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449 Series I Volume XXXVIII-III Serial 74 - The Atlanta Campaign Part III

Page 449 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.-ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.

mained in this position, continually skirmishing with the enemy across the river, until the 9th, when the brigade, with its division, was ordered to Roswell, Ga., where it arrived, after the most fatiguing march of the campaign. On the evening for the 10th crossed the Chattahoochee River, and threw up a strong line of fortifications. 17th, moved, with the division, to Decatur, Ga., where it arrived on the 19th. 20th, advanced two miles and a half, and took a position as a support to First Brigade, Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. 22d, the enemy having evacuated our front, the brigade, with its division and corps, was ordered to the extreme left of our lines. Having arrived within a few hundred yards of the position occupied by the left of the Seventeenth Army Corps, it was halted and rested an hour and a half, when it was ordered forward into an open field, and formed in line of battle on the left of the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. Before a line of skirmishers could be thrown forward, the enemy emerged from the woods in heavy force, and a severe engagement ensued. Steadily the enemy advanced under a telling fire, until within easy range of our lines, when, by direction of General Dodge, the brigade charged and drove the enemy from the field with heavy loss, capturing 2 stand of colors and a large number of small-arms. The brigade was then moved to another part of the field, distant one mile and a half, on doublequick time, and ordered to charge the enemy from a line of works from which the Second Brigade, Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, had been previously driven. This charge resulted in the retaking of the line of works and the recapture of four 20-pounder Parrott guns (Captain De Gress' battery), which also had fallen into the enemy's hand a few minutes before. During the night of the 22nd two regiments of the brigade (Eighty-first Ohio and Twelfth Illinois) were ordered to a third position, on the left of the Fifteenth Army Corps-then considered the most critical point in the line-and relieved a portion of General Leggett's division, Seventeenth Army Corps, under a severe fire, and only a few yards from the position occupied by the enemy. The brigade remained in this position until the 26th, when it was ordered to rejoin its division and corps, and moved, with the army, to the extreme right of our lines. During the action of the 28th two regiments of the brigade (Eighty-first Ohio and Twelfth Illinois) were ordered as support to a portion of the Fifteenth Army Corps; relieved two regiments of said corps on the front line, and assisted in repelling the last charge made by the enemy on that day. From July 28 to August 26 the brigade remained in the intrenchments in front of Atlanta. On the 26th the brigade was ordered to withdraw from its position in front of Atlanta. It moved, with its division and corps, toward the right of our line, arriving on the evening of the 28th within one mile of the Montgomery railroad. 29th, was engaged, with its division and corps, in destroying a portion of the above-named road. On the 30th the brigade arrived, with its division and corps, in front of Jonesborough, Ga., and on the 31st took a position on the left of the Fifteenth Army Corps. During the day the enemy charged upon the lines three different times, and were repulsed with heavy loss.

September 2, the enemy having evacuated their works at Jonesborough on the night of the 1st, the brigade, with its division, was ordered in pursuit. After proceeding four miles and a half south of Jonesborough our advance came upon the enemy. Two regi-

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Page 449 Chapter L. REPORTS, ETC.-ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE.