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Atlanta, Ga.,
September
8, 1864
.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit the following report of the operations of the Fifteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry during the campaign just ended:
The regiment left Chattanooga on the morning of the
2d of May
and joined the brigade at Ringgold on the evening of the
same day. Here the regiment was drilled during the 3d, 4th, 5th, and
6th of May
, and left with the brigade on the morning of the 7th with 267 muskets.
After a short march the regiment was drawn up in line of battle and advanced in that order, skirmishing with the
enemy until
the evening of the
8th
, when the brigade arrived in front of Buzzard Roost.
In the afternoon of the 9th the
Fifteenth
, in connection with the Forty-second Indiana, was ordered to ascend the
western slope of Rocky Face Ridge to reconnoiter the enemy's
position, and, if possible, discover a vulnerable point in his lines.
After advancing a strong skirmish line, supported by the balance of the regiment, to the summit of the slope, a
perpendicular
wall of solid rock at least
100 feet high confronted us, from the top of which the enemy fired on our line, and, finding his fire
unavailing, hurled down huge
rocks on the skirmishers.
Finding no assailable point directly in front, the line moved by the right flank about one half mile with like
success, when the regiment was ordered to take up a position at the base of the ridge, where it remained,
subject
to the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters, until the morning of the
11th
, when it was retired about a mile.
On the morning of the 12th the regiment was ordered to march with the brigade to the right, and, after passing
through Snake Creek Gap, bivouacked for the night some distance south of
that point.
Next morning the regiment with the balance of the brigade marched in the order of battle, skirmishing with the
enemy until
after dark, when the division was relieved by
General
Williams
' division, of the Twentieth Army Corps, and retired a
few hundred yards. About midnight the regiment was moved to the front again, the men resting on their arms until
morning.
On the morning of the 14th the brigade was divided into two lines, the
Fifteenth
in the second line covered by the Thirty-third Ohio.
Skirmishing commenced early in the morning and continued very brisk, our lines advancing steadily until the
enemy's skirmishers
were driven with their main line into their works.
After a short rest a charge was ordered, the two lines of the brigade being at the time very close to each
other.
The lines attempted to advance across an open field, but no sooner showed their colors than the enemy opened a
very heavy
and destructive fire from two lines of works on the opposite hill, which compelled the advancing lines to halt
and await the cover of night to retire.
In this action the regiment lost I commissioned officer killed and 5 wounded, and I enlisted man killed and 9
wounded, exclusive of 2 wounded on the skirmish line, both of whom [have] since died.
On
Sunday
morning, 15th, the Fifteenth Kentucky and Eighty-eighth Indiana were moved to the extreme left of our lines and ordered to occupy a
position covering the enemy's right, with a view to silence
a battery of six guns which he had been working in a strong redoubt.
While the regiment was getting into position the One hundred and twenty-ninth
Indiana, which we were about to relieve, suddenly ceased firing, and gave the enemy time to turn one of
his guns on us, which sent a shell into the midst of the regiment, killing 1 enlisted man and wounding a
commissioned and a non-commissioned officer.
After this mishap, our unceasing fire kept the enemy quiet during the day without any further casualty occurring
in the regiment.
During the night of the 15th the enemy evacuated his position in our front and the regiment was moved next day
to the village of Resaca, where we bivouacked for the night.
On the morning of the 17th we resumed our march after the retreating foe across the Oostenaula River, through Calhoun and Adairsville, reaching Kingston in the afternoon of the
19th
, and bivouacked a few miles south of that point (after burning the saltpeter works) until the morning of
the
23d
, when the regiment stripped for battle, crossed the Etowah, and by easy marches reached the Allatoona
hills near Dallas on the evening of the 26th.
A portion of the Fourth Corps being hotly engaged on the
27th
, the brigade was sent to its support, but night putting a stop to the fight, the regiment was not
brought into action.
Next morning the regiment took a position between the Eighty-eighth Indiana
and Tenth Wisconsin on the extreme left of our lines, threw up some hasty
works, and soon became engaged with the enemy's skirmishers.
At this point
Captain
Waggener
, brigade adjutant-general, was killed early in the day in front of our works.
His body was left inside the enemy's lines until the afternoon, when a detachment from the regiment charged the
enemy's line
and recovered it. The regiment occupied this position until the
2d of June
, constantly skirmishing with the enemy, losing 1 man killed and 6 wounded. In the afternoon of the 2d
the line was changed forward nearly at right angles with that originally held, and the regiment relieved that
evening and
retired one-half mile. It lay in this position until the morning of the
6th of June
, when it marched in the direction of Big Shanty, the enemy having previously retired.
Engaged in marching and countermarching until the 16th; the regiment on the afternoon of that day found itself
confronting the enemy before Kenesaw Mountain.
The 17th and 18th were devoted to skirmishing, the main line being advanced, as well as the skirmish line, on
the evening of the
18th
, about half a mile.
During the night the enemy again retired and the regiment marched next day in pursuit and took up a position
close to the
base of Kenesaw at midnight of the
20th
.
Here it lay close to the works of the enemy, constantly skirmishing and subject to a raking fire from several
batteries, until
the night of the
22d
, when it was relieved; retired and lay in reserve until the night of the
27th
, when it was again placed on the skirmish line, and remained there until the night of the
2d of July
.
The balance of the army being moved to the right, the brigade was relieved from duty in the center, and marched
to the left,
where the men were engaged during the night constructing breast-works, but the morning of the 3d revealed Kenesaw deserted by the enemy, and the regiment was immediately
marched through Marietta and four miles south, where the troops
bivouacked for the night.
In the afternoon of the 4th the regiment was moved to the right of the Second
Brigade and began to erect works on the skirmish line close to the enemy's main lire.
After working all night it was discovered on the morning of the 5th that the enemy had abandoned his formidable
works and retired to the Chattahoochee.
At daylight the regiment was put in motion and moved rapidly forward until the enemy's skirmish line was struck
near the railroad,
about one and a half miles from the river.
Here the regiment was placed to support the Thirty-third Ohio, deployed as
skirmishers, until retired across the railroad, where it lay under a galling fire of the enemy's sharpshooters
until the morning of the
9th
, when it was deployed on the skirmish line.
Early in the day the line was ordered to be advanced in connection with that of the Third Brigade on our right and the Third Division
on our left.
The regiment advanced some 300 yards, driving the enemy from his skirmish pits into his main works.
We occupied the rifle-pits of the enemy until he threw a strong line against the Third Division, which gave away, exposing our left flank, which compelled us to
retire to our original position.
During the night the enemy retired across the Chattahoochee.
The Fifteenth Kentucky following up at daylight, found the railroad and pike
bridges burned.
We skirmished for some time with the enemy's rear guard until
relieved, when we returned to our former position across the railroad, where we remained until the morning of
the 17th.
On that day we crossed the Chattahoochee at Pace's Ferry, and soon after
commenced skirmishing with the enemy, which continued until the 20th.
In the afternoon of that day the enemy assaulted our lines in strong force, forcing a portion of the One hundred and fourth Illinois from their works.
The
Fifteenth
, seeing the rebel colors planted on the works of the One hundred and fourth, opened fire in conjunction with
that regiment and soon caused a hasty retreat.
The skirmish line was then advanced, and followed up on the morning of the 22d to a point near Atlanta, the enemy having retreated inside his works around the city
during the night.
Here works were constructed, while skirmishing continued during the day. We were relieved that night and
remained in reserve
until the 26th, when we relieved the Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry on
the front line west of the railroad.
Here the regiment remained skirmishing with the enemy until the
2d of August
, when the skirmish line was alvanced and new works built some 300 yards in advance of the old position.
On the morning of the 3d the brigade was moved to the extreme right of our lines, and in the afternoon of the
5th made a reconnaissance on the enemy's left.
This accomplished we were moved back the same night some two miles, and took up a position on the front line at
daylight on the
6th
.
On the morning of the 7th the main line was advanced and new works constructed.
In the afternoon of that day the brigade skirmish line was advanced and the regiment ordered forward to occupy
the rifle-pits
of the enemy between the left of our line and the Fifteenth Army
Corps.
While marching to this position we were subject to a very severe fire in front and flank.
We held our position during the day under trying circumstances, and built substantial works during the night.
At this point we remained, skirmishing with the enemy daily, until the 13th, when the skirmish line was again
advanced.
The enemy's skirmish pits were captured, occupied, and strengthened.
Many prisoners were also captured.
Our skirmishers remained in this last position, the regiment in its main works, until the night of the
26th
August
, when we moved with the main body of the army and bivouacked on the Atlanta and Montgomery Railroad on the evening of the 29th.
Next day we skirmished with the enemy, while the Second and Third Brigades
were destroying that road.
From the morning of the 30th until the evening of the
2d of September
the regiment accompanied the brigade as guards to the Fourteenth Army
Corps train, when we reached Jonesborough, Ga., and
heard of the fall of Atlanta.
The losses of the regiment from the
7th of May
to the
2d of September, 1864, inclusive, are as follows: Killed, officers, 1; men, 5.
Wounded, officers, 6; men, 46.
Missing, men, 3.
Total, 61.
I am, captain, your obedient servant,