The line of battle was as follows: Second Brigade, of General Geary's division, in front on the right; Third Brigade in the center, and First Brigade on the extreme left and near the base of the mountain. These brigades were small, and the division did not muster many more men than did my brigade, which was formed, the Eighth Kentucky on the right at the base of the rough projecting crags forming the summit of Lookout, the Thirty-fifth Indiana next, then the Ninety-ninth Ohio, and then the Fortieth Ohio on my extreme left; the Ninety-sixth Illinois and Fifty-first Ohio were placed 100 yards in rear of my right on the upper bench, to make firm my right flank. The lines of the entire storming party, though intended to be double, were, from the extent of the ground to be assailed, partially en echelon, and my front had to be protected by skirmishers. Owing to the formation of the mountain, my brigade, occupying the position nearest the apex of the cone, had a shorter route in going around the mountain than those nearest its base, and ex necessitate in advancing would and did overtake and pass the front line.

Thus formed, the brigade advanced rapidly and in good order over the steep, rocky, ravine-seamed, torrent-torn sides of the mountain for near 3 miles. It was laborious and extremely toilsome. The enemy was here found sheltered by rocks, trees, and timber, cut to form abatis or obstruction, while the summit of the mountain was covered with sharpshooters, concealed by the overhanging cliffs. Attacking them with vigor, we drove them before us. The enemy's camp being assailed by General Geary's command, lower down the mountain, numbers of them fled toward the summit and were captured. They did not conceive it possible for a force to advance on the ground my brigade was then covering. Steadily but energetically and firmly advancing, my brigade reached the crest of Lookout's bold projecting point. Its profile is delineated from beneath against the sky. In good order my bold command, now become one line, swung round the crest, the right being the pivot, with the flags of the Fortieth Ohio on the left and of the Eighth Kentucky on the right, floating free and triumphant. Two vast armies looked upon us. With beating hearts we heard the soul-stirring vivas of our country's friends, and, responding boldly, we charged upon the rallying columns of the rebels. A portion of General Geary's division, meeting overwhelming opposition from the rifle-pits in the orchard, before reaching the white house, and having no cover, were falling back in considerable disorder. The enemy were also sending re-enforcements from the summit of the mountain over a swag or depression in the cliff. Some 300 or 400 yards to our rear, on the west side of the mountain, the Eighth Kentucky, Colonel Barnes, was halted on the crest of the ridge, with orders to deploy skirmishers to drive the enemy back, and to hold the crest at all hazards. This was well done. The Ninety-sixth Illinois and Fifty-first Ohio were ordered forward to assail the rifle-pits in the rear, while the Fortieth Ohio, Ninety-ninth Ohio, and Thirty-fifth Indiana assailed them on the flank. These dispositions were made at more than double-quick time, and my brigade had now passed the right of the front line. Boldly the charge was made, the enemy resisted stubbornly, so that a hand-to-hand contest in portions of the pits ensued. The force on my right, under Champion and Wood, swept down between the white house and the summit. The other regiments passed the flanks, and we drove them along the sides and down the mountain between