Joseph T. Derry , A. M. , Author of School History of the United States; Story of the Confederate War, etc., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 6, Georgia
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[373] into the interior works of the enemy. After the death of Cleburne, who was succeeded temporarily by Gen. James A. Smith, Col. C. H. Olmstead took command of the brigade of that officer (formerly Mercer's). When the army moved from Florence, Smith's brigade was detached and left behind for the purpose of guarding a supply train. It did not rejoin the army until December 6th, in front of Nashville.

Following the battle of Franklin, Bate's division was with Forrest in the investment of Murfreesboro. In the battle at that place, December 7th