Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[252] are preparing to break at one blow the weakened barriers which still encompass them. For the purpose of maintaining these vain appearances Bragg keeps his army in a position more and more perilous. From the moment when he allowed the Federals quietly to supply Chattanooga he should either have commenced a regular siege or renounced the partial and aimless investment of the town. The works of approach which he thought the blockade would save him would have been, it is true, very difficult to execute on account of the elevation of the hills crowned with Federal fortifications. Lacking heavy artillery besides, he could not think of bombarding these works, as the open space between them and Missionary Ridge was about fifteen hundred yards. Impressed with these difficulties, Bragg in two months did not once try to disturb the Federals and interrupt their work. Henceforth the possession of Lookout Mountain was useless to him. It should have been evacuated on the day of Longstreet's departure. It was necessary first, so as to enable Longstreet to take away his entire corps and give him the means of striking at Knoxville a prompt and decisive blow. It was also necessary, because this departure imposed a defensive attitude on the part of the army. Being obliged, in order to cover his depots, to occupy the whole length of Missionary Ridge as far as the edge of the Chickamauga Creek, Bragg, while retaining Lookout Mountain, compelled his reduced army to spread over an excessive length of nearly thirteen miles. This line was all the weaker because its concave form still lengthened the communications between the two wings, leaving to the enemy the chord of the arc which it described. In a word, Lookout Mountain itself, an impregnable citadel in the hands of a larger force, was a dangerous post for an inferior command, because its natural defences extended too far, and access to it from all sides was so difficult that the enemy, once master of the Summertown road, might isolate the garrison. As Bragg would not accept the consequences of his situation and diminish his front, we understand that he was unable to concentrate his efforts against the enemy's works. He did not even attempt to make up for the small number of his soldiers by seriously strengthening his line. The most important part of this line, the crest of Missionary Ridge, was too abrupt at the top to