They must have seen that we were all commissioned officers.
But, I suppose, they looked upon the garrison of Chattanooga as prisoners of war, feeding or starving themselves, and thought it would be inhuman to kill any of them except in self-defence.
That night I issued orders for opening the route to Bridgeport--a cracker line, as the soldiers appropriately termed it.

They had been so long on short rations that my first thought was the establishment of a line over which food might reach them.
Chattanooga is on the south bank of the Tennessee, where that river runs nearly due west.

It is at the northern end of a valley five or six miles in width, through which Chattanooga Creek runs.

To the east of the valley is Missionary Ridge, rising from five to eight hundred feet above the creek and terminating somewhat abruptly a half mile or more before reaching the Tennessee.

On the west of the valley is Lookout Mountain, twenty-two hundred feet above-tide water.