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No. 96. report of Lieut. Col. William G. Halpin, Fifteenth Kentucky Infantry.

Atlanta, Ga., September 8, 1864.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit the following report of the operations of the Fifteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry during the campaign just ended:

The regiment left Chattanooga on the morning of the 2d of May and joined the brigade at Ringgold on the evening of the same day. Here the regiment was drilled during the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th of May, and left with the brigade on the morning of the 7th with 267 muskets. After a short march the regiment was drawn up in line of battle and advanced in that order, skirmishing with the enemy until the evening of the 8th, when the brigade arrived in front of Buzzard Roost. In the afternoon of the 9th the Fifteenth, in connection with the Forty-second Indiana, was ordered to ascend the western slope of Rocky Face Ridge to reconnoiter the enemy's position, and, if possible, discover a vulnerable point in his lines. After advancing a strong skirmish line, supported by the balance of the regiment, to the summit of the slope, a perpendicular wall of solid rock at least [545] 100 feet high confronted us, from the top of which the enemy fired on our line, and, finding his fire unavailing, hurled down huge rocks on the skirmishers. Finding no assailable point directly in front, the line moved by the right flank about one half mile with like success, when the regiment was ordered to take up a position at the base of the ridge, where it remained, subject to the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters, until the morning of the 11th, when it was retired about a mile. On the morning of the 12th the regiment was ordered to march with the brigade to the right, and, after passing through Snake Creek Gap, bivouacked for the night some distance south of that point. Next morning the regiment with the balance of the brigade marched in the order of battle, skirmishing with the enemy until after dark, when the division was relieved by General Williams' division, of the Twentieth Army Corps, and retired a few hundred yards. About midnight the regiment was moved to the front again, the men resting on their arms until morning. On the morning of the 14th the brigade was divided into two lines, the Fifteenth in the second line covered by the Thirty-third Ohio. Skirmishing commenced early in the morning and continued very brisk, our lines advancing steadily until the enemy's skirmishers were driven with their main line into their works. After a short rest a charge was ordered, the two lines of the brigade being at the time very close to each other. The lines attempted to advance across an open field, but no sooner showed their colors than the enemy opened a very heavy and destructive fire from two lines of works on the opposite hill, which compelled the advancing lines to halt and await the cover of night to retire. In this action the regiment lost I commissioned officer killed and 5 wounded, and I enlisted man killed and 9 wounded, exclusive of 2 wounded on the skirmish line, both of whom [have] since died. On Sunday morning, 15th, the Fifteenth Kentucky and Eighty-eighth Indiana were moved to the extreme left of our lines and ordered to occupy a position covering the enemy's right, with a view to silence a battery of six guns which he had been working in a strong redoubt. While the regiment was getting into position the One hundred and twenty-ninth Indiana, which we were about to relieve, suddenly ceased firing, and gave the enemy time to turn one of his guns on us, which sent a shell into the midst of the regiment, killing 1 enlisted man and wounding a commissioned and a non-commissioned officer. After this mishap, our unceasing fire kept the enemy quiet during the day without any further casualty occurring in the regiment.

During the night of the 15th the enemy evacuated his position in our front and the regiment was moved next day to the village of Resaca, where we bivouacked for the night. On the morning of the 17th we resumed our march after the retreating foe across the Oostenaula River, through Calhoun and Adairsville, reaching Kingston in the afternoon of the 19th, and bivouacked a few miles south of that point (after burning the saltpeter works) until the morning of the 23d, when the regiment “stripped for battle,” crossed the Etowah, and by easy marches reached the Allatoona hills near Dallas on the evening of the 26th. A portion of the Fourth Corps being hotly engaged on the 27th, the brigade was sent to its support, but night putting a stop to the fight, the regiment was not brought into action. Next morning the regiment took a position between the Eighty-eighth Indiana and Tenth Wisconsin on the extreme left of our lines, threw up some hasty works, and soon became engaged [546] with the enemy's skirmishers. At this point Captain Waggener, brigade adjutant-general, was killed early in the day in front of our works. His body was left inside the enemy's lines until the afternoon, when a detachment from the regiment charged the enemy's line and recovered it. The regiment occupied this position until the 2d of June, constantly skirmishing with the enemy, losing 1 man killed and 6 wounded. In the afternoon of the 2d the line was changed forward nearly at right angles with that originally held, and the regiment relieved that evening and retired one-half mile. It lay in this position until the morning of the 6th of June, when it marched in the direction of Big Shanty, the enemy having previously retired. Engaged in marching and countermarching until the 16th; the regiment on the afternoon of that day found itself confronting the enemy before Kenesaw Mountain. The 17th and 18th were devoted to skirmishing, the main line being advanced, as well as the skirmish line, on the evening of the 18th, about half a mile. During the night the enemy again retired and the regiment marched next day in pursuit and took up a position close to the base of Kenesaw at midnight of the 20th. Here it lay close to the works of the enemy, constantly skirmishing and subject to a raking fire from several batteries, until the night of the 22d, when it was relieved; retired and lay in reserve until the night of the 27th, when it was again placed on the skirmish line, and remained there until the night of the 2d of July. The balance of the army being moved to the right, the brigade was relieved from duty in the center, and marched to the left, where the men were engaged during the night constructing breast-works, but the morning of the 3d revealed Kenesaw deserted by the enemy, and the regiment was immediately marched through Marietta and four miles south, where the troops bivouacked for the night. In the afternoon of the 4th the regiment was moved to the right of the Second Brigade and began to erect works on the skirmish line close to the enemy's main lire. After working all night it was discovered on the morning of the 5th that the enemy had abandoned his formidable works and retired to the Chattahoochee. At daylight the regiment was put in motion and moved rapidly forward until the enemy's skirmish line was struck near the railroad, about one and a half miles from the river. Here the regiment was placed to support the Thirty-third Ohio, deployed as skirmishers, until retired across the railroad, where it lay under a galling fire of the enemy's sharpshooters until the morning of the 9th, when it was deployed on the skirmish line. Early in the day the line was ordered to be advanced in connection with that of the Third Brigade on our right and the Third Division on our left. The regiment advanced some 300 yards, driving the enemy from his skirmish pits into his main works. We occupied the rifle-pits of the enemy until he threw a strong line against the Third Division, which gave away, exposing our left flank, which compelled us to retire to our original position. During the night the enemy retired across the Chattahoochee. The Fifteenth Kentucky following up at daylight, found the railroad and pike bridges burned. We skirmished for some time with the enemy's rear guard until relieved, when we returned to our former position across the railroad, where we remained until the morning of the 17th. On that day we crossed the Chattahoochee at Pace's Ferry, and soon after commenced skirmishing with the enemy, which continued until the 20th. In the afternoon of that day the enemy assaulted our lines in strong force, [547] forcing a portion of the One hundred and fourth Illinois from their works. The Fifteenth, seeing the rebel colors planted on the works of the One hundred and fourth, opened fire in conjunction with that regiment and soon caused a hasty retreat. The skirmish line was then advanced, and followed up on the morning of the 22d to a point near Atlanta, the enemy having retreated inside his works around the city during the night. Here works were constructed, while skirmishing continued during the day. We were relieved that night and remained in reserve until the 26th, when we relieved the Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry on the front line west of the railroad. Here the regiment remained skirmishing with the enemy until the 2d of August, when the skirmish line was alvanced and new works built some 300 yards in advance of the old position. On the morning of the 3d the brigade was moved to the extreme right of our lines, and in the afternoon of the 5th made a reconnaissance on the enemy's left. This accomplished we were moved back the same night some two miles, and took up a position on the front line at daylight on the 6th. On the morning of the 7th the main line was advanced and new works constructed. In the afternoon of that day the brigade skirmish line was advanced and the regiment ordered forward to occupy the rifle-pits of the enemy between the left of our line and the Fifteenth Army Corps. While marching to this position we were subject to a very severe fire in front and flank. We held our position during the day under trying circumstances, and built substantial works during the night. At this point we remained, skirmishing with the enemy daily, until the 13th, when the skirmish line was again advanced. The enemy's skirmish pits were captured, occupied, and strengthened. Many prisoners were also captured. Our skirmishers remained in this last position, the regiment in its main works, until the night of the 26th August, when we moved with the main body of the army and bivouacked on the Atlanta and Montgomery Railroad on the evening of the 29th. Next day we skirmished with the enemy, while the Second and Third Brigades were destroying that road. From the morning of the 30th until the evening of the 2d of September the regiment accompanied the brigade as guards to the Fourteenth Army Corps train, when we reached Jonesborough, Ga., and heard of the fall of Atlanta.

The losses of the regiment from the 7th of May to the 2d of September, 1864, inclusive, are as follows: Killed, officers, 1; men, 5. Wounded, officers, 6; men, 46. Missing, men, 3. Total, 61.

I am, captain, your obedient servant,

Wm. G. Halpin, Lieut. Col. Fifteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. Capt. J.. W. Ford
, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

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