Doc. 18.-the capture of Lookout Mountain.
General Geary's congratulatory order.
headquarters Second division, Twelfth army corps, Wauhatchie, Tenn., Dec. 3, 1838.
General orders, No. 79.
A most important era in the present contest for national existence has just been passed; battles, culminating in grandest success, fought and won, and the part taken by the troops of this division in the engagements by which it has been marked, having reflected so much honor upon themselves as individuals, and upon the command to which they are attached, the General commanding cannot refrain from alluding to these services in terms which shall convey, in some measure, his warm appreciation of their valor, their patriotism, and their noble endurance of severe hardships, while engaged in the arduous campaign.
With heartfelt pride he reverts to their prowess in the assaults which made them the heroes of Lookout Mountain on the twenty-fourth ult., and to their gallant conduct upon Missionary Ridge on the twenty-fifth. Pea Vine Creek on the twenty-sixth, and at Ringgold, upon Taylor's Ridge, on the twenty-seventh.
The conquest of Lookout Mountain will, associated with the emblematic “White Star” of the conquerors, stand out as prominently in history as do the beetling cliffs of that Titanic eminence upon the horizon.
For these services he tenders them his heartfelt thanks; for their endurance, his sympathy; for their bereavement in the loss of so many gallant officers, and so many brave and noble men, his condolence.
In all the division death could not have selected braver spirits, nobler hearts, than those who have laid their lives a sacrifice upon their country's altar in the recent engagements with the rebel forces.
He assures them that their gallant conduct has gained for them the high esteem and appreciation of the commanding generals.
It behooves us to remember prayerfully that the hand of the Omnipotent Architect of the Universe is visible in our great victories, and that He who holds in his hands the destinies of nations has, in his goodness, answered the humble petitions, for success to crown our arms, which ascended from anxious hearts to his heavenly throne.
By command of 