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174 Series I Volume XLIII-I Serial 90 - Shenandoah Valley Campaign Part I

Page 174 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter LV.

the command of the division devolved upon me. I, therefore, turned over the brigade to Colonel J. E. Hamblin, Sixty-fifth New York Volunteers.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. UPTON,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Major HENRY R. DALTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General, First Division, Sixth Corps.


No. 18. Report of Lieutenant Colonel Egbert Olcott, One hundred and twenty-first New York Infantry, commanding Second Brigade, of operations October 19.


HDQRS. SECOND BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, SIXTH CORPS,
October 23, 1864.

Captain S. W. RUSSELL,

Actg. Asst. Adjt. General, First Division, Sixth Corps:

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to forward the accompanying report of the part taken by this brigade in the engagement of the 19th instant.

I am, captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. OLCOTT,

Lieutenant-Colonel 121st New York State Vols., Comdg. Brigade.

Report of the part taken by the Second Brigade, First Division, Sixth Corps, in the engagement of October 19, 1864:

The brigade, commanded by Colonel Joseph E. Hamblin, Sixty-fifth New York State Volunteers, was under arms at daylight. As the firing on the left increased, the brigade was placed in line facing to the rear, to the left of the First Brigade, on what is called the Hite road. This road is parallel to and about 400 yard in rear of the camp the brigade had occupied. The line was formed in the following order from right: Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery, One hundred and twenty-first New York State Volunteers, Sixty-fifth New York Volunteers, and Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers. There was an interval of 200 or 300 yards between the brigade and the troops on the left. These troops were supposed at the time to be a part of the Second Division; but a staff officer at corps headquarters says that there was a brigade of the Nineteenth Corps between the First and Second Divisions, and General Dwight, of the Nineteenth Corps, thinks a portion of the Eighth Corps occupied that position. The brigade had been in line but a short time on the said road, when it was ordered to move to the rear by the right of battalions. The movement, however, had hardly commenced, the Second Connecticut not having moved at all, when the line was reformed in the road, but this time without the One hundred and twenty-first New York, which regiment was placed behind a slight crest about 100 yards from the road and at an angle of 40 degrees with it, the right of the regiment being refused. During this movement the troops ont he left had retreated or been withdrawn. The brigade was attacked in this position. The attack, however, made no impression upon the line. The enemy were forced to halt and a heavy fire was kept up between the lines for nearly thirty minutes. It was during this time that Lieutenant-Colonel Higinbotham, Sixty-fifth New York Volunteers, and Captain Hosford, Second Connecticut, were


Page 174 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter LV.