Today in History:

240 Series I Volume XXXVIII-I Serial 72 - The Atlanta Campaign Part I

Page 240 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. Chapter L.

Recapitulation.-Commissioned officers wounded, 2; enlisted men wounded, 34; killed, 4; missing, 3; aggregate loss during the campaign, 43.

The regiment was under the enemy's fire twenty-six consecutive days, from June 10 to July 5, both inclusive.

W. T. CHAPMAN,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Regiment.

Captain JOHN A. WRIGHT,

A. A. G., First Brigadier, First Div., Fourth Army Corps.


Numbers 19.

Report of Brigadier General Walter C. Whitaker, U. S. Army, commanding Second Brigade, of operations May 3-June 30.

HDQRS. SECOND Brigadier, FIRST DIV., 4TH ARMY CORPS, Atlanta, Ga.,--, 1864.

SIR: I submit the following report of the part taken by my brigade in the advance upon Atlanta; also a list of killed, wounded, and missing:

May the 3rd the brigade--composed of the following regiments, Twenty-first Kentucky, Colonel Price; Ninety-sixth Illinois, Colonel Champion; Fortieth Ohio, Colonel Taylor; One hundred and fifteenth Illinois, Colonel Moore; Fifty-first Ohio, Colonel McClain; Ninety-ninth Ohio, Lieutenant-Colonel Cummins commanding; Eighty-fourth Indiana, Colonel A. J. Neff, and Thirty-fifth Indiana. Major Dufficy commanding, and the Fifth Indiana Battery, Lieutenant A. Morrison commanding, numbering 155 commissioned officers and 2,875 enlisted men, making a total of 3,028-left Blue Springs, near Cleveland, Tenn., en route for Atlanta, Ga. On the evening of the 4th we reached Catoosa Springs, where we remained until the 7th, on which day we advanced on Tunnel Hill, the First Brigade of the division having the advance; it meeting with opposition near Tunnel Hill, my brigade was detailed to act on the left next to Rocky Face. The Twenty-first Kentucky was deployed as skirmishers, supported by the brigade, formed in two lines. We drove the enemy, composed of Wheeler's cavalry, rapidly before us. The enemy formed on Tunnel Hill, but we continuing to advance, they rapidly retired, leaving us in possession of the works on the hill, which were of good strength, and whence a formidable resistance could have been made. On the 8th took position in front of Rocky Race and remained during the night. On the 9th deployed the Ninety-sixth Illinois and Eighty-fourth Indiana as skirmishers, who boldly advanced up the side of the mountain to the base of the cliff of Rocky Face, where the skirmishers effectively kept the enemy's skirmishers under cover on the top of the ridge. In the evening, by order, the Ninety-sixth Illinois and Eighty-fourth Indiana were marched by the right flank as skirmishers in the direction of Buzzard Roost Gap to develop the enemy's position. Under a heavy fire of musketry, shell, and canister this was most ably done, until they approached so near the enemy's batteries that their artillery could not be depressed enough to bear on the skirmishers. The enemy was found in heavy force. By night the skirmishers were retired from the immediately front of the


Page 240 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. Chapter L.