On the twenty-first, the morning dawned dark and lowering, with occasional gusts of rain. My brigade was again assigned to duty as rear-guard of the corps. A battery of artillery accompanied my command, which was unencumbered with wagons. Our march commenced at eleven A. M. At one P. M., the column being temporarily delayed by the breaking of a tongue in an artillery carriage, the rebel cavalry appeared in our rear and made a slight demonstration. It was driven off precipitately by the Sixty-first Ohio veteran volunteers, which constituted my rear-guard. At four P. M., my command marched through the village of Eatonton. At nine P. M., the column having been tediously delayed, I discovered upon investigation, that about sixty wagons had become almost hopelessly stalled in a sort of quagmire. My troops were at once put to work lightening out these wagons, and were thus employed for about two hours, when the march was resumed. My brigade encamped six miles from Eatonton at midnight, having marched ten and a half miles.
At a quarter past seven A. M., on the twenty-second, my march was continued. My command moved in the rear of the division, and was charged with the protection of about four hundred wagons. The weather had now cleared up, but the column still moved slowly. My brigade did not cross Little River until half-past 12 P. M. From that point the march was resumed again at three P. M., on the direct road to Milledgeville. My brigade marched into Milledgeville at half-past 7 P. M. Passing through the town and crossing the Oconee River on a wooden bridge, it encamped on the left bank at nine P. M., having marched seventeen miles. On the twenty-third, my brigade remained in camp near the Oconee Bridge. This day's rest enabled the foraging parties to collect a considerable quantity of provisions and a number of horses and mules.
At six A. M., on the twenty-fourth, my brigade resumed its march, leading the division and corps.
Being charged with the duty of advance-guard, it was unencumbered by the trains. Our line of march pursued the Oconee through a sparsely settled, broken, piney country. My column crossed Beaver Run at eleven A. M., and at a quarter past twelve P. M. crossed Town Creek. At three P. M., my brigade crossed Geem Creek, and at half-past 4 P. M. encamped on the ridge beyond. The distance marched on this day was about fifteen miles.
On the twenty-fifth, at six A. M., my brigade continued its march, again being the van-guard of the division and corps. Bluff Creek was passed at seven, and the column reached Hebron Post-Office at eight and Buffalo Creek at nine A. M. Over Buffalo Creek, a wide swamp stream, was a series of bridges, nine in number, all of which had been destroyed by the enemy. According to directions, I detailed a regiment, the One Hundred and First Illinois volunteers, to assist in their reconstruction. While this work was going on, the rebel cavalry made a demonstration on the pickets on the left bank of the stream. At the instance of the General commanding division, I at once despatched five companies of the One Hundred and First Illinois volunteers to reenforce the picket-line. The enemy at once withdrew, and the bridges were completed without further annoyance. The remainder of my brigade crossed Buffalo Creek at half-past 3 P. M., and the entire command, excepting the five companies of the One Hundred and First Illinois volunteers, left to cover a side-road, pursued its march toward Sandersville. Having ascended a plateau three miles from the creek, lively skirmishing was overheard toward the front, which proved to be the cavalry advance engaging the rebel force under Wheeler. As the enemy appeared to be charging down the road, I was directed by the General commanding division, to throw my command immediately forward into line, extending across and covering the road. My troops came up promptly on the double-quick, and were in a very short space of time advancing in a steady line of battle. Contemporaneously with this movement, a line of skirmishers, consisting of two companies from the Thirty-first Wisconsin volunteers, and two from the Eighty-second Ohio veteran volunteers, had been thrown forward, covering the front of the brigade. My line of battle had not advanced but a short distance, when, it not being deemed necessary to push it any farther, it was, by direction of the General commanding division, halted, and the troops put in camp. My skirmish line, however, under direction of two officers of my staff, Captain A. E. Lee, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, and Captain Cyrus Hearrick, Acting Aid-de-Camp, steadily advanced, and without hesitation and without loss drove the enemy from a commanding position, from which he had charged our cavalry half an hour previously. Not content with this, my skirmish line pursued the enemy and drove him through woods and open fields one mile farther, when it was by my order halted and withdrawn. On the ensuing day, the twenty-sixth, my brigade resumed the march at a quarter past six A. M., following the Second brigade, which was in advance of the division and corps. This brigade, at seven A. M., commenced skirmishing with the enemy's cavalry at the point where it had been left by my skirmishers on the evening previous. Soon afterward, a detachment of rebels having been discovered
