A new one had been built at Bridgeport and another captured at Chattanooga had been repaired.By thus using the river he could secure his supplies over a wagon-road of only eight miles from Kelley's Ferry, via Brown's Ferry.The course of the Tennessee River at Chattanooga is due west; after passing the town it flows south to the foot of Lookout Mountain, from which point it then sweeps, after a short curve to the northwest, due north, forming here what is known as "Moccasin Point." Crossing the river at the town, a road leads southwest across this point on to the other side, where the river, as it sweeps north, is reached at Brown's Ferry.Shortly after passing Brown's Ferry, the river again makes a sharp bend to the south, forming another point of land running northwardly.Across this point on the east bank, as the river passes south, is Kelley's Ferry.At the extreme angle of this bend the river rushes through the mountains, which here crowd down closely, forming a narrow channel through which the waters rush headlong.
This chasm is known as the "Suck." The velocity of the water is so great that steamers in high water cannot stem the current at this point, which necessitated the landing of supplies at Kelley's Ferry, and then hauling them over land across the bridge at Brown's Ferry to Chattanooga.
Immediately after the battle, under orders from the War Department, the Twentieth and Twenty-first Army Corps were consolidated and designated the Fourth Army Corps and Gordon Granger was placed in command.McCook and Crittenden were relieved from the command of these corps and ordered North to await a "Court of Inquiry," "upon their conduct on September 19th and 20th."By War Department order of October 16th, the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee were constituted "The Military Division of the Mississippi," under the command of Grant.By the same order Rosecrans was relieved of the command of the Department and Army of the Cumberland, and Thomas was assigned to that command.
Halleck, in his report of operations for the year 1863, says this change was made on the recommendation of General Grant.These orders were promulgated on the 19th.
On Rosecrans's return from a visit to Brown's Ferry and Williams's Island on the 19th, where he had been with William F.Smith, his chief engineer, making his plans for bringing supplies to that point, he found the order awaiting him relieving him of his command.
Quietly making his preparations for his departure that night over the mountains to Stevenson, he wrote out his farewell order, to be printed and issued the next day, and, without even bidding his staff good-bye, placed Thomas in command and started for his home in Cincinnati.Rosecrans, in the summer of 1862, was under Grant at Iuka and Corinth.Here some hasty criticism made by him brought him into collision with Grant, which now bore fruit.
When it was known that Rosecrans had been relieved, and that he had left the army for the north, there was universal regret that the troops that had loved and trusted him should no longer follow his skillful leadership.Every soldier in his army felt that he had a personal friend in "Old Rosy." His troops never for a moment faltered in their devotion to him or confidence in him.They felt that he had been made the victim of a foolish interpretation of an order that brought ruin and disaster upon his army, for which he was not responsible, but for which he was made to suffer.
General Rosecrans, to his subordinates, was one of the most genial of men.Kind and good-natured, he at times failed to act as decisively as occasion required, deterred by the fact that, should he do so, some of his subordinates would suffer.His restless activity led him to give attention to details that he should have been entirely relieved of by his subordinates.But no amount of work daunted him.He lived almost without rest and sleep, and would wear out two sets of staff officers nightly, and then, if occasion required it, be up and out before daylight.To his superiors he unfortunately allowed his high spirit to get the better of his judgment, and many times when he was in the right he ruined his position by his hasty temper.His fame, despite his enemies--and no general in the field had stronger nor more unscrupulous ones--as the greatest strategist of the war, is permanently fixed in history.
What it might have been had he not been hampered, annoyed, and insulted as no other commanding general was at any time by both the Secretary of War and the General-in-Chief, is merely problematical.
Personally, he regarded all this as mere "incidents of the service,"and strove to the best of his ability to do his whole duty to his country.His combination with Thomas--Rosecrans to plan brilliant campaigns, with Thomas's great abilities to aid him in carrying them out--made the Army of the Cumberland the great aggressive force moving on the centre, gaining territory after each campaign.But it was as well for Rosecrans and the service that he was relieved when he was, with the combination of the armies under Grant.He had faithfully performed his duty up to this time, but now the surroundings were so changed that both for his sake and the good of the service the change was a fitting one to be made.Rosecrans could never again serve as a subordinate, and as the change was determined on, when Grant arrived it was as well for Rosecrans to retire.
When Anderson in 1861 applied for George H.Thomas to be one of the brigadier-generals to accompany him to Kentucky, to help him in the task he was set to accomplish there, Mr.Lincoln told him he was afraid to give the order for Thomas, as he was a Southerner, and from Virginia.Anderson and Sherman, who were present, both responded in the strongest terms, vouching for Thomas's earnest patriotism and deep devotion to the Union, and the order was given.
