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Hdqrs. Fifteenth Regt. Ohio Vet. Vol.
Infantry. Camnp near Atlanta, Ga.,
September
12, 1864
.
Sir: In obedience to orders, I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by this regiment
in the campaign
just terminated by the capture of Atlanta:
From the time we broke up camp near McDonald's Station, Tenn., on
the
3d day of May
until the
9th day of June
, the regiment was under the command of
Colonel
Wallace
, with the exception of a short time late in the evening of the
27th of May
, and part of the next day, when
Colonel
Wallace
was disabled by a fall, I took command.
During this time we had marched from McDonald's Station to near
Acworth, Ga., participating with the brigade in the skirmishing
at Rocky Face Ridge, in front of Dalton; in the battle of Resaca, and in the march to and battle of Pickett's Mills, near Dallas,
Ga., on the
27th of May
.
Of the part we took in the skirmishing at Rocky Face Ridge, and
in the battle of Resaca, I deem it unnecessary to mention further than that we relieved troops already in
position, our losses being, at Rocky Face, 1 enlisted man killed
and 2 wounded, and at Resaca, 3 enlisted men killed and 15
wounded. In the battle of Pickett's Mills, on the
27th of May
, we occupied, as I understand it, the right of the second line of the brigade in rear of the Eighty-ninth Illinois.
Upon moving to the position to attack, about
5 p. Tn., the right wing of the regiment emerged from the woods into
an open field directly in front of the position of the enemy, who immediately
opened on us from a battery to our front and right.
I immediately threw out Company A,
Lieutenant
Hanson
, as skirmishers to cover that part of our front and right flank, and sent word to
Colonel
Wallace
, who was near the left of the regiment, that our right was thrown out into an open field, with none of
our troops in front,
and nothing connecting with our right to protect us from an attack in that direction, and that the enemy were
strongly posted
in a line of works on the farther edge of the open field, on rising ground, from us, and apparently enveloping
our right flank.
We soon received orders from
Colonel
Gibson
, commanding the brigade, to refuse our regiment to protect the right flank.
This disposition was partly made when the line was ordered forward.
In the advance the regiment was thrown into some confusion, as we were moving by the left flank at the time the
order to advance came, and by some means or other, to me unknown, the line was broken near
the center, and in moving forward the right wing, with the exception
of Company A, moved in such a direction that it came to the attack to
the left of the left wing of the regiment.
Upon receiving the order, however, the men moved forward with spirit and determination, under a terrible fire
from the artillery
and small-arms of the enemy posted behind their works.
The fire was so hot and well directed, and decimated our ranks so rapidly, that the advance was checked within a
short distance
of the enemy's works, where we were compelled to seek such shelter from the storm of shot as the nature of the
ground afforded.
It soon became evident that the attack had failed, and the recall was sounded by the brigade bugle about
6 p.
m. As I could not find
Colonel
Wallace
on the field (I learned afterward that he had been injured by a fall, and had gone or been taken off) I
did not think it
prudent to withdraw then, as it was still daylight, and an attempt to withdraw then would have exposed us to
great risks;
besides, we would have been compelled to leave nearly all our wounded in the hands of the enemy.
I waited until dark, then sent out parties to gather up the wounded and carry them to the rear.
After we had carried off all we could find we quietly withdrew and joined the brigade.
Our loss in this battle was
Captain
Updegrove
, Company H, severely wounded;
Lieutenant
Davis
, Company C, wounded in foot;
Lieutenant
Leiter
, Company I, lost right hand.
Color Sergt.
Ambrose
Norton
, Company D, was killed, and 5 of the color guard successively killed or wounded with the colors.
They were finally brought off by.
Sergt.
David
D.
Hart
, of Company I, then one of the color guard.
Our loss of enlisted men, including these, was 19 killed, 61 wounded, and 19 missing. The missing were mostly
wounded, whom we were unable to find in the darkness.
On the
28th
and
29th of May
we remained in about the same position that we took when withdrawn on the night of the 27th in the
immediate vicinity of the battle-field.
On the night of the 30th we moved forward a short distance, our position being on the left of the first line of
the brigade connecting with the right of
General
Hazen
's brigade, and fortified.
The next morning the enemy made a demonstration on our front with what I supposed to have been a strong skirmish
line.
They advanced, chbering.
Our skirmishers came in, in obedience to orders, and we gave the enemy a few volleys from our lines, which
apparently satisfied
him, as he immediately retired.
