Today in History:

323 Series I Volume XXX-I Serial 50 - Chickamauga Part I

Page 323 Chapter XLII. THE CHICKAMAUGA CAMPAIGN.

tery H, Fourth Artillery, when some slight musketery and sharp artillery firing took place. After occupying this ground an hour (the enemy being driven off), moved to the rear half a mile and occupied a new line faced to the front, Nineteenth and Fifteenth forming second line-Nineteenth on the right of Fifteenth. Captain Crofton, 4 lieutenants, and 30 men of the Sixteenth Infantry joined the Nineteenth, and formed on the right as the first company. Remained in this position about an hour, and moved about onequarter of a mile to the rear and bivouacked in line. About 9 o'clock left bivouac and moved to the right and rear about one-half or three-quarters of a mile and bivouacked. Remained in second bivouac about an hour, and moved to the front and took position in front of road some 500 yards. Reynolds' [?] brigade, of Van Cleve's division, on the right, and Beatty's brigade on the left. During the operations of the 19th the battalion lost* 1 major wounded and 66 non-commissioned officers and privates killed, wounded, and missing.

On the 20th, action commenced on skirmish line about 7 a. m., Nineteenth Infantry, Captain E. L. Smith commanding, formed second line, Lieutenants Curtis and Carpenter, with Company H, as skirmishers one-quarter of a mile to the left. The action continued, with slight pauses, until about noon, from which time until 5 p. m. the attacks on the position occupied were almost continuous. The Nineteenth, with occasional variations, composed the second line during the action. At no time during any attack was the battalion unengaged. The attacks in the afternoon coming from front, flank, and rear, the positions of the command forming the brigade were necessarily constantly changing, and to give a precise detailed account is impossible. Of 124 non-commissioned officers and men who went into action on the 20th, there remain 51 non-commissioned officers and men, and of 12 officers who went into action 3 lieutenants are for duty.

The following is a list of casualties among the officers:

Captain Thomas Cummings, commanding Company A, Second Battalion, wounded and prisoner.

Captain E. L. Smith, commanding Company G, missing.

Captain V. K. Hart, commanding Company A, First Battalion, missing.

Captain G. S. Peirce, commanding Company B, missing.

First Lieutenant M. B. Fogarty, commanding Company A, Second Battalion, killed.

First Lieutenant M. C. Causten, commanding Company E, missing.

First Lieutenant T. H. Y. Bickham, commanding Company F, missing.

Second Lieutenant C. F. Miller, Company E, wounded and prisoner.

Second Lieutenant J. H. Gageby, Company A, First Battalion, missing.

Second Lieutenant Robert Ayres, adjutant First Battalion, slightly wounded and present for duty.

First Lieutenant W. O. Lattimore, First Lieutenant Alfred Curtis (Company H), Second Lieutenant A. B. Carpenter, and Second Lieutenant Robert Ayres, present for duty.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

ROBERT AYRES,

Second Lieutenant, Adjt. First Batt., 19th U. S. Infantry.

Captain JAMES W. FORSYTH,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Third Brigade.

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*See revised statement, p. 171.

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Page 323 Chapter XLII. THE CHICKAMAUGA CAMPAIGN.