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Hdqrs. Seventy-First Regt. Ohio Vet. Vol. Infty., Atlanta, Ga.,
September
10, 1864
.
I have the honor to submit the following report of the Seventy-first Regiment
Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry in the expedition to the rear of Atlanta:
It seems necessary for me in the beginning to state that Special Field Orders, No. 218, dated headquarters Department of the Cumberland,
August
9, 1864
, transferring the regiment from the Fourth Division, Twentieth Army Corps, to the Second
Brigade, Third Division, Fourth Army Corps, were received on the
14th day of August, 1864, at regimental headquarters at Decherd, Tenn. Owing to directions from
Major-General
Rousseau
, the regiment was not allowed to move until the 23d.
We were again detained, by orders from
Major-General
Steedman
, at Dalton, Ga., from the 24th to the 28th.
On the evening of the last-named day we arrived at Vining's Station (Chattahoochee), and finding that our corps had moved for the rear of
Atlanta
two days before, I immediately mobilized the regiment, and at 2 p. m. on the 29th we started, by the way of
Sandtown, to join our command.
After a careful and pleasant march we joined the Second Brigade, Third Division, Fourth Army
Corps, on the morning of the
31st of August
, near Rough and Ready, on the Macon railroad.
We marched with the command, but had no part in any action until the
2d day of September
.
Finding the enemy in force on the Macon railroad near
Lovejoy
's, when our brigade took position, four companies (B, C, E, and K) of our regiment were ordered to the
skirmish line, under my own command.
These companies, constituting the skirmishers of our brigade, advanced near a mile and encountered a light line
of the enemy's
skirmishers, which we easily drove for half a mile, where we found the enemy's main skirmish line, with
rifle-pits and other
temporary defenses.
We carried and permanently held a portion of this line, and pressed our line in close range of the balance.
Night had now come on, and at 9 o'clock, being relieved by the Forty-first Ohio
Volunteers, I rejoined the regiment, which had come up with the brigade, and during the night we
construct bed breast-works on the ground
we had taken from the enemy.
During the 3d and 4th and most of the 5th we lay in our works without event, except the slight wounding of 4 of
our men by stray shots from the enemy's skirmish line on the
3d
.
At 5 p. m. of the
5th
Major
Carlin
relieved the One hundred and twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteers from the
skirmish line with Companies D, F, G, H, and I, of our regiment.
The army being ordered to fall back under cover of the night, our brigade moved at 8 p. m., leaving the skirmish
line to keep up the deception, with orders to withdraw at midnight and follow up. By direction of the brigade
commander, I prepared the regiment for the march; at 8 placed it under command of
Lieutenant-Colonel
Hart
, and remained to bring off the skirmishers, which I did without casualty or alarm at 5 minutes to 12
o'clock, and joined the brigade at Jonesborough at day dawn on
the morning of the 6th.
About the same time that our army moved I began to hear the movement of wagons to the rear in the encampment of
the enemy.
By careful observation I became quite satisfied that the enemy was also falling back.
From joining the brigade at Jonesborough, on the morning of the
6th
, to our arrival in Atlanta on the
8th
, we simply marched with the command, nothing occurring worthy of note.
We joined the brigade with 467 men and 16 officers.
In the skirmish of
2d of September
we lost II wounded.
(See accompanying list of casualties.
Nominal list (omitted) shows 15 men wounded.) In camp on the
3d
, 4 men were wounded (See list of casualties.)
I forgot to say that in the evening of the 2d the ammunition of Company
C being exhausted, I relieved it with Company A, which
advanced under a brisk fire and drove the enemy back, thus securing an excellent position for the works of the
Ninety-third Ohio Volunteers.
As far as I was able to observe, the conduct of men and officers was good.
I am, captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Captain Crowell , Assistant Adjutant-General.