We had 3 men wounded.
We remained in this position without further incident of any importance until the
4th of June
, when, in extending our lines, we were moved to the right a short distance, and occupied works across
the ravine from our
former position.
We were in this position on the morning of the
5th of June
, when it was discovered that the enemy had gone during the night.
On the morning of the 6th we marched to, and went into camp near, Acworth, Ga. We remained here quietly in camp on the
7th
, 8th, and 9th.
On the latter day
Colonel
Wallace
left the command, on a leave of absence, and turned it over to me. The 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th we
spent in camp, and in moving into position, confronted the position of the enemy at Kenesaw and Pine Mountains.
On the
14th
we were on the left of the first line of the brigade, our left connecting with the right of
General
Baird
's division, of the Fourteenth Corps.
We advanced during the day about half a mile from the position we occupied in the morning, a-d in the afternoon
were ordered to relieve the skirmishers of the Thirty-second Indiana, covering
the front of the brigade, which I did with Company A,
Lieutenant
Hanson
.
Our skirmishers drove the skirmishers of the enemy into a line of rail barricades directly in front of their
main line of
works, with a loss to us of
Lieutenant
Hadden
, Company A, killed, and I enlisted man killed and 5 wounded,
of same company.
During the night we fortified our position, and in the morning discovered that the enemy had evacuated their
works in our
front and on Pine Mountain.
The 15th and 16th we rested with the brigade and division massed in rear of the corps, and on the morning of the
17th moved forward, passing through the line of works in rear of Pine
Mountain, which the enemy had abandoned the night before, and relieved a part of
General
Stanley
's division, our position being in the center of the first line of the brigade, a part of the
Eighty-ninth Illinois covering our front as skirmishers.
In this position we moved forward about half a mile, and were halted while the artillery was put in position
along our front,
and opened fire on the enemy.
We fortified our position here during the night.
On the
18th
it rained incessantly all day. In the evening we relieved the skirmishers, consisting of the Fifteenth Wisconsin and Thirty-fifth Illinois,
and had 6 men wounded, 2 of them by shells from our own batteries.
Before daylight on the morning of the 19th we discovered that the enemy had evacuated their works directly in
our front.
Captain (now Major)
Dawson
, having gone out with three or four men, discovered that the works were unoccupied, and went into them
and picked up 2 or 3 stragglers of the enemy, and sent them back under charge of
Peter
Cupp
, a private of Company H.
When
Cupp
was going back he discovered a company of men marching along in front of the enemy's works, and supposed
them to be our men,
but on a nearer approach discovered that they were of the enemy.
Thereupon a conversation ensued, in which
Cupp
with great coolness and address explained to the captain commanding the company the condition of things;
that his (the captain's)
friends had left, and that four companies of ours had just entered their works, and were between him and his
friends (which to say the least was something
of an exaggeration), and that the best thing he could do was to surrender.
Cupp
's prisoners and his close proximity to the works corroborating his story, the captain concluded that
discretion was the better part of valor, and surrendered himself,
Capt.
S.
Yates
Levy
, his lieutenant, and 17 men, Company D, First Georgia Regiment of Volunteers, prisoners of war, and
Cupp
placing himself at their head marched them into our lines.
Company E,
Lieutenant
Du
Bois
, also picked up 35 prisoners, and
Sergeant
Scott
, of Company G, and other men of the regiment, a number more,
making in all about 80 prisoners that we got that morning.
During the day we moved forward about a mile and bivouacked for the night, with the whole brigade massed in
reserve just outside
the abandoned rebel works.
On the
20th
we moved forward and to the right about one and a half miles, relieving a part of the Twentieth Corps, and completed works which they had just begun; had 2 or 3 men wounded
during the day by the sharpshooters of the enemy.
About noon on the
21st of June
I was ordered by
Colonel
Nodine
, of the Twenty-fifth Illinois, then temporarily commanding the
brigade.
to take four companies of my regiment, deploying two as skirmishers and holding two in reserve, and to take and
hold, in conjunction with
Colonel
Kirby
's command, a bald knob in front of the left of our position and the right of
Colonel
Kirby
's brigade, of the First Division, and which the
enemy then held with a strong line of skirmishers, protected by rifle-pits.
