d one
hundred strong and it was said this was their first baptism of fire
and blood. General Gracie was a fine specimen of physical manhood
and a finished looking officer, and rode at the head of his column.
Reaching Kershaw, he dismounted, placed the reins of his horse over
his arm, and ordered his men to the battle. The enemy could not
withstand the onslaught of these fresh troops, and gave way, pursued
down the little dell in rear by the Alabamians. The broken lines
formed on the reserves that were holding Snodgrass Hill, and made an
aggressive attack upon Gracie, forcing him back on the opposite hill.

Twigg's Brigade, of the same division, came in on the left and gave
him such support as to enable him to hold his new line.

The fire of Longstreet's batteries from the angle down Thomas'
lines, forced that General to begin withdrawing his troops from their
entrenchments, preparatory to retreat. This movement being noticed by
the commanding General, Liddell's Division on the extreme right was
again ordered to the attack, but with no better success than in the
morning. The enemy had for some time been withdrawing his trains and
broken ranks through the gaps of the mountain in the direction
of Chattanooga, leaving nothing in front of the left wing but the
reserves of Granger and those of Crittenden. These held their ground
gallantly around Snodgrass Hill, but it was a self-evident fact to all
the officers, as well as the troops, that the battle was irretrievably
lost, and they were only fighting for time, the time that retreat
could be safely made under cover of darkness. But before the sun was
fairly set, that great army was in full retreat. But long before this
it was known to the brilliant Union commander that fate had played
him false--that destiny was pointing to his everlasting overthrow.
He knew, too, that the latter part of the battle, while brief and
desperate, the lurid cloud of battle settling all around his dead and
dying, a spectre had even then arisen as from the earth, and pointing
his bony fingers at the field of carnage, whispering in his ear that
dreaded word, "Lost!"

As night closed in upon the bloody scenes of the day, the Federal
Army, that in the morning had stood proud and defiant along the crests
and gorges of the mountain ridges, was now a struggling mass of
beaten and fleeing fugitives, or groups groping their way through the
darkness towards the passes that led to Chattanooga.

Of all th