Today in History:

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

Page 462 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN.

where it remained until the 5th, when it marched to Acworth, Ga., arriving there on the 6th. 10th, moved forward to Big Shanty. On the 16th regiment temporarily assigned to the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, and remained with it until the 21st, the enemy in the mean time having evacuated their works and taken up a new position on Kenesaw Mountain.

Remained in front of Kenesaw Mountain until the night of the 2nd of July, when the regiment, with its brigade, moved to the right, arriving at Nickajack Creek on the right of the 3d, where it relieved the Fifty-fourth Ohio, Fifteenth Army Corps, on picket duty. July 4, moved forward and took position near rebel lines, the enemy having evacuated their works during the night. The regiment again moved forward on the 5th, and encamped on Widow Mitchell's plantation, on Sandtown road, where it remained until the 8th, when it moved to the Chattahoochee River and was posted near Baker's Ferry. 9th, left camp and arrived at Roswell, Ga., on the 10th, at which point the regiment crossed the Chattahoochee and commenced fortifying. Remained here until 17th, when the regiment moved forward toward Atlanta, and arrived at Decatur on the 19th. On the 20th again advanced and took up a position in rear of the First Brigade, Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. On the 22d, the rebels having evacuated their works, the regiment, with its brigade and corps, ordered to the extreme left of our lines. Arriving within a few hundred yards of the position occupied by the Seventeenth Corps it was halted, with its brigade, and rested for one hour and a half, when it was ordered forward into an open field and formed line of battle, faced in a southeast direction. The line had ben formed but a few minutes when the enemy advanced in heavy force and a severe engagement ensued. The enemy steadily advanced, under a withering fire, to within a few yards, when he began to waver, when, by direction of General Dodge, the regiment, with its brigade, moved forward, charged the enemy, and drove him from the field, with heavy loss. The regiment in this charge captured 2 stand of colors and 226 prisoners. At 2 p. m. the regiment, with its brigade, was ordered to a position on the right of the Augusta and Atlanta Railroad, moving a distance of one mile and a half in double-quick time, when the brigade was formed in line of battle, Eighty-first Ohio being in the center. A charge was then ordered and made, which resulted in the retaking of a line of works from which the Second Brigade, Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, had been previously driven, and the, recapture of four 20-pounder Parrott guns and a large number of small-arms. In this chase the Eighty-first Ohio captured 29 prisoners, making the total number of prisoners captured by the regiment during the day, 255. The loss of the regiment on both fields was 11 killed, 52 wounded, and 3 missing, including 2 commissioned officers killed and 1 wounded; total, 66. On the 23d, at 2 a. m., the regiment, with Twelfth Illinois, was ordered to a position to the left of the Fifteenth Army Corps and as support to General Leggett's division, Seventeenth Army Corps, which was considered the most critical point on the line. The regiment remained in this position until the 26th, when it was ordered to rejoin its corps. 28th, the regiment, with brigade, moved to the right of the Fifteenth Corps, relieving Fifty-fourth Ohio in front line.

From July 22 to August 26 the regiment remained in front of Atlanta continually engaged in skirmishing with the enemy, resulting


Page 462 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN.