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Hdqrs. Department of the Cumberland, office of Chief engineer, Chattanooga,
Tenn.,
September
5, 1864
.
General: I would respectfully report on the position of our army during the battle of
September
I and 2:
Our army, moving south of Atlanta, with the view of taking and
destroying the Macon railroad, arrived
September
1
sixteen miles
south of Atlanta
, and immediately attacked the enemy, who had his position along the Jonesborough road, west of the Macon
railroad, his left resting on Jonesborough and occupying
that place.
Our line of battle was formed in the shape of a wedge ��� the Twenty-third
Army Corps forming the left, the Fourth and Fifteenth Corps forming the point of the wedge, the Fourth Corps joining the Twenty-third Corps,
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Corps were on the right of the Fifteenth Corps, the Seventeenth Corps on our extreme right; the Fourteenth Corps was held in reserve.
About noon
September
1
we broke the enemy's center.
His right, composed of a corps of veterans and State militia, retreated north toward Atlanta, and two corps of the rebels
toward the south.
The rebels who were retreating north erected a line of field fortifications near where the road from Rough and
Ready crosses
the Macon railroad.
Our position on the evening of
September
1
was, the Twenty-third, Fourth, and Fourteenth Army Corps about
two and a half miles
north of Jonesborough
, fronting Atlanta; and the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Corps in the immediate neighborhood and north of Jonesborough, fronting south.
September
2
the Fourth and Fourteenth
Army Corps attacked the field fortifications erected by the rebels during the previous night, and after
about fifteen minutes fight took 10 guns and 500 prisoners. In the mean time the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Corps attacked Jonesborough, driving the enemy out of the place, and at 10 o'clock,
September
2
, our forces were
one mile
south of Jonesborough
, and four miles north of the same place, in possession of five miles of railroad, which we at once
destroyed.
Our forces had pressed the enemy toward Rough and Ready, which place was shelled by our troops at noon. This
information was given by
Lieut.
H.
H.
Russell
, First Veteran Volunteer Engineers, Department of the Cumberland, who left the scene of action on
September
2
at noon.
Sir, I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,