Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 11.
Frank Moore, Ed.

To mourning friends and to all the disabled in battle, you extend a soldier's sympathy.

My first intimate acquaintance with you dates from the twenty-eighth of July. I never beheld fiercer assaults than the enemy then made, and I never saw troops more steady and self-possessed in action than your divisions which were then engaged.

I have learned that for cheerfulness, obedience, rapidity of movement, and confidence in battle, the Army of Tennessee is not to be surpassed, and it shall be my study that your fair record shall continue, and my purpose to assist you to move steadily forward and plant the old flag in every proud city of the rebellion.

On the first day of May, 1864, from Huntsville, Alabama, and its vicinity, you commenced the march. The marches and labors performed by you during this campaign will hardly find a parallel in the history of the war. The proud name heretofore acquired by the Fifteenth corps, for soldierly bearing and daring deeds, remains untarnished, its lustre undimmed. During the campaign you constituted the main portion of the flanking column of the whole army. Your first move against the enemy was around the right of the army at Resaca, where, by your gallantry, the enemy were driven from the hills and his works on the main road from Villanow to Resaca. On the retreat of the enemy, you moved on the right flank of the army, by a circuitous route, to Adairsville; in the same manner from there to Kingston and Dallas, where, on the twenty-third of May, you met the veteran corps of Hardee and, in a severe and bloody contest,you hurled him back, killing and wounding over two thousand,besides capturing a large number of prisoners. You then moved round to the left of the army by way of Ackworth, to Kenesaw Mountain, where again you met the enemy, driving him from three lines of works, and capturing over three hundred prisoners. During your stay in front of Kenesaw Mountain, on the twenty-seventh of June you made one of the most daring, bold, and heroic charges of the war,against the almost impregnable position of the enemy on the Little Kenesaw. You were then moved by way of Marietta, to Nickajack creek, on the right of our army; thence back to the extreme left by way of Marietta and Roswell, to the Augusta railroad, near Stone Mountain, a distance of fifty miles, and after effectually destroying the railroad at this point, you moved by way of Decatur to the immediate front of the rebel strong. hold, Atlanta. Here, on the twenty-second day of July, you again performed your duty nobly, as patriots and soldiers, in one of the most severe and sanguinary conflicts of the campaign. With hardly time to recover your almost exhausted energies, you were moved again around to the right of the army, only to fight the same troops against whom you had so recently contended; and the battle of the twenty-eighth of July, at Ezra Chapel, will long be remembered by the officers and soldiers of this command. On that day it was that the Fifteenth corps, almost unaided and alone, for four hours contested the field against the corps of Hardee and Lee. You drove them discomfited from the field; causing them to leave their dead and many of their wounded in your hands. The many noble and gallant deeds performed by you on this day will be remembered among the proudest acts of our nation's history. After pressing the enemy closely for several days, you again moved to the right of the army, to the West Point railroad, near Fairburn. After completely destroying the road for some distance, you marched to Jonesboroa, driving the enemy before you from Pond creek, a distance of ten miles. At this point you again met the enemy, composed of Lee's and Hardee's corps, on the thirty-first of August, and punished them severely, driving them in confusion from the field, with their dead and many wounded and prisoners left in your hands. Here again, by your skill and true courage, you kept sacred the reputation you have so long maintained, viz.: “The Fifteenth corps never meets the enemy but to strike and defeat him.” On the first of September, the Fourteenth corps attacked Hardee. You at once opened fire on him, and by your co-operation his defeat became a rout. Hood, hearing the news, blew up his ammunition trains, retreated, and Atlanta was ours.

You have marched during the campaign, in your windings, the distance of four hundred miles; have put hours de combat more of the enemy than your corps numbers; have captured twelve stands of arms, two thousand four hundred and fifty prisoners, and two hundred and ten deserters. The course of tour march is marked by the graves of patriotic heroes, who have fallen by your side; but, at the same time, it is more plainly marked by the blood of traitors, who have defied the Constitution and laws, insulted and trampled under foot the glorious flag of our country. We deeply sympathize with the friends of those of our comrades-in-arms who have fallen; our sorrows are only appeased by the knowledge that they fell as brave men, battling for the preservation and perpetuation of one of the best governments of earth. “Peace be to their ashes.”

You now rest for a short time from your labors.