Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 6.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[120] fight went on, and still brave men went down. The Third Kentucky, now reduced to less than one half its original numbers, with ten out of its fourteen remaining officers badly wounded, were still bravely at work. In less than ten minutes after the fall of Lieut.-Colonel McKee, the gallant Major Daniel R. Collier, of that regiment, received two severe wounds, one in the leg, and the other in the breast. Adjutant Bullitt had his horse shot from under him, but nothing could induce either of them to leave the field. Equally conspicuous and meritorious was the conduct of Major Squires and Adjt. Franklin of the Twenty-sixth Ohio. Major Squires's horse was three times shot through the neck; nevertheless, he and all his officers stood by throughout, and most gallantly sustained and encouraged their men. Estep's battery came up in due time, and taking position on a little rise of ground in the rear of the Twenty-sixth Ohio and Third Kentucky, opened a terrible fire of shot and shell over the heads of our infantry. In about one hour after the Twenty-sixth Ohio got into position, this terrible attack of the enemy was repulsed, and they drew back into the wood and under cover of an intervening hill to re-form their shattered columns and renew the attack. I now took a survey of the situation, and found that along the entire line, to the right and left of the railroad, which had not yet been carried by the enemy, I was the only general officer present, and was, therefore, in command, and responsible for the conduct of affairs. Colonel Hazen, commanding a brigade in Gen. Palmer's division, was present with his brigade to the left of the railroad, and Col. Goss, commanding another brigade in the same divison, was also present with what there was left of his brigade, and most nobly did he cooperate with me, with the Sixth and Twenty-fourth Ohio to the right of the railroad, while Colonel Wagner, commanding the Second brigade in the First division, (left wing,) nobly sustained his front, assisted by Col. Hazen, to the left of the railroad. I now relieved the Third Kentucky regiment, who were nearly annihilated and out of ammunition, with the Fifty-eighth Indiana regiment of my brigade, commanded by Col. George P. Buell, and this being a much larger regiment than the Third Kentucky, filled up the entire space from where the right of the Third Kentucky rested to the railroad. I then threw forward the right of the Sixth Ohio regiment of Colonel Goss's brigade, which was on the right of the Twenty-sixth Ohio, so that its line of battle was more nearly perpendicular to the railroad, and so its fire would sweep the front of the Twenty-sixth Ohio and Fifty-eighth Indiana, and supported the Sixth Ohio with Estep's battery on a little eminence to its right, and brought up the Ninety-seventh Ohio, Col. Lane, from Wagner's brigade, to still further strengthen the right.

These dispositions being made, I galloped a little to the rear and found Gen. Rosecrans, and called his attention to the importance of the position I was holding, and the necessity of keeping it well supported. He rode to the front with me, approved of the dispositions I had made, spoke a few words of encouragement to the men, cautioning them to hold their fire until the enemy had got well up, and had no sooner retired than the enemy emerged from the woods and over the hill, and were moving upon us again in splendid style and in great force. As soon as they came in sight, the Sixth and Twenty-sixth Ohio and Estep's battery opened on them and did splendid execution, but on they came till within one hundred yards of our line, when Col. Buell, of the Fifty-eighth Indiana, who had lost three men, but had not fired a gun, ordered his men to fire. The effect was indescribable, the enemy fell in winrows and went staggering back from the effects of this unexpected volley. Soon, however, they came up again and assaulted us furiously for about one and a half hours, but the men all stood their ground nobly, and at the end of that time compelled the enemy to retire as before. During the heat of this attack a heavy cross-fire was brought to bear on the position I occupied, and Corporal Frank Mayer of the Third Ohio volunteer cavalry, in command of my escort, was shot through the leg, and my Adjutant-General, Captain Ed. R. Kerstetter, was shot through his coat, grazing his back. The regiments all behaved splendidly again, and the Fifty-eighth Indiana won immortal honors. Lieut. Blackford of that regiment was shot dead, and several of the officers, including Capts. Downey and Alexander, badly wounded. Estep's battery was compelled to retire from the position assigned it, after firing half a dozen rounds, but it did terrible execution while there. The Sixth and Twenty-fourth Ohio did noble service, as the Ninety-seventh, but their own immediate commanders will, no doubt, allude to them more particularly. Thus ended the third assault upon the position. I should have remarked that the One Hundredth Illinois regiment the other regiment composing my brigade, which was in reserve during the first engagement described above, had, under instruction of Col. Hazen, moved to the front on the left of the railroad, and taken up a position at right angles with the railroad, where they fought splendidly in all the actions that took place on the left of the road. There was no formidable attack made upon them, though they were almost constantly under fire of greater or less severity, particularly from shot and shell, and suffered quite severely in killed and wounded. Lieut. Morrison Worthington, of that regiment, was killed while gallantly sustaining his men, and six other commissioned officers, including Major Hammond, were wounded. Their operations being to the left of the railroad and in a wood, did not come so immediately under my personal observation, but their conduct, from Colonel Bartleson down, was such as leaves nothing to be desired. The Fifty-eighth Indiana, having now been over three hours in action, and the Twenty-sixth Ohio about four hours, were exhausted and very near out of ammunition; I therefore relieved the Fifty-eighth Indiana with the Fortieth Indiana, from Col. Wagner's brigade, and the Twenty-sixth Ohio was relieved by the