John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[284] movements of the troops. We arrived at Bridgeport at noon Monday, but instead of finding all arrangements completed, Hooker was neither there in person nor were his troops ready to begin the movement till sunrise the next morning. We got off at sunrise the next day, reached Shellmound by 10.30 A. M., and Whitesides by night. On the way we inspected the coal-mines and the Nickajack caves. The following day the column, with but little skirmishing, went into camp at Wauhatchie, within a few miles of the bridge which Smith, by a brilliant series of operations, had laid at Brown's Ferry. Instead, however, of remaining with Hooker, we cautioned him against a surprise, and proceeded by way of the new bridge to Chattanooga, and were thus the first to use the shorter “cracker line,” which was to play such an important part in relieving the army from want and preparing the way for future victories. We arrived at headquarters after dark, and at once reportedly Hooker's exposed position, urging that he should be ordered to withdraw to the bridge that night. We pointed out that his camp was within cannon-shot of Lookout Mountain, and that the enemy would doubtless fall upon it in force before daylight. Grant was both provoked and anxious. He had but a poor opinion of Hooker at best, and neither the incident at Stevenson nor our report had diminished his anxiety. We had done all we could to convince Hooker that he was in danger, as had Hazen, who was in command at the bridge-head, but Grant sent no further orders, and Hooker did not move. The temptation was too great for the enemy, and the consequence was the bloody affair of Wauhatchie, which took place between midnight and four o'clock next morning,¹ at the cost of several hundred men killed, wounded, and prisoners.