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

Page 751 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.--ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.

made from actual bearings and distances taken by myself, gives the most accurate representation of it that I have seen. It represents the rebel works and the position of my three brigades quite accurately, and that of Brigadier-General Carlin's two brigades approximately, at the moment when Colonel Este began to move forward.

Our troops were in open ground, which was bordered on the south by a very regular line of woodland, running due east and west, and extending from near the railroad to the west a distance of 620 yards or steps. The line of woods then turned and ran south, facing westward upon another field in which were the troops of Brigadier-General Morgan. The rebel works lay within the wood, and were entirely concealed from view. They approached at the nearest point to within fifteen yards of the open ground, but at others were 60, 80, or 100 yards back in the woods. From the northwest angle of the woods ran northerly a kind of ravine and thicket, apparently an old fence line, which separated the field in which the Second Division lay from that occupied by the First and Third Divisions. I found Colonel Moore's brigade, of the First Division, formed in two lines, the one near the cabin, and the other intrenched along the edge of the woods, its left on the railroad. Apparently the regular brigade had endeavored to take up a position on the same line in the edge of the woods, but the rebel works in their front approaching so much nearer to the open ground, it was, of course, impossible, without first taking the works in the woods. It was in this way, doubtless, that it lost so heavily before my men came up. I found it to the right of the other brigade of the First Division, and some 200 yards back in the open field partially covered by an undulation of the ground in front. Colonel Este's brigade, when it came up, was formed in the position represented on the map, fifty yards in rear of regular brigade in two lines of battle. The Tenth Kentucky and the Thirty-eighth Ohio in the first line, the Tenth Kentucky on the right, and the Seventy-fourth Indiana and the Fourteenth Ohio in the second line, the Seventy-fourth Indiana on the right. Colonel Walker's and Colonel Gleason's brigades were in reserve, and then just coming up to take position. Seeing that to relieve Major Edie's brigade required Colonel Este to pass to the front of it, and that to come into line with Colonel Moore, so as to advance at the same time with the other troops might involve a serious assault of works hidden in the woods, I directed the men to unsling and pile their knapsacks, and fix bayonets, so as to be ready for heavy work. Our uncertainty with regard to the works we might encounter was increased from having been told that the rebels had two lines, one of which had been taken by our men, some of whom remained in them, all of which turned out to be a delusion. The order to move forward was given at 4.45 p. m., when the lines moved off handsomely. Attended by a single staff officer, Captain Acheson, assistant adjutant-general, and two orderlies, I accompanied Colonel Este, so as to be ready to give him any assistance which he might require. Our men passing over the lines of the regular brigade soon reached the crest in front, and at about 100 yards from the works began to receive a murderous fire of musketry and canister. They were immediately put at the charge, and without faltering the whole line moved splendidly into the woods. On the right the success was immediate and complete. The Tenth Kentucky, followed by the Seventy-fourth Indiana, struck upon the short projecting point of rifle-pit called the first line and carried it,


Page 751 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.--ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.