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

[198] and the pursuit of the enemy; their patient endurance in marching to the relief of Knoxville; and the army of the Ohio for its masterly defence of Knoxville, and repeated repulses of Longstreet's assaults upon that place, are deserving of the gratitude of their country. I have the honor to be, Colonel, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

General: For the first time, I am now at leisure to make an official record of the events with which the troops under my command have been connected during the eventful campaign which has just closed.

During the month of September last, the Fifteenth army corps, which I had the honor to command, lay in camps along the. Big Black, about twenty miles east of Vicksburgh, Miss.

It consisted of four divisions. The First, commanded by Brigadier-General B. J. Osterhaus, was composed of two brigades, led by Brigadier-General C. K. Woods and Colonel J. A. Williamson, of the Fourth Iowa. The Second, commanded by Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith, was composed of two brigades, led by Generals Giles A. Smith and J. A. D. Lghtburn. The Third, commanded by Brigadier-General J. M. Tuttle, was composed of three brigades, led by Generals J. A. Momer and R. B. Buckland and Colonel J. J. Wood, of the Twelfth Iowa. The Fourth, commanded by Brigadier-General Hugh Ewing, was composed of three brigades, led by General J. M. Corse, Colonel Loomis, of the Twenty-sixth Illinois, and Colonel J. R. Cockrell, of the Seventieth Iowa.

On the twenty-second day of September, I received a telegraphic despatch from General Grant, then at Vicksburgh, commanding the department of the Tennessee, requiring me to detach one of my divisions to march to Vicksburgh, there to embark for Memphis, where it was to form part of an army to be sent to Chattanooga to reenforce General Rosecrans.

I designated the First division, and at four P. M. the same day it marched for Vicksburgh, and embarked the next day.

On the twenty-third of September, I was summoned to Vicksburgh by the General Commanding, who showed me several despatches from the General-in-Chief, which led him to suppose he would have to send me and my whole corps to Memphis and eastward, and I was instructed to prepare for such orders.

It was explained to me that in consequence of the low stage of water in the Mississippi, boats had arrived irregularly, and had brought despatches that seemed to conflict in meaning, and that John E. Smith's division, of McPherson's corps, had been ordered up to Memphis, and that I should take that division and leave one of my own in its stead to hold the line of the Big Black.

I detailed my Third division, General Tuttle, to remain and report to Major-General J. B. McPherson, commanding the Seventeenth corps, at Vicksburgh; and that of General John E. Smith, already started for Memphis, was styled the Third division, though it still belonged to the Seventeenth army corps.

This division is also composed of three brigades, commanded by General Mathias, Colonel G. B. Baum, of the Fifty-sixth Illinois, and Colonel J. J. Alexander, of the Fiftieth Indiana.

The Second and Fourth divisions were started for Vicksburgh the moment I was notified that boats were in readiness, and on the twenty-seventh September I embarked in person in the steamer Atlantic for Memphis, followed by a fleet of boats conveying these two divisions.

Our progress was slow, on account of the unprecedentedly low water in the Mississippi and the scarcity of coal and wood. We were compelled in places to gather fence-rails, and to land wagons and haul wood from the interior to the boats; but I reached Memphis during the night of the second of October, and the other boats came in on the third and fourth.

On arrival at Memphis I saw General Hurlbut, and read all the despatches and letters of instructions of General Halleck, and therein derived my instructions, which I construed to be as follows:

To conduct the Fifteenth army corps, and all other troops which could be spared from the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, to Athens, Ala., and thence report by letter for orders to General Rosecrans, commanding the army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga; to follow substantially the railroad eastwardly, repairing it as I moved; to look to my own lines for supplies, and in no event to depend on General Rosecrans for supplies, as the roads to his rear were already overtaxed to supply his present army.

I learned from General Hurlbut that Osterhaus's division was already out in front of Corinth, and that John E. Smith was still at Memphis, moving his troops and material out by rail as fast as its limited stock would carry them. General J. D. Webster was Superintendent of the railroad, and was enjoined to work night and day and expedite the movement as much as possible; but the capacity of the railroad was so small that I soon saw that I could move horses, mules, and wagons by the road under escort, and finally moved the entire Fourth division by land.

The enemy seemed to have had early notice of this movement, and he endeavored to thwart us from the start.

A considerable force assembled in a threatening attitude at Salem, south of Salisbury Station, and General Carr, who commanded at Corinth, felt compelled to turn back and use a part of my troops that had already reached Corinth to resist the threatened attack.

On Sunday, October eleventh, having put in