Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 188, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1913 — FAMOUS BATTLE ABOVETHE CLOUDS [ARTICLE]

FAMOUS BATTLE ABOVETHE CLOUDS

ROMANTIC INTEREST ATTACHES TO BATTLEFIELDS, ESPECIALLY TO HISTORIC LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. Many Battlefield Reunions Planned During the Week of the G. A.' R.,Encampment in the Mountain City of Tennessee. Chattanooga, Tenn. —A great deal of romantic interest has attached to the battle of Lookout Mountain, because It was fought on the palisades of that eminence and is known In war history as "the battle above the clouds.” ■This engagement was fought November 24, 1863, between a force of Union troops under Gen. Hooker, that came over from the Wauhatchie valley, and a force that Gen. Bragg had stationed on the eastern side of the mountain to guard the Tennessee river, against the delivery of provisions to the beleagured army of Gen. Grant. The Union forces gnder Hooker were stationed west of Lookout In the Wauhatchie valley. They scaled the western side of the mountain until they were practically on a level with the Confederate troops on the eastern side. Then they circled around the northern point of the mountain to the attack, driving the Confederates from their fortifications and winging the first skirmish for the liberation of the Union army fronfr Chattanooga. ■4Th palisade upon which this engagement was fought is about 1,000 feet above sea level, and hence about the same distance below the top of the mountain. A force of Confederate troopß was Btatloned on the top of the mountain and bad been doing much desultory firing from that eminence. The movement against the Confederates was made for the express purpose of dislodging the force on top of the mountain. While the engagement was going on on the bench of the mountain, a oloud enveloped both armies so that a friend could not be distinguished from an enemy. Firing was suspended until the cloud passed off. A great many writers mistake this cloud tot tog. The phenomenon is witnessed every year of a cloud coming low enough to the earth to envelop th< mountain. Fog is unknown on Lookout Sometimes cloud envelopes th« top of the mountain for several day« during the winter months, but it if rare that the palisades where the battle was fought is covered. The question that has produced more or less controversy with regard to the battle of Lookout mountain, if as to what troops reached the point on top of the mountain first. After the Confederates had withdrawn from the palisades, the Union troops undertook to dislodge the small force on the top of the mountain. Volunteers front three or four regiments scaled thf mountain at night to reconnoiter thfl Confederate position. They reached the top about daylight on the morning of November 25 to find, the Confederates had retreated during the night The first troops to reach the top were from the Eighth Kentucky regiment. The first flag planted on the summit was in the hands of Capt. John Wilson, Co. C, Eighth Kentucky. Evidence is conclusive to establish this fact. War records show that Gen. George H. Thomas granted thirty day leave of absence to Capt Wilson and party “for gallant and heroic conduct on the morning of the 25th day of November, 1868, at the battle of Chattanooga, on advancing and planting the colors of Eighth Kentucky on the peak of Lookout mountain in the face of the enemy.”