retire to Rocky Face Ridge, about half a mile in the rear. Until the night of the 12th I occupied this line, a part of my command occasionally engaged skirmishing, but beyond this nothing of interest occurred.

On the night of the 12th I was ordered to take up the line of march on the Tilton road. At 9 p. m. my brigade was in motion.

Arriving at Tilton on the morning of the 13th, I received orders from Major-General Stewart detaching me temporarily from the division, and ordering me to support the cavalry under command of Major-General Wheeler. After some movements of inconsiderable importance I finally went into line in the town, where I remained until I received orders to rejoin the division, which had moved on and bivouacked somewhere in the vicinity of Resaca, and which I succeeded in doing on the same night (the 13th).

On the morning of the 14th I went into line of battle, forming the right of the second line and the extreme right of the army, it resting upon the Oostenaula [Connesauga] River, and my left connecting with the brigade of Brigadier-General Gibson. In the afternoon of the 14th I was ordered to advance. I moved up the banks of the river by the right flank until I could get into the designated position, when I changed the direction from right to left and advanced in line of battle. During this charge, notwithstanding the fire of grape and canister to which my command was subjected was terrific, still none faltered and halted only in obedience to orders, not, however, until they had come up with the first lien to which I was acting as a support. Shortly afterward, about 9 p.m., instructions were received requiring me to withdraw my brigade to the position occupied before the advance movement commenced. This was done, and in that position remained until the morning of the 15th. The front line having been advanced about 10 a.m., I occupied the position vacated by the line advanced, only, however, for a short while, as I advanced also and became the right of the front line and right of the army. Here, after deploying skirmishers and making the necessary precautionary dispositions, I again remained quiet until the afternoon. At about 5 o'clock a charge was ordered. The order of advance was echelons by brigades, formed from the left. My brigade moved out in good order, but encountering as they did a thicket almost impenetrable, beyond which was the enemy in heavy force strongly intrenched, they were at first thrown into confusion and unable to enter the fight with that order so desirable; in fact, from the nature of the movement and the developed line of the enemy, my left had been engaged some minutes before the right had an opportunity of firing. The brigade was repulsed-no sooner, however, than the one on my left-and halted at the breast-works they had left in good order and without any straggling.

The casualties in this engagement alone amounted to 270 in killed and wounded. Since the 7th of May they comprise an aggregate of 440, among whom are 6 out of the 8 field officers with whom I commenced the campaign.

The night of the 15th found me in such a feeble condition that I was obliged to turn over the command to Colonel Johnson, and not being able to return until the 1st instant I beg leave to forward his report* of the operations of the brigade since that time, and ask that it be taken as supplemental to this.

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*See p. 825.

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