CHAPTER XXXVII
The Battle above the Clouds.—1863
THE preparations of the engineer-in-chief for the
coming reckoning with Bragg were of two kinds. One
was the completion of the defensive works at Chattanooga.
Heavy details of men were made and the work pushed day
and night, and, on the day fixed for the attack on the
enemy, the fortifications were pronounced in a sufficiently
advanced condition to defy any assault. The other was
the collection of enough material for two bridges. One
was to be thrown over the Tennessee, which was 1300 feet
wide at the selected point, and another across the Chickamauga,
at its mouth, of a width of 180 feet. The spare
pontoons scattered between Chattanooga and Bridgeport
were gathered together by strenuous efforts, and the two
sawmills of the town put in operation to furnish the rest
of the material wanted. It was decided, in order to screen
the movement from the observation of the enemy, to haul
the pontoons by land to a point opposite the mouth of the
North Chickamauga, some six miles north of Chattanooga,
and to float and load them there with the first landing
force and row them to the landing-point. On November 20,
the boats were in the river, provided with oars and crews.
Then a formidable obstacle to the laying of the pontoon-bridges
arose. The Tennessee in its actual swollen stage
brought down great quantities of heavy drift-wood, which
broke both the pontoon-bridges at Chattanooga and
Brown's Ferry. This naturally gave rise to the fear that it
would not be possible to throw the two bridges for Sherman,
or to maintain them, if thrown, long enough for the
passage of the troops.
