Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10.
Frank Moore, Ed.

During the whole engagement my command was almost continually within range of the enemy's cannon, and, at times, suffered severely from it.

My Ordnance Officer, Lieutenant Winston, during and after the engagement, collected and hauled from the field one thousand stand of small arms.

Several small squads of prisoners were taken by my men and. sent to the rear, but without any account of their number.

The company and field officers, as a general thing, conducted themselves with great gallantry and coolness, and discharged their duties in such a manner as to reflect much credit upon themselves and their commands. The privates in the ranks, as usual, displayed that noble courage for which Southern soldiers have ever been distinguished.

My staff officers, Captain J. W. Johnson, A. A. G., and Lieutenant John S. Chapman, A. A. I. G., rendered me very efficient service on the field, and during the whole engagement manifested a zeal and energy in the discharge of their duties that was truly commendable.

I have already forwarded to you a list of the casualties of this brigade, showing the name, rank and command of the officers and men killed, wounded and missing during the engagement. That report shows our loss in killed to be nineteen; wounded, two hundred and three, and missing, twenty-eight-making the whole loss sustained by the brigade two hundred and fifty, officers and men.

Some of the missing have since been heard of as wounded and in the hands of the enemy. Many of the wounded men are but slightly injured, and will soon be able to join their comrades. But there are many noble spirits who will never return; and while we have to mourn the loss of our gallant dead, and sympathize with those who are suffering from their wounds, yet we cannot but rejoice that the tide of invasion has, for once, been hurled back, and that the faces of our gallant and victorious soldiers are now turned towards their homes, and that a new and unconquerable spirit has been aroused throughout our whole army.

Respectfully submitted,

On Saturday, nineteenth ultimo, at half-past 8 o'clock A. M., I was ordered by Major-General Cheatham to advance and cross the Chickamauga, at a ford known as--------Ford, following immediately after Brigadier-General Preston. Smith's brigade, and followed by Brigadier-General George Maney's brigade. Immediately after we crossed the ford heavy firing commenced in our front, which was ascertained to be an engagement between the reserve division of Major-General Walker and the enemy, who was in heavy force and was pressing Walker hotly with his largely superior numbers. My brigade, after crossing, was formed in line of battle in a field, in the rear of Brigadier-General Smith. I was ordered to follow immediately in the rear of Smith when he moved. In an hour Smith moved in the direction of the battle-field, and we followed closely in his rear. After moving into a wood in a direction inclining down the Chickamauga, another halt was made of half an hour, when I received an order from General Cheatham to form in line of battle, and moved forward in a direction nearly at right angles to the road along which we were posted, with that brave and accomplished officer, General Preston Smith, still on my right. Maney being in my rear in the line of march, I supposed that he would be ordered up to the left. Indeed, in the act of executing the forward movement in line of battle, I was informed by General Smith that we were a supporting force to Major-General Walker, who was supposed to be in our front.

My brigade is composed of the following regiments, which moved in line, from right to left, in the order named: Sixteenth Tennessee regiment, Colonel D. M. Donnell commanding; Eighth Tennessee regiment, Colonel John H. Anderson commanding; Fifty-first and Fifty-second Tennessee regiments, Lieutenant-Colonel John G. Hall commanding; Twenty-eight Tennessee regiment, Colonel S. S. Stanton commanding; Thirty-eighth Tennessee regiment and Murray's Tennessee battalion, Colonel John C. Carter commanding, with the battery of light artillery commanded by Captain Wm. W. Carnes. The men moved up in splendid style, obeying all orders with the alacrity and precision which is their habit on parade. With the information I had received, believing Major-General Walker in our front, I had directed each regiment to throw out skirmishers, and thus guard against the too frequent and often criminal folly of pouring a fire in the rear of our own comrades in arms when engaged against a foe in front. This order I immediately countermanded when it became quite evident that a most galling fire had been opened by the enemy's batteries and infantry upon my right flank and a portion of the centre. This fire continued for some minutes before the left flank was engaged, and was the result of my line of battle being advanced obliquely towards the right, instead of being parallel to the enemy's line. It was certainly due, also, somewhat to the fact that the Sixteenth and Eighth Tennessee regiments, extending their line into a corn field in open view of the enemy, whose position was concealed by timber and under-growth, were compelled to advance into