with his reserves to cover our left and rear, arrived upon the field. He knew nothing of the condition of the battle, but, with the true instincts of a soldier, he had marched to the sound of the cannon. General Thomas merely pointed out to him the gap through which the enemy was debouching, when, quick as thought, he threw upon it Steedman's brigade of cavalry. In the words of General Rosecrans' official report--

Swift was the charge terrible the conflict, but the enemy was broken. A thousand of our brave men, killed and wounded, paid for its possession. Determined to take it, they successively came to the assault. A battery of six guns placed in the gorge poured death and slaughter into them. They charged to within placed in the george poured death and slaughter into them. They charged to within a few yards of the pieces, but our grape and canister, and the leaden hail of our musketry, delivered in sparing but terrible volleys from cartridges taken, in many instances, from the boxes of their fallen companions, was too much even for Longstreet's men. About sunset they made their last charge, when our men, being out of ammunition, rushed on them with bayonet, and they gave way to return no more.

In the meantime the enemy made repeated attempts to carry General Thomas' position on the left and front, but were as often driven back with great loss. At nightfall the enemy fell back beyond the range of our artillery, leaving Thomas victorious on his hard-fought field.

As most of the corps of McCook and Crittenden had retreated to Chattanooga, it was deemed advisable also to withdraw the left wing to that place. Thomas consequently fell back during the night to Rossville, leaving the dead and most of the wounded in the hands of the enemy. He here received a supply of ammunition, and during all the 21st offered battle to the enemy; but the attack was not seriously renewed. On the night of the 21st he withdrew the remainder of the army within the defenses of Chattanooga.

The enemy suffered severely in these battles, and on the night of the 20th was virtually defeated; but being permitted to gather the trophies of the field on the 21st, he is entitled to claim a victory, however barren in its results. His loss in killed, wounded, and missing, as reported in rebel papers, was 18,000.

Our loss in these battles was 1,644 killed, 9,262 wounded, and 4,945 missing. If we add the loss of the cavalry, in its several engagements, at about 500, we have a total of 16,351. We lost in material, 36 guns, 20 caissons, 8,450 small-arms, and 5,834 infantry accouterments. We captured 2,003 prisoners.

After General Rosecrans' retreat to Chattanooga, he withdrew his forces form the passes of Lookout Mountain, which covered his line of supplies from Bridgeport. These were immediately occupied by the enemy, who also sent a cavalry force across the Tennessee above Chattanooga, which destroyed a large wagon train in the Sequatchie Valley, captured McMinnville and other points on the railroad, thus almost completely cutting off the supplies of General Rosecrans' army. Fortunately for us the line of railroad was well defended; and the enemy's cavalry being successfully attacked by Colonel McCook at Anderson's Cross-Roads on the 2nd of October, by General Mitchell at Shelbyville on the 6th, and by General Crook at Farmington on the 8th, were mostly captured or destroyed.

Major-General Grant arrived at Louisville, and on the 19th, in obedience to the orders of the President, assumed general command of the Departments of the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio. In accordance with his recommendation, Major General G. H. Thomas was