Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 1

[518] before the east fork of Chickamauga creek was reached, a large number of prisoners had been taken. Soon the advance came up with the camps that had been occupied the night before, by the rebels; here, also, the fires of the bivouac were still ablaze. The ford, and a bridge south of Ringgold,--were both held by rebel cavalry. These discharged their pieces, and quickly gave way before a handful of Hooker's men, who pursued them closely into the town.

Cleburne's division was covering the retreat of Hardee's corps, of the rebel army, and had arrived at the west bank of the East Chickamauga, at ten o'clock on the night of the 26th. At this point he had to ford the river; it was nearly waist-deep, and the night was freezing cold, so the crossing was postponed until morning. But, in the night, Cleburne received orders to take a strong position in the gorge of the mountain, and attempt to check the advance of Hooker. The main rebel force had just passed through Ringgold, sorely pressed, the animals exhausted and the men demoralized. Regimental and company formations were destroyed, and many of the men had thrown away their arms.

Ringgold is a place of two or three thousand inhabitants, and stands on a plain between the East Chickamauga river and the range of hills known as Taylor's ridge; it is on the Western and Atlantic railroad, and about twenty miles southeast of Chattanooga. Taylor's ridge runs north and south, and, immediately back of the town, is a break in the ridge, wide enough to admit the railroad, a wagon-road, and a tributary creek of the Chickamauga. The creek hugs the southern side of the gorge, and the wagon-road and railroad run close to the bank of the