A Yankee view of the battle of Chickamauga.
--The
Chicago Trilame publishes the following extract from a private letter relative in the late
battle of Chickamauga.
The writer labors under the impression that the
Confederates were commanded by
Gen. Johnston, instead of
Gen. Bragg, who was in command:
‘
I think we ought to have bad, and did have, seventy-five thousand men and two hundred and seven pieces of artillery in action on Sunday, but I put the figures at the lowest notch, and you may be on their correctness.
Joe Johnston may possibly have had seventy-five thousand men under his command, but I do not think it, for if he had we would have been driven into the
Tennessee river,
so poorly were our forces handled. You cannot fail to notice the hamense amount of our artillery.--Of this we lost between thirty and fifty pieces.
I heard
General Mitchell say he thought our loss would not exceed thirty pieces, while come put it at fifty pieces.
The medical men say our loss in killed and wounded is between 11,000 and 12,000; while our loss in prisoners is between 5,000 and 7,000.
All our severely wounded were left in the enemy's hands, as well as the bodies of the slain on the field, for we were forced back a distance of
nine miles.
And all this horrid slaughter took place, or nearly all, between 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock on Sunday--two short hours.
I believe that the Rebellious in killed and wounded is as great, and perhaps greater than our own, and we have some 1,500 prisoners.
When
Rosecrans commenced his movement on
Chattanooga,
Bragg lay there with about 25,000 men, which was amply sufficient to hold the place against any force which might attack in front, on from the north side of the
Tennessee.
New old
Rosecrans's plan was to send
Crittenden's corps down to attack
Chattanooga in front, (that is, from the north side of the
Tennessee river.) while he, with
Thomas and
McCook, should cross
Lookout Mountain, and come in the rear of the town, cutting off
Bragg from all reenforcements, and making him either come out on the open field, and risk all on the fate of a single battle, when he had the choice of the ground and a vastly superior army, or else lie in his entrenchments at
Chattanooga and starve to death, as
Pemberton did at
Vicksburg.
Well, just as
Rosecrans had succeeded in making the movement,
Joe Johnston arrived with a few thousand men from
Mobile and took command, ordered the evacuation of the town, and commenced making a big show of falling back on
Rome or
Atlanta.
Rosecrans was completely fooled by this movement, and rushed with
General Thomas's corps into
Chattanooga (where he spent a couple of precious days in counting his heads, and saying his pater nesters with a Catholic
Archbishop.) while he sent
McCook's corps and the greater part of the cavalry still further south to flank
Rome, in case
Johnston should attempt to stop there.
Instead of this, as is now evident, he should have concentrated his forces, and beaten
Johnston before he received reinforcements from
Virginia.
Thus, you see, "Old Rosy" spent a week catching flies, when he ought to have been whaling
Johnston.
That wily Rebel no sooner discovered the movement of
McCook than he set about to "gobble" him, and threw a large portion of his forces, under
Polk, between
Thomas and
McCook, thus forcing him to retreat.
Then occurred one of the most terrific stampedes on record.
Our brigade was with
McCook, and brought up the rear, so I happen to known all about it. We retreated for forty-eight hours, and
scarcely stopping to cal.--sleeping was out of the question.
’
