The Army of the Cumberland [101]
On the arrival of Hooker with the Eleventh and Twelfth Army Corps at Nashville, Rosecrans directed him to take position on the line of the Chattanooga Railroad, securing that road from the attacks of the rebel cavalry while supplies were being accumulated at Stevenson awaiting the opening of communication with the army at Chattanooga. Without driving back the entire of Bragg's army in Lookout and Chattanooga Valleys, it was impossible to use the railroad from Bridgeport east in bringing up supplies. The wagon-trains could no longer be depended on, and, under the spur of necessity, Rosecrans was preparing a plan to utilize the river with boats. 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