed Burnside to make
every effort to secure five hundred rounds of ammunition for his
artillery and small-arms. We stopped for the night at a little hamlet
some ten or twelve miles farther on. The next day we reached
Chattanooga a little before dark. I went directly to General Thomas's
headquarters, and remaining there a few days, until I could establish my
own.
During the evening most of the general officers called in to pay their
respects and to talk about the condition of affairs. They pointed out on
the map the line, marked with a red or blue pencil, which Rosecrans
had contemplated falling back upon. If any of them had approved the
move they did not say so to me. I found General W. F. Smith
occupying the position of chief engineer of the Army of the
Cumberland. I had known Smith as a cadet at West Point, but had no
recollection of having met him after my graduation, in 1843, up to this
time. He explained the situation of the two armies and the topography
of the country so plainly that I could see it without an inspection. I
found that he had established a saw-mill on the banks of the river, by
utilizing an old engine found in the neighborhood; and, by rafting logs
from the north side of the river above, had got out the lumber and
completed pontoons and roadway plank for a second bridge, one flying
bridge being there already. He was also rapidly getting out the
materials and constructing the boats for a third bridge. In addition to
this he had far under way a steamer for plying between Chattanooga
and Bridgeport whenever we might get possession of the river. This
boat consisted of a scow, made of the plank sawed out at the mill,
housed in, and a stern wheel attached which was propelled by a second

engine taken from some shop or factory.
I telegraphed to Washington this night, notifying General Halleck of
my arrival, and asking to have General Sherman assigned to the
command of the Army of the Tennessee, headquarters in the field. The
request was at once complied with.

CHAPTER XLI.
ASSUMING THE COMMAND AT CHATTANOOGA--OPENING A
LINE OF SUPPLIES--BATTLE OF WAUHATCHIE--ON THE
PICKET LINE.
The next day, the 24th, I started out to make a personal inspection,
taking Thomas and Smith with me, besides most of the members of my
personal staff. We crossed to the north side of the river, and, moving to
the north of detached spurs of hills, reached the Tennessee at Brown's
Ferry, some three miles below Lookout Mountain, unobserved by the
enemy. Here we left our horses back from the river and approached the
water on foot. There was a picket station of the enemy on the opposite
side, of about twenty men,