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

[472] of General Helm, as well as previous thereto, as I learn, he displayed coolness, gallantry, and judgment.

Captain G. W. McCawley, Assistant Inspector-General, promptly reported to me the wounding of General Helm, as before stated, at which time I got from him his horse, not having my own with me, when he returned to where General Helm was wounded, and remained with him. I am reliably informed that previous thereto he was in his place on the left, and acted bravely and efficiently.

Captain Helm, acting Commissary Subsistence, though not compelled to do so, went on the field and did his duty.

Leonard W. Herr, Aid-de-Camp, and Lieutenant John Pirtle, acting Aid-de-Camp, reported to me as soon as the necessary attention to their wounded General allowed, and thereafter acted gallantly and faithfully.

I inclose the several reports of regimental and the battery commanders, together with a list of killed and wounded.

I am, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by this brigade, composed of the Thirteenth and Twentieth Louisiana volunteers, Colonel Leon Von Zeniken; Six-teenth and Twenty-fifth Louisiana volunteers, Colonel D. Gober; Nineteenth Louisiana volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. Turner; Thirty-second Alabama volunteers, Major T. C. Kimball, and Austin's battalion Louisiana sharpshooters, with Slocomb's battery Washington artillery, in the battle of Chickamauga, from the moment that I assumed command:

I was engaged in re-forming my regiment when, informed that Brigadier-General D. W. Adams having been disabled by a wound, the command of the brigade devolved upon me. I at once ascertained that there was no support on the left of the brigade, and ordered the command to form on the rear slope of the hill upon which Captain C. H. Slocomb's battery of Washington artillery was posted. This having been accomplished, I left the line in charge of Colonel Daniel Gober, Sixteenth and Twenty-fifth Louisiana volunteers, and hastened to the left, where I observed several regiments falling back. One of these I at once moved to the support of the line on the left, and directed Captain Labouisse, A. I. G., to bring up another, retreating through the woods, to the same position. With Captain Slocomb's assistance, he succeeded in placing two regiments in position. They were believed to belong to the brigade on our left. The Thirty-second Alabama volunteers and Austin's battalion, which had not participated in the charge, but had been ordered to oppose the advance of a column of the enemy's infantry, reported on our right and rear, were called in and directed to join the brigade on the right of the battery. It was deemed best to occupy ourselves with the enemy in sight, leaving the cavalry reports for after-consideration. These dispositions had just been made, when Major-General Breckinridge reached us, and approved them.

Captain Slocomb, whose battery had made a noble stand, here informed me that he was considerably cut up, and that he thought it best to retire for a short time. He was ordered to retire. In less than two hours he again reported ready for action, having equipped himself, in nearly everything needed, from the battery taken by the brigade in approaching, for the first time, the main Chattanooga road.

I do not think it worth while to speak of the different lines of battle taken before again engaging the enemy. About four o'clock, by order of Major-General Breckinridge, the brigade was posted about three hundred yards in rear of Major-General Walker's command (General Liddell's division). The line was here subjected to some shelling, and it became apparent that our forces in front were unsuccessful in their attacks. About sundown General Breckinridge turned to me and directed that I should advance, and at the same time execute a change of direction to the left. I had advanced but a short distance, when I saw, from what was occurring in front of us, that our lines in advance were giving away under an enfilading fire from the left, and I therefore gained as much ground to the left as time and circumstances would permit. The movement forward was made slowly, care-fully, and with all possible precision. We passed over several lines of troops as we advanced, who cheered us heartily. The extreme right regiment was detained a few moments by one of these lines, as will be seen by referring to Colonel Gober's report. I determined, if possible, not to fire a gun, and it is due to the officers and men of the brigade that I should state that we passed through a new line engaging the enemy without halting and without firing, and continued to advance, moving in perfect order, until within a few paces of the enemy, when a charge was ordered and the whole command, with a terrific yell, sprang upon him. A volley was received without effect; a second, from the barricades of trees and stones, checked us for an instant; but the officers rushed forward again, the men followed, and the enemy, panic-stricken, fled in the wildest disorder. Not a moment was to be lost; the brigade was urged forward, its, centre resting near the fence which separated the corn field from the woods, the left extending into the field. We thus continued to drive the enemy from every position for three quarters of a mile, until we had entered the woods about seventy yards from the Chattanooga road, where it was halted. Darkness was now rapidly approaching.