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into the fight; Sherman, put in a cross-fire of cannon, a dozen or more; and after a terrific hand-to-hand struggle the Confederates were compelled to abandon most of the captured battery.
The fight here, one of the most famous incidents of the Atlanta campaign, was maintained on the Confederate side by Stovall's brigade, commanded by Col. Abda Johnson, consisting of the Forty-second Georgia, Lieut.-Col. L. P. Thomas; First State troops, Col. John Brown (mortally wounded), Lieut.-Col. Albert Howell; Forty-third, Colonel Kellogg; Fifty-second, Capt. R. R. Asbury; Forty-first, Maj. M. S. Nall; Fortieth, Captain Dobbs.
The Forty-second regiment had the honor of capturing a number of guns supposed to be part of the DeGress battery; the First regiment captured the line in its front with two guns, and the remaining regiments took the Federal lines up to a point near Bald hill.
In the same fight Manigault's South Carolina brigade bravely participated, capturing the guns of DeGress' battery on the north side of the Georgia railroad.1
At the time of Cheatham's advance the Georgia State troops under General Smith moved from their works more than a mile against the enemy's works, and supporting Anderson's battery took position 400 yards from the Federals, silencing the effective fire from an embrasure battery in their front.
Though eager to
1 The location of these guns was described as follows by the adjutant-general of M. L. Smith's division (Official Records, serial No. 74, p. 189): ‘Friday, July 22d—pushed forward and occupied [Confederate] works with our main line at 6:30 a. m., the First brigade on the left and Second brigade on the right [north] of the railroad. The skirmish line was pushed forward, supported by a section of Battery A, First Illinois light artillery. Then the works were reversed, and Battery A, First Illinois light artillery, placed in position, two guns on the right and two on the left of the railroad, which at that place runs through a deep cut, and Battery H [DeGress'] of the same regiment, on the extreme right [north] of the fine.’ The attack of Clayton's division (Stewart's corps), which included Stovall's brigade, was made on the left, or north, of Hindman's division (Cheatham's corps), which included Manigault's brigade. The captors of Battery A withdrew four of its six guns.
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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