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The following was taken from A Biography of The Struck Eagle, Brigadier Gen. Micah Jenkin's
By the middle of October constant rains had made the lives of Jenkin’s soldiers on Lookout Mountain perfectly miserable. They had no shelters and stayed wet and cold in ankle-deep mud. On the nights of October 14 and 15 it rained torrents, completely flooding the low-lying areas along Chattanooga Creek. The rising water cut off Hood’s division, including the men in Jenkin’s brigade, from their rations which were supplied from the other side of the creek. The lack of food finally became acute after three days, and some of the men were so hungry they began eating roasted acorns; they had already cut down all the chestnut trees on the mountain to boil and eat the nuts. A private in the First Regiment wrote that some of his fellow soldiers became so hungry they tore down barns to find rats which they boiled and made into a stew.
The soldiers were not the only ones on Lookout Mountain who suffered during that rainy October. A little girl, completely emaciated came into camp one day begging for food. She told Jenkin’s men that she had been hiding for several days, beside the body of her dead mother, in a cave between the opposing armies’ picket lines.
After the middle of October the weather finally began to clear, and Jenkins’ troops were able to float a timber and plank raft across the creek and return with a load of rations. Some of the men, however, had refused to wait for rations and had already stolen and eaten livestock belonging to farmers in the area.
By the middle of October constant rains had made the lives of Jenkin’s soldiers on Lookout Mountain perfectly miserable. They had no shelters and stayed wet and cold in ankle-deep mud. On the nights of October 14 and 15 it rained torrents, completely flooding the low-lying areas along Chattanooga Creek. The rising water cut off Hood’s division, including the men in Jenkin’s brigade, from their rations which were supplied from the other side of the creek. The lack of food finally became acute after three days, and some of the men were so hungry they began eating roasted acorns; they had already cut down all the chestnut trees on the mountain to boil and eat the nuts. A private in the First Regiment wrote that some of his fellow soldiers became so hungry they tore down barns to find rats which they boiled and made into a stew.
The soldiers were not the only ones on Lookout Mountain who suffered during that rainy October. A little girl, completely emaciated came into camp one day begging for food. She told Jenkin’s men that she had been hiding for several days, beside the body of her dead mother, in a cave between the opposing armies’ picket lines.
After the middle of October the weather finally began to clear, and Jenkins’ troops were able to float a timber and plank raft across the creek and return with a load of rations. Some of the men, however, had refused to wait for rations and had already stolen and eaten livestock belonging to farmers in the area.
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