The Atlanta (Georgia) Campaign: May 1 - September 8, 1864., Part I: General Report.
Maj. George B. Davis, Mr. Leslie J. Perry, Mr. Joseph W. Kirkley, Ed.

Captain: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Fourth Army Corps, since the 19th day of August, 1864, at which time I assumed command of it:

In obedience to orders from department headquarters, on the 21st the Sixth Regiment of Kentucky Infantry, and on the 24th the Sixth Regiment Indiana Infantry, were sent to the rear. The brigade occupied the intrenchments north of the beleaguered city of Atlanta until the night of the 25th of August, when, at 8 p. m., in accordance with the instructions of Brigadier-General Wood, commanding the division, the troops were silently withdrawn and moved toward the right of the army. The Ninety-third Regiment Ohio Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bowman, remained on the picket-line until 11 p. m., at which time, under the supervision of Major Dawson, of the staff of the general commanding the division, it left its position without exciting the suspicion of the enemy and followed the column. On the evening of the 28th the brigade bivouacked near Red Oak, and on the following morning it marched in the direction of East Point, destroying the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, burning the ties and twisting the rails. The brigade destroyed about one mile of the road, approaching as near East Point as the division commander deemed prudent. On the 30th the march was resumed, crossing the West Point railroad and moving in the direction of Rough and Ready, on the Atlanta and Macon Railroad, until we reached Big Bethel Church. During the night a large force of the enemy, with artillery and trains, moved past our position in a southerly direction. In the morning he was found in rifle-pits in our front. The Fifty-ninth Regiment Illinois Infantry, commanded by Captain West, deployed as skirmishers on the right of General Kimball's division, attacked the riflepits, and drove the enemy from them, capturing 6 prisoners. The Forty-first Regiment Ohio Infantry were then deployed as skirmishers, and this brigade, the advance of the corps, pushed forward toward the Macon railroad, which was struck about three miles south of Rough and Ready and destroyed during the night by our pioneers, under direction of Captain Galbraith. The Seventy-first Regiment Ohio Veteran Infantry arrived and was camped with the brigade. On the 1st of September this brigade acted as rear guard to the train, camping two miles north of Jonesborough. Moving through Jonesborough on the 2d, we found the enemy in force near Lovejoy's Station, and, as directed by the division commander, the brigade was formed in double column at half distance in the rear of the left of First Brigade of this division, with 200 men from the Seventy-first Regiment Ohio Veteran Infantry, under command of Colonel McConnell, deployed as skirmishers on the left of the skirmishers of the First Brigade. Advancing, we encountered the enemy's skirmishers and drove them half a mile. Finding that there was an interval between the First and Third Brigades, I [429] deployed that portion of the Seventy:first Regiment Ohio Veteran Infantry which was not on the skirmish line, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Hart, and the Fifty-ninth Regiment Illinois Veteran Infantry, commanded by Captain West, in the front line; the One hundred and twenty-fourth Regiment Ohio Infantry, commanded by Colonel Payne; the Forty-first Regiment Ohio Veteran Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kimberly, and the Ninety-third Regiment Ohio Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bowman, in a second line. In this order the brigade advanced, driving the enemy's skirmishers into the main work, occupying and permanently holding a portion of their rifle-pits and temporary defenses. At this time I was informed that Brigadier-General Wood, commanding the division, had been severely wounded and carried from the field, and I immediately assumed command of the division, and notified Colonel Knefier and Colonel Hotchkiss, commanding, respectively, the Third and First Brigades, of that fact. In order to fill up the interval which existed between the Second and Third Brigades, I directed the Second Brigade to move to the left, and to deploy the Ninety-third Ohio Infantry in the front line, and I ordered Colonel Hotchkiss, commanding the First Brigade, also to move to the left, General Wagner's brigade, which had been massed in rear of the Second Division, deploying and filling up the interval.

Notwithstanding the Third Division was so much extended, all the regiments, with one exception, of the Second Brigade now being deployed on the first line, there still remained an interval of 300 yards between the Second and Third brigades. The enemy were strongly posted, with an abatis in front of their works, though but about 200 yards distant from our lines. By the time these dispositions were made it had begun to grow dark, and I received instructions from Major-General Stanley, commanding the corps, and from General Wood (who, upon recovering from the first shock of his wound, had insisted upon returning to the field), to hold the position during the night which we had gained. Accordingly, during the night the front of the division was intrenched, and in that position we remained until the evening of the 5th of September, when, in obedience to orders, we marched to Jonesborough, and thence to the camp now occupied between Atlanta and Decatur, where we arrived on the 8th day of September.

During this important movement, by which, in the occupation of Atlanta, we gathered the fruits of the four months labor of our army, the conduct of the officers and men of this command was such as deserve success. Cheerful on the fatiguing march,whether during the excessive hot day or the dark and rainy night, they displayed exact discipline and rare energy, and they confronted the enemy as men who knew and were determined to do their duty. From all the regimental commanders I received the most hearty and cordial co-operation, and their intelligent obedience to orders deserves the highest commendation. The conspicuous gallantry in the affair of the 2d of September, shown by Colonel McConnell, of the Seventy-first Regiment Ohio Veteran Infantry, and the men under his command, who were deployed as skirmishers in front of the brigade, deserves mention. Deprived through no fault of theirs of sharing with the other regiments of this brigade the toil and glory of the ever-to-be-famous advance from Chattanooga to Atlanta, they were fortunate in having [430] so early an opportunity to signally vindicate their right to share the honors of victory. My thanks are due to Major Dawson, of the staff of the general commanding the division, particularly, for his assistance on the nights of the 25th of August and the 5th of September, as well as to the several members of my own staff for the efficient aid at all times given me. The loss sustained by the brigade was 28 men wounded and 3 missing, as follows:

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I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,