Thursday, November 30, 2017

Major-General Joseph Hooker to Edwin M. Stanton, October 11, 1863

STEVENSON, ALA., October 11, 1863.     
(Received 2.20 a.m., 12th.)
Hon. E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War:

If you projected the late movement of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps you may justly claim the merit of having saved Chattanooga to us. As soon as the rebels found that it was not prudent to attack that position they determined to throw a heavy force upon the communications, and destroy them and the depots, and thus starve out the army. They hoped to do this before my force came up, and undoubtedly would have succeeded but for a prompt movement on our part. As it was the rebel raiders made sad havoc on our wagon trains, and when they struck the railroad point after point was abandoned, oftentimes without the discharge of a shot in their defense. They cut off the Second Division of the Twelfth Corps, and the balance were under such headway they could not be stopped until brought up by the Tennessee River at Bridgeport. They were soon in their right places, but most of them without artillery, baggage, transportation, or horses for field officers — very much as I found myself when I embarked in Pope's campaign. The enemy captured some small parties, destroyed bridges at Duck and Stone's Rivers, and interrupted all communication for four days, but it is now restored. Our cavalry is in full pursuit of the raiders, and we have gained decided advantage over them. Last accounts they were making for Columbia.

JOSEPH HOOKER,
Major-General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 30, Part 3 (Serial No. 52), p. 291

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