This version of the website was created in 2025. See the Site Information Page for contact information, data downloads, and other details.
Hdqrs. Twenty-First Ohio Infantry Vols., In the Field, Ga.,
July
10, 1864
.
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report:
Soon after occupying the picket-line yesterday morning, in obedience to orders, I formed my regiment to attack
the enemy.
The rifle-pits of the enemy on our right of the railroad were soon carried.
The troops on our left failed to support my command, and we suffered from a flank fire from the enemy in their
works on the
left of the road.
I sent
Capt.
S.
F.
Cheney
with four companies to dislodge the enemy on the left of the road, which was promptly accomplished.
Support still failed to arrive, and we were forced to abandon the works on our left of the road.
We held the works on the right of the road.
At 4 o'clock this morning the skirmishers, under command of
Capt.
Daniel
Lewis
, advanced and occupied the stockade and trenches of the enemy, and in a short time our lines advanced to
the Chattahoochee River and occupied the railroad bridge.
Adjt.
E.
L.
Baird
is entitled to credit for his efficient aid in our affair of yesterday.
I moved to the front with 12 officers and 382 men. Our loss is as follows: Killed-enlisted men, 14.
Wounded-commissioned officers, 2; enlisted men, 37.
Missing-commissioned officers, 1; enlisted men, 1.
Total, 55.
We captured 17 prisoners.
Sir: In obedience to orders, I have the honor to report the operations of the Twenty-first Regiment Ohio Infantry Volunteers, under my command, in the Georgia campaign, to
the morning of
2d of September, 1864
:
The regiment moved, under command of
Col.
James
M.
Neibling
, from Ringgold, Ga.,
May
7
, and he continued to command it until the morning of
May
28
, when he was severely wounded, and the command devolved upon myself.
Not being present the first
sixteen days of the campaign, I cannot mention definitely the operations for that time.
The regiment, however, participated in the affair at Buzzard
Roost, and, subsequently, in the affair at Resaca.
The casualties in this regiment, to the time of my taking command, are 1 enlisted man killed and 14 enlisted men
wounded in action.
May
31
,
Lieut.
John
W.
Berry
, having his company (K) deployed as skirmishers, in an attempt to regain a hill which was abandoned,
without a fight, on
the evening of 27th before, at Pumpkin Vine Creek, lost 6 men killed and 2
wounded. This little dash gave us the crest of a hill which commanded the position of the enemy in our front,
which position was
held by this regiment until the enemy withdrew.
The firing on both sides continued incessantly between the skirmishers and pickets.
It would make this report too voluminous to detail the numerous skirmishes and firings, earth-works built and
marches performed,
by this regiment during the campaign; it has written its history in this respect very indelibly from Ringgold to Jonesborough,
Ga., during a period of three months and twenty days of restless vigilance.
For twelve days together it occupied the front line at Bald Knob before Kenesaw Mountain, sustaining a loss of 1 officer, the gallant
Lieutenant
Dillworth
, killed, and 11 men killed and wounded.
The artillery practice at this position was the most desperate I have witnessed.
Near Vining's Station, Ga., on the
9th of July, 1864, the regiment had a most spirited affair with two regiments of the enemy (the Fourth Mississippi and Fifty-fourth [?] Louisiana), driving them out of their rifle-pits into their main works, killing and
wounding a number, and capturing 17 prisoners and their ordnance stores.
My regiment commenced the attack with 12 officers and 382 enlisted men. Our loss was 15 enlisted men killed and
2 officers and 37 enlisted men wounded, and 1 officer missing.
The regiment continued to hold the captured works and to annoy the enemy in his main works.
During the night he abandoned his whole line north of the Chattahoochee, and by 4 a. m.
10th the skirmish line, under
Capt.
Daniel
Lewis
, advanced, and in a short time reached the river.
In this affair no other troops than my own regiment were engaged on our side, and it was a fair specimen of the
tenacious
fighting qualities displayed on other occasions by the gallant officers and brave men composing this command.
On the
21st of July
, while marching in line of battle, the gallant
Captain
Lewis
(above named) was killed.
In the operations before Atlanta the regiment was under the
enemy's fire every day, and though no general battle was delivered by either side along our immediate
front, our list of casualties became large from the almost incessant shelling and musketry of the enemy.
In the battle before Jonesborough,
September
1
instant, which resulted so gloriously to our arms, this regiment was again engaged.
Charging through a dense brush thicket, under a murderous fire from the enemy, losing 5 enlisted men killed, 30
enlisted men wounded, and 1 enlisted man missing; and captured 1 rebel adjutant, 6 men, and 24 stand of arms.
We took prisoners as follows:
July
9
,
18
privates, Vining's Station;
July
10
,
5
privates, Vining's Station;
July
20
,
1
private, Nancy's Creek;
July
22
,
2
privates, Peach
Tree
Creek
;
September
1
,
1
officer, 6 privates, Jonesborough, Ga. Total, 33.
Total stand of arms captured, 54.
Our casualties are: Officers-killed, 2; wounded, 5; missing, 1.
Privates-killed, 32; wounded, 119; missing, 1.
Total, 160.
A list of the casualties accompanies this report.
I here desire to mention the never-failing gallantry of
Adjt.
E.
L.
Baird
, whose efficient aid under all circumstances during the campaign greatly contributed to the success
which has attended this
regiment in every operation.
Sergt. Maj.
Earl
W.
Merry
displayed courage and coolness in action on all occasions worthy of emulation.
He lost his foot
July
20
.
Respectfully submitted.