The position had been taken the day before by a regiment of
Colonel
Kirby
's brigade, and they had been compelled to relinquish it. Under instructions from
General
Howard
, delivered in person, I reconnoitered the position and satisfied myself that in order to hold it after
it was taken it would
be necessary to drive the enemy out of and hold the woods to the right of and front of the knob, which would
afford him a
good cover to rally under in case he was driven off the knob, or to mass any force with which he might attempt
to retake the
position.
Accordingly, Company B,
Lieutenant
Smith
, and Company G,
Captain
Dawson
, were moved forward by the right flank under cover of a skirt of woods to a place as near the knob as
they could get without
exposing themselves, with instructions that on the signal from the bugle they should make a right wheel and dash
rapidly for
the enemy's rifle-pits on top of the knob without halting to fire.
Company E,
Lieutenant
Du
Bois
, and Company K,
Captain
Carroll
, were moved directly in rear of Companies B and G, with instructions that as soon as the movement was begun by Companies B and G, so that
they would have room, to deploy as skirmishers, connecting the left to Company K with the right of Company G, and
dash forward into the woods to the right of the knob.
The other six companies were moved in column of company, left in front, directly in rear of Companies E and K.
At the signal the front companies, B, G, K, and E, dashed forward in splendid style and with such rapidity that the astonished enemy
had hardly time to get off, as we captured
some 25 or 30 in their works, but in going to the rear some of them went into the lines of the First Division and we got no credit for them.
As soon as the front companies had gained the top of the knob and driven the enemy back in the woods I. deployed
the other
six companies by the right flank on the left company and moved them rapidly forward, so that the left of the
left company (H)
struck the top of the knob and the right extended out into the woods near the open field, near where the left of
General
Hazen
's brigade afterwards rested.
As it was
General
Howard
's instructions that we should fortify and hold the knob at all hazards, I immediately set to work with
three companies on the left, viz, H,
Lieutenant
Dorneck
; C,
Captain
Byrd
, and I,
Capt.
George
W.
Cummins
, together with the pioneers of the brigade, who had been ordered to report to me for that purpose, to
fortify the knob.
This we did under a most terrific fire from two or three batteries of the enemy posted in their main line of
works from 600 to 700 yards distant. At the same time the other seven companies of the regiment were engaged in
a hard fight in the woods to the right of the knob, as the enemy had (as we learned
afterwards from their newspapers) determined to retake the position, and had sent two regiments, the
Fifteenth
and Thirty-seventh Tennessee, for that purpose.
They approached through the woods to our right and were gallantly met by these seven companies, their advance
checked, and, with the assistance of the Forty-ninth Ohio, which about this
time came to our support, driven back with a very heavy loss, as they admit, leaving a number of their
dead and wounded in our hands.
We were then relieved for a short time, until we had gathered up our dead and wounded, and were again put in the
first line, covering our front with Company A,
Sergeant
Gardner
commanding, and Company F,
Lieutenant
Glover
, deployed as skirmishers, and during the night built a line of works.
Our losses in this day's operations were
Lieutenant
Hanson
, Company A, slightly wounded;
Lieutenant
Donner
, Company E, severely wounded, and 9 enlisted men killed and
44 wounded. On the morning of the 22d we were relieved from the first line by the Eighty-ninth Illinois, taking their place in the second line.
On the morning of the 23d we relieved the Eighty-ninth Illinois, in the first
line, and in the afternoon were ordered to advance our skirmish line, which we did a short distance, with Company F,
Lieutenant
Glover
, and Company D,
Lieutenant
Geiger
, deployed as skirmishers, losing
Lieutenant
Geiger
, slightly wounded, and 3 enlisted men killed and 17 wounded, principally from these two companies.
From this date, the
23d of June
, until the
2d day of July
, we were engaged in no important movement, merely holding our position, alternating with the Eighty-ninth Illinois in holding the front line.
As we were so near the enemy, it required that the whole command should be kept on the alert and that the utmost
vigilance
should be exercised by officers and men when on the front line to prevent a surprise, and the command was very
much harassed
and fatigued.
On the evening of the
2d of July
we moved to the left and relieved a part of the Fifteenth
Corps directly in front of Little Kenesaw Mountain, our position
being in the works on the right of the front line of the brigade.
During the night the enemy evacuated their works, and Company K,
Captain
Carroll
, and Company E,
Lieutenant
Du
Bois
, which were on the skirmish line in our front, picked up some 25 or 30 of the enemy's stragglers.
Sergt.
Thomas
Bethel
, of Company K, was killed while reconnoitering the front
early in the morning by the pickets of an adjoining command.
Of the march to Marietta and Vining's Station and up the Chattahoochee, and the crossing of that river, it is unnecessary
to go into details.
On the
17th of July
, in the movement of our division down the left bank of the Chattahoochee to a point opposite Vining's
Station to cover the crossing of the Fourteenth Army Corps,
this regiment occupied the extreme left of the first line of the brigade and division, covering that flank with
skirmishers.
On the
19th of July
, in the crossing of Peach Tree Creek, we had 2 men
slightly wounded by a stray ball.
On the
20th of July
we moved to the front and left and relieved a portion of
General
Stanley
's division, completing their unfinished works.
During the morning had 2 men of Company K killed on the skirmish
line, and in the evening
Sergt.
T.
C.
Cory
, of Company I, wounded while advancing the skirmish line,
making the third wound which the sergeant received during the campaign, the first
two of which were not yet healed.
He deserves special mention for his courage and fortitude.
During the night of the 20th and morning of the 21st the enemy again evacuated their works in our front, and
Company F,
Lieutenant
Glover
, which was on the skirmish line, picked up 5 or 6 stragglers.
During the day we moved forward and fortified a position on a high hill in support of
Bridges
' battery and in front of a line of works which was occupied by the enemy.
Early on the morning of the 2.2d it was discovered that the enemy had again evacuated, and Company C,
Captain
Byrd
, on the skirmish line, picked up a few stragglers.
During the forenoon we moved forward toward Atlanta, and about
noon went into position near the city, on the left of the first line of the brigade, and completed a line of
works which some regiments of
General
Newton
's division had begun.
These works we occupied during the whole time of the siege of Atlanta, from the
22d day of July
until the night of the
25th of August
.
While in this position, on the afternoon of the
28th of July
, we were ordered to advance our skirmish line, and, if possible, take the enemy's rifle-pits in our
front.
The line was strengthened so that it was composed of Company C,
Captain
Byrd
; Company H,
Lieutenant
Dorneck
; Company E,
Lieutenant
Du
Bois
; Company K,
Captain
Carroll
, and Company G,
Lieutenant
Doolittle
.
At the signal the whole line dashed forward without firing a gun, and captured in the pits 1 captain, 2
lieutenants, and 21 men, with a loss to us of but 1 man killed and 1 wounded. With the prompt assistance of the
pioneers, under
Lieut.
J.
A.
Gleason
, the pits were immediately converted to our use and occupied by our skirmish line, giving them a
position commanding the
main line of the enemy's works and the ground in the rear, and from which they were able to annoy the enemy very
much during
the remainder of the siege.
I deem it unnecessary to describe at length the part we took in the late operations, beginning with our
withdrawal on the
night of the
25th of August
from our position in front of Atlanta and ending with our
return to Atlanta and encampment at this place on the
8th of September
, as we were engaged in no important battles or skirmishes, either with or detached from the brigade, and
the marches were
made under the eye of the present brigade commander.
Lieutenant-Colonel
McClenahan
, and
Adjt.
Alexis
Cope
, have been present with the command during the whole campaign, and while I have been in command of the
regiment have given
me their valuable aid and assistance, and have sustained their reputation as good officers and brave men.
Dr.
William
M.
Clark
, assistant surgeon, has also been present with the command during the campaign, and deserves great
credit for his untiring devotion to his duties
and care for the sick and wounded.
In conclusion, it affords me great gratification to bear testimony to the universal good conduct of the officers
and men of
this command; to the cheerfulness with which they endured the hardships and fatigue of this most extraordinary
campaign, and
to the alacrity with which they obeyed orders, no matter with what risks their execution was attended.
Our losses during the whole campaign, which will be found in detail in the accompanying list of casualties, are
as follows:
Commissioned officers-killed, 1; wounded, 6; total, 7.
Enlisted men-killed, 43; wounded, 171; missing, 19; total, 233.
Totalkilled, 44; wounded, 177; missing, 19.
Aggregate, 240.
To counterbalance this we have the satisfaction of knowing that we have taken of the enemy at least 160
prisoners and stragglers, including 5 commissioned officers, and put hors de combat in other ways quite a
number.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Lieut. W. McGRATH , A. A. A. G., First Brig., Third Div., Fourth Corps.