Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[423] right, and Anderson's as a support, a few hundred yards in rear — our line facing directly west. It was now after sunset, when the order to move forward was received, and we advanced, dressing to the right, some four or five hundred yards, moving forward slowly and with difficulty, owing to the dense growth through which we had to pass. Skirmishers were thrown to the front, the line having been halted.

The skirmishers and the left companies of the Thirty-fourth Alabama regiment, on the extreme left of the brigade, a short time after night-fall (twice) became engaged with a force of the enemy, believed to be a reconnoitring party, in which that regiment lost some twelve or thin teen men killed and wounded, but in each instance inflicting a severe loss upon the enemy and driving them back. Falling back from the above position, by order of the division commander, about nine o'clock that night we rejoined the line of battle, a portion of the brigade filling the space between the left of Hood's division and the right of Major-General Buckner's corps.

On the morning of the twentieth of September (Sunday), at an early hour, our final line of battle was complete — the brigade being in the front line, General Deas, with his brigade, being on my right, and my left resting on Colonel Trigg's brigade, of Preston's division, Buckner's corps. My instructions were to move forward when the brigade to my right moved — the attack commencing on the right of the army — the movement being taken up successively by each division and brigade towards the left, and I was also informed that the troops on my left would move forward in like manner. At about half-past 11 A. M. (the action having commenced on the right at about ten o'clock), General Deas' brigade began its forward movement, and my own was given the order to advance. The guide being to the right, in order to preserve a continuous line (as much as possible) with that portion of the division on the right, the men were obliged to move forward at a very rapid pace. Skirmishers, covering the entire front, preceded our advance at a distance of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty yards. The brigade moved steadily on for a distance of some six or seven hundred yards before meeting with any opposition, when we found the enemy in our front, posted near the crest of a hill, a gradual ascent leading to it; and behind breastworks of logs and timber their infantry lay, opening upon the command a heavy fire at short range from their positions of fancied security. At this point the Tenth and Nineteenth South Carolina regiments were partially in a wood; the Twenty-fourth Alabama regiment was exposed in an open field in front of them, and in the centre of which was planted a Federal battery; several pieces of artillery also being in the wood on our right. Waters' battery, which had followed in rear of the brigade, occupied our centre, the Twenty-eighth Alabama regiment on the left of it, its right being on the west edge of the same field and extending into a wood beyond, and the Thirty-fourth Alabama regiment to the left of this wood, also in an open field, with thick woods in their front. The entire line now became hotly engaged, the Tenth and Nineteenth South Carolina and the Twenty-fourth Alabama regiments advancing to within eighty yards of the enemy's breastworks, receiving and giving a heavy fire. Here they were checked and, from the severity of the fire, thrown into some confusion, not so much from the fire in their front as from a heavy enfilade fire from the enemy on their left, which caused a heavy loss, but they almost immediately advanced again and drove the enemy from his works, capturing many prisoners and three pieces of artillery. The Twenty-eighth and Thirty-fourth Alabama regiments moved steadily forward, also receiving a heavy fire, and drove the enemy from the works in their front. Finding myself at this time on the extreme left of the army, the forces on my left, which, when in line of battle, I had been told would advance simultaneously with me, had not done so (the information which I had received being, I suppose, incorrect), and that my left flank was overlapped, as far as could be seen, by several regiments of the enemy's infantry, and not knowing how heavy the enemy's force was in this direction — my three right regiments being thrown in much confusion, and a large force of the enemy advancing through the field on my centre to recover their lost ground and three pieces of artillery which had been captured by the Nineteenth South Carolina, which, however, the enemy did not succeed in doing — I ordered the brigade to fall back about three hundred yards, across the Chattanooga and Lafayette road. In this movement the two left regiments, the Twenty-eighth and Thirty-fourth Alabama, fell back with an unbroken front. In retiring the battery, the pole of the limber of a piece having been broken, the piece was for a time abandoned. However, Colonel Reid, commanding Twenty-eighth Alabama regiment, moved his regiment forward, deploying two companies as skirmishers, and succeeded in recovering it.

Just after having given the order for the retirement of the brigade, General Anderson's command of Mississippians, the reserve of the division, came gallantly forward and swept by me, his left regiment covering some four or five companies of my right regiment. The Tenth South Carolina, Colonel Pressley commanding, the Sixteenth and Nineteenth South Carolina, with several companies, there joined him, and continued to move forward. Previous to the advance of General Anderson, I had sent to General Buckner to request that the brigade which had been on my left whilst in line (Trigg's brigade) should be sent forward to my support. They soon made their appearance, but the enemy had fallen back, owing to the advance of Generals Deas and Anderson, and others on my right; they apprehending, in all probability, that they themselves would be cut off, seeing