Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 8.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[224] of heroism displayed on this occasion deserving especial mention:

Major William Birch, Ninety-third Ohio, and Major S. C. Erwine, Sixth Ohio infantry, who fell while leading their men, were soldiers of rare efficiency, and their loss will be severely felt by the service and lamented by their friends.

My entire staff, as has always been the case in the numerous battles in which they have been engaged, conducted themselves with the greatest bravery and usefulness. In summing up the operations of the twenty-third and twenty-fifth, I have to report the capture of three hundred and eighty-two prisoners, besides a large number of wounded, of two stands of colors, of eighteen pieces of artillery, with their appendages, six hundred and fifty stand of small arms, a considerable quantity of clothing, camp, and garrison equipage, and eleven loaded wagons. Forty-nine of the enemy, including one colonel, were buried by my parties.

Attention is called to reports of battalion commanders accompanying this paper.

My entire casualties are as follows:

	officers.		men.		missing.
	Kill.	Wounded.	Kill.	Wounded.	Of.	Men.	Total.
Forty-first Ohio,	1	5	17	65			88
Fifth Kentucky,	2	6	8	46			62
First Ohio,	1	4	10	64			79
Sixth Ohio,	1	2	5	26		5	89
One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Ohio.	1	3	5	18		2	29
Twenty-third Kentucky,		2	9	34			45
Sixth Indiana,		3	18	60			76
Ninety-third Ohio,	1	4	19	64			88
Sixth Kentucky,		1		22			23
Total,	7	80	86	309		7	529

On the morning of the twenty-eighth, we took up the march for this place, which was reached the evening of the seventh instant.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

soldiers: Your General congratulates you upon the immortal deeds of the twenty-fifth. The enemy had fortified a position deemed impregnable by nature. You assaulted it; your colors were first on the heights. You hurled the enemy, terror-stricken by the heroic daring of your attack, from his stronghold, and eighteen pieces of artillery, two stands of colors, with numerous prisoners and small arms, are your trophies. Where can the enemy stand before your invincible ranks?

For your noble dead, a nation will weep; but let us, who knew them as worthy to stand with the noblest, remember that in a thousand battles a prouder death could not have fallen to their lot.

Captain: I respectfully submit the following report of the operations of my command from the twenty-third of November to the seventh instant, inclusive.

Being on picket in front of Chattanooga at two P. M., November twenty-third, I received orders to deploy my entire command, consisting of the Fifth and Sixth Kentucky volunteer infantry, as skirmishers. This done, the “Forward” was sounded, and the line advanced with great regularity. The enemy's pickets fell back rapidly on their reserves, which were strongly posted behind rifle-pits, on the crests of a series of knobs, some of which were timbered, others bare. At but one point along the line was the opposition strong enough to check the skirmishline, and this was but momentary, as the Ninety-third and Forty-first Ohio regiments came up in fine order, and the whole line went over the works, capturing the principal portion of the enemy's forces in them — flags, guns, accoutrements, and all. In this affair, Captain J. P. Hurley, one of my best officers, fell mortally wounded. He died next day. The service could not have met with a heavier loss in the death of a single individual. Major Whitaker, Sixth Kentucky, held his portion of the line fully up to the works. We held the position thus taken till the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, when I received orders to consolidate the Fifth Kentucky regiment with the Sixth Indiana volunteers, and be prepared to advance on the enemy at once. The position assigned me in the brigade was on the left of the second line. There was to be an interval of four hundred yards between the lines. At the proper time I advanced, and reached the enemy's second line of works a few moments after the first line of battle had occupied them. This was the extent of my orders. But hearing Lieutenant-Colonel Langdon, commanding that portion of the first line in my front, order it forward, I advanced simultaneously. In a little while, the lines became mingled, the strong men of each regiment outstripping the weaker in climbing the steep acclivity, and thus the heights of Mission Ridge were carried, and eighteen pieces of artillery captured, with, I believe, the entire force of the enemy in our front. Again I have to regret the loss of a capital officer, Captain Wilson, killed half-way up the ridge. Young, earnest, and brave, his country and comrades will never forget the sacrifice there made.

The guns captured were immediately turned upon the enemy in General Sheridan's front. The rebel cannoneers good-naturedly assisted in this artillery practice, which to us was novel business. Lieutenant-Colonel Treanor, Fifth Kentuky, and Major Campbell, Sixth Indiana, merit the highest commendation for the energy and coolness with which they organized a body of men from all the regiments, and threatened to cut off the enemy to our right, thus relieving General Sheridan from a most determined opposition. The officers and men of my command cannot be awarded too great honor for their heroic conduct in this, the most fiery ordeal of the war. The whole thing was more a matter of individuals than of organization, and consequently