Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 11.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[292] men in the picket encounters, till Monday night, the fifth, when it was quietly and successfully withdrawn. By easy stages, unembarrassed by the enemy, the division continued its march to this city, reaching here on the eighth instant. And here the division rests after the termination of the labors of the campaign.

If the length of the campaign, commencing on the third of May, and terminating on the second of September, with its ceaseless toil and labor, be considered; if the number and extent of its actual battles and separate conflicts, and the great number of days the troops were in the immediate presence of, and under a close fire from the enemy be remembered; if the vast amount of labor expended in the construction of intrenchments and other necessary works be estimated; the bold, brilliant, and successful flank movements, made in close proximity to a powerful enemy, be critically examined; and if the long line of communication over which the vast and abundant supplies of every kind for the use of this great army were uninterruptedly transported during the entire campaign be regarded, it must be admitted that the late campaign stands without a parallel in military history. The campaign was long and laborious, replete with dangerous service, but it was brilliant and successful. No adequate conception can be formed of the vast extent of labor performed by the troops, except by having participated in it. Whether by day or by night, this labor was cheerfully performed, and it affords me high satisfaction to bear official testimony to the universal good conduct of the officers and men of the division.

For the numerous instances of the good conduct of the officers and men deserving special commendation, I must refer to the reports of brigade and regimental commanders. To the various brigade commanders who have served in the division during the campaign my thanks are specially due for zealous and intelligent performance of duty, and hearty co-operation throughout. I have already noted that Brigadier-General Willich, commanding First brigade, was seriously wounded at Resaca. The command of the brigade devolved on Colonel Wm. H. Gibson, Forty-ninth Ohio, who performed the duties with zeal and ability till the expiration of his term of service, on the twenty-fourth of August. Colonel Hotchkiss, Eighty-ninth Illinois, succeeded Colonel Gibson in command of the brigade, and performed the duties well to the termination of the campaign.

Colonel P. Sidney Post succeeded Brigadier-General Hazen in the command of the Second brigade on the seventeenth of August, and thence to the end of the campaign performed all the duties of the position most zealously, intelligently, usefully, and gallantly. Since my injury Colonel Post has attended to all the field duties of the division commander, and performed them well.

Early in the campaign, Brigadier-General Beatty, commanding Third brigade, was disabled by sickness from exercising command of his brigade, and it devolved on Colonel Knefler, Seventy-ninth Indiana, and well and ably has he performed all the duties of the position. Cheerful and prompt when labor was to be performed ; ready with expedients when the necessities of the service demanded them; gallant and sensible on the field of conflict, he has so borne himself throughout the campaign as to command my highest approbation.

It is due to the members of my staff that I should commend their good conduct, and confide them to the kindly consideration of my seniors in rank. To them by name I return my sincere thanks: Captain M. P. Bestow A. A. G.; First Lieutenant Geo. Shaffer Ninety-third Ohio Volunteers, Aid-de-camp; Major A. R. Y. Daw son, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteers, Chief of Out-posts and Pickets; Captain I. R. Bartlett, Forty-ninth Ohio Volunteers, Inspector-General; Captain C. K. Taft, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Provost Marshal; Second Lieutenant H. H. Townsend, Ninth Kentucky Volunteers, Topographical Engineer; Captain L. D. Myers, Assistant Quartermaster; Captain H. C. Hagdon, Commissary of Subsistence, and First Lieutenant P. Haldeman, Third Kentucky Volunteers, Ordnance Officer, all performed their duties well.

Captain Cullen Bradley, Sixth Ohio battery, was Chief of Artillery until the consolidation of the Artillery into a corps organization. For the intelligent manner in which he performed his duties, 1 offer to him my thanks.

Would that I could include in the foregoing list of my staff, the name of one other, who commenced the campaign with us, but whom the inscrutable ways of Divine Providence early called away: the name of Major James B. Hampson, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteers.

Preparatory to the attack which was to be made on the twenty-seventh of May, it had been ordered that all the guns should be placed in position during the night of the twenty-sixth, and to open on the enemy's works early the next morning. One of my batteries was slow in opening, and I ordered Major Hampson to go to the battery, to hasten the work of preparation. While so employed the fatal shot of the sharpshooter was sped on its murderous errand, and Major Hampson fell, mortally wounded. He expired at four P. M., of that afternoon, happy in the consciousness of dying in his country's service. Young, ardent, intelligent graceful, gentle, and gallant, he fell in the early bloom of his manhood — a victim to an atrocious rebellion, a martyr to his devotion to his country.

During the campaign my division, in the various conflicts, captured sixteen commissioned officers and six hundred and sixty-six men, for whom receipts were obtained. Two million four hundred and twenty-eight thousand rounds of small-arms ammunition were expended during the campaign. Taking the mere strength of the division during the campaign, this number would give an average of four hundred and