No. 389.

Report of Colonel Lewis T. Woodruff, Thirty-sixth Alabama Infantry.

CAMP THIRTY-SIXTH ALABAMA REGIMENT, In front of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 28, 1863.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to make the following report of the participation of my command in the battles of the 19th and 20th instant:

I took into the battle of the 19th instant 401 muskets.

About 1.30 p.m. my regiment was ordered to the front, where we met the enemy, and received his fire at a distance of about 100 yards. The men being ordered to lie down and fire, did so, and continued to load and fire until the command was given to cease. Soon afterward we were withdrawn and ammunition supplied.

During this engagement Lieutenant Colonel T. H. Herndon; Captain J. G. Cleveland, of Company E; Lieutenant A. H. Hutchinson, of Company C, and Lieutenant J. C. Knox, of Company B, were wounded.

At 5 p.m. we were again ordered to the front and passed General Bate's brigade, which was halted in line of battle. Charging at double-quick time over a hill and across a road, we entered a cornfield, to the left of which, in the woods, a battery of the enemy was posted. Lieutenant Gladden, of Company H, and Lieutenant Meek, of Company A, both passed within a few yards of this battery with their companies, and went through the corn-field and into a wheat or sedge field fully one-half mile in front of this battery. Lieutenant Meek saw the enemy's flag not 200 yards distant and ordered Private Baily to fire upon it. Both officers (Lieutenant G [ladden] and M[eek]) desired rather to obtain the flag than capture the battery. Lieutenant Britton, of Company C, who passed by the battery, corroborates the statements of Lieutenant Meek and Gladden. Lieutenant Smith, of Company I, was in front and saw only two companies, except those from Clayton's brigade, in the field beyond the road. Lieutenant Walker, of Company D, not regarding the battery, continued to fire upon the retreating enemy and pursue his flag. All concur in saying that the greater portion of my regiment was in the corn-field and that it first reached the battery. Thence it pursued the enemy and his flag for more than one half mile to the front. During the absence of my regiment other troops coming up removed the battery.

Lieutenant T. H. Shelton, of Company K, was wounded in this charge.

On Sunday, the 20th instant, I took into the battle 296 muskets.

Between 12 m. and 1 p.m. we were ordered to the front to charge a battery. Captain Derby, of Company K; Lieutenant Gordon, of Company B; Lieutenant Bell, of Company G; Lieutenant Britton, of Company C; Lieutenants Thompson and Banks, of Company I; Lieutenant Walker, of Company D; Lieutenants Lott and Cleveland, of Company E, and Lieutenant Wiggins, of Company F, with a part of their commands, reached a house and a low fence about 150 or 200 yards distant from the battery, from which they were repulsed by a heavy fire of artillery and infantry. It is to be regretted that the influence of a brigade on their right retreating was left at so critical a moment, and that the batteries would undoubtedly have been taken had the men continued fighting five minutes longer.

During this charge, Lieutenant J. A. Cleveland, of Company E, and E.