Today in History:

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

Page 693 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.-ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.

ground it occupied at the time it was ordered to halt and he down. I will state here that portion of the troops in the front line of the Third Brigade also gave way and passed back through the line occupied by the regiment. Allow me to say that, in my opinion, the officers and especially the men could not possibly have conducted themselves more gallantly than they did on that occasion. Nothing but base partiality could prompt me to speak or write in praise of one without doing so of all. As soon as the regiment lay down, they commenced with their bayonets to dig, and their hands, spoons, and tin mess-pans to construct earth-works for their protection and defense. Never did men labor with more patience and undaunted bravery than did the musket bearers of the Ninety-eighth Regiment on that occasion. There, under one of the heaviest fired, both of canister and ball, during this campaign, did they erect a work in one hour which afforded them much protection. Now they could raise their heads from the ground with some safety, where before it was almost sure death to take your face out of the dust. In this charge Lieutenant Colonel James M. Shane was mortally wounded and died in an hour afterward. His loss was a severe one to the regiment. There was not one of us that did not love and confide in him. His true manly qualities won for him the respect and admiration of all who knew him here in the military circle of friendship. His country had no truer patriot, and when he found that he could serve it no longer against its enemies, he asked to be buried with his face to them. Many equally brave and patriotic men fell on this day and merit from me as much the humble tribute I have just paid to the life and memory of Lieutenant-colonel Shane, but it would swell this report to undue proportions were I to name and speak of all singly. Lieutenant Lindsey, of Company A, was struck on the hand by a piece of shell while leading his company, and was compelled to go to the rear; and many others were wounded, and their names will be given in the annexed casualty list. The regiment at night used the pick, spade, rails, and logs, and before morning of the following day, had strong works erected within seventy-five yards of the enemy. We remained in the trenches until the night of the 30th, when we were relieved by the Thirty-fourth Illinois Regiment.

On the night of the 29th, at 1 a.m., the enemy assaulted our line of works, but were soon and handsomely driven off with a loss to us of 1 man killed, Thomas B. Lisbey, Company D. The regiment, after being relieved, returned to camp, and there remained until the evening of the 2nd of July, when, by order, it relieved the Seventy-eighth Illinois in the trenches. That night the rebels evacuated their works in our immediate front, and early on the morning of the 3rd we went in rapid pursuit of them, capturing some prisoners, and passing through the town of Marietta, bivouacked a few miles south of it. On the morning of the 4th the regiment went out in support of Captain Gardner's battery, which was ordered into position about 800 yards from the enemy's main works. There we remained during that day, and on the morning of the 5th, finding the enemy gone from our front, we with the balance of the brigade pushed forward toward the Chattahoochee River. At 2 p.m. the regiment was deployed as skirmishers, and advanced to within one and a half miles of that river, when, coming suddenly upon the enemy, a brisk skirmish took place, in which Captain Williams, Company I, was wounded by a musket-ball in the left leg. He was sent to the rear, and afterward died in hospital at Nashville. In his death the service


Page 693 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.-ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.