Can it be ending so soon?

My goodness, Confederate History Month is rushing to a close, and there is so much we haven't talked about - Jeb Stuart's comeuppance at the Battle of Brandy Station, the last Confederate General to surrender, the Irish Confederates, the Battle of Bentonville - we've barely touched on the Western Campaign...

My personal favorite there is the Battle of Missionary Ridge, in which a spontaneous and disorganized but determined Union frontal assault carried a position that even Grant had thought impregnable.  The attack was originally ordered by Grant as a diversion, but as the Union troops cleared out the rifle pits on the lower parts of the ridge, they came under fire from above and apparently decided on their own to seize the heights.



Grant:

I watched their progress with intense interest. The fire along the rebel line was terrific. Cannon and musket balls filled the air: but the damage done was in small proportion to the ammunition expended. The pursuit continued until the crest was reached, and soon our men were seen climbing over the Confederate barriers at different points in front of both Sheridan’s and Wood’s divisions. The retreat of the enemy along most of his line was precipitate and the panic so great that Bragg and his officers lost all control over their men. Many were captured, and thousands threw away their arms in their flight.

It was a beautiful moment for the Union. It exorcised the demons of Fredericksburg and showed that  Union troops could fight as aggressively and effectively as the rebels.  It secured Chattanooga and made possible the campaign against the deep south, and ultimately the capture of Atlanta in time for the 1864 elections.

It was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.  General Braxton Bragg had Grant's Army of the Cumberland bottled-up and starving, but let them off the hook.  Bragg and his subordinates (notably Hill) were so at odds before the battle that Jefferson Davis had to come out and settle things, demoting Hill.  When the rout was over, Bragg was reassigned to various minor commands, then served as Davis's personal military advisor.

After the war Bragg ran the New Orleans waterworks and worked as a railroad inspector.