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

[453] of battle, which seemed to have been drawn up three or four hundred yards in rear of the first; then again the contest was renewed with great energy, and the position disputed with stubborn resolve. The firing at this point was terrific, and many brave officers and men fell while gallantly discharging their duties. For a time our line wavered, and the overwhelming force of the enemy seemed determined to drive us from the field. Rallying from the shock of this new encounter, our line again moved forward with determination and energy, and finally succeeded in driving back the enemy's second line in confusion to his breastworks, which had been erected of fallen trees about four hundred yards in rear of his second line. At this time an order from General Forrest directed me not to press the enemy further, but, in the meantime, our line had come within range of the breastworks, from which a constant and galling fire was poured into our ranks, and a heavy force was moving around our left flank. I at once dispatched one of my staff to General Ector, who I knew was a short distance in our rear, with a request that he would move up on my left. But before my messenger reached him, General Forrest had ordered his brigade to the right — a position held up to that time by the cavalry. In the meantime, the enemy, having turned my left, poured an enfilading fire into our thinned ranks, and compelled the whole left of the line to fall back, including the Thirtieth Georgia regiment, which occupied the centre. Observing this movement, and pressed by a galling fire in front, the right of the line, made up of the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-ninth Georgia regiments, began slowly to fall back. This movement having been promptly arrested, I passed towards the left with a view of rallying the rest of the brigade, and succeeded in restoring order to the thinned ranks of the Thirtieth Georgia, when I discovered the enemy still pressing around the left towards an open field, through which our line had advanced. I thereupon directed Lieutenant-Colonel Boynton, then commanding the Thirtieth Georgia to fall back a little further to a wood on the left of the road, intending to re-form on it. While this was being done, General Ector's brigade went in on the right of my line, and the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-ninth Georgia regiments went with this brigade again into the action, and remained with it during the fight of that brigade, and the sharpshooters and Louisiana battalion, were rallied and re-formed in the rear of other troops of our division, which at this time had come up to our relief. Having been re-formed, and our cartridge-boxes replenished, the brigade took up its position again, remained on the battle-field that night, and moved with the division next day.

During the action of this day (Sunday, the twentieth instant), it was not our fortune to be much engaged. Our ranks had been much reduced, and we mustered not over four hundred and fifty aggregate. About twelve M., the right of our line having advanced some distance, we engaged the enemy in a thick wood, about half a mile from the Chattanooga road, in connection with general Gist's brigade, which was in front of us, and General Ector's, which was in our rear. At this time the three brigades were occupying the same line nearly, and this arrangement necessarily resulted in some confusion. After a very unsatisfactory fight, lasting probably forty minutes, and in which we lost some valuable officers and a few men, we were ordered to fall back and re-form. This was accomplished, the line falling back a few hundred yards, where we remained until about five P. M., when the line was re-formed, with General Gist's brigade on the right, General Ector's on the left and mine in the centre — the division being under command of General Gist--and advanced to the last charge, meeting, however, no enemy, and having the satisfaction of taking up our bivouac upon the field from which our enemy had been driven in confusion. This brigade entered the fight with an effective force of twelve hundred men, and lost, during the two days fighting, ninety-nine killed, four hundred and twenty-six wounded, and eighty missing. Of the number missing, many were wounded and fell into the enemy's hands, but were recaptured with the field hospital he had established near the battle-field. Of the number wounded several have since died, among them Lieutenant-Colonel A. J. Williams, commanding Twenty-fifth Georgia regiment, a brave and gallant officer, to whom much praise is due for his conduct on the field. He fell at his post and in the efficient discharge of his duties.

A list of killed and wounded officers having been furnished, I deem it unnecessary to embody it in this report. I may be permitted to say, however, that among them were numbered the bravest, the truest, and the best. Where all behaved so well, it would be invidious to draw distinctions. I know of no instance in which any officer shrank from the discharge of his duty, and in mentioning a few who fell under my own observation I do not mean to disparage those who did not. I notice, as worthy of commendation, the cases of Captains A. W. and A. H. Smith, of the Twenty-fifth Georgia regiment, and Captain Spencer, of the Twenty-ninth Georgia regiment, Lieutenants Alfred Bryant and A. B. Sadler, of the First battalion Georgia sharpshooters, who, notwithstanding they were wounded, remained with their, commands through the fight and discharged their duties to the end. I respectfully ask the favorable consideration of the Major-General commanding to the cases of my Assistant Adjutant and Inspector-General, First Lieutenant Robert Wayne, and of my acting Assistant Adjutant-General, First Lieutenant R. E. Lester. The first was seriously wounded in the leg whilst in the discharge of his duties, and Lieutenant Lester was wounded in the head and abdomen, under the same circumstances, and had two horses killed under him. They were both conspicuous in the fight, riding fearlessly along the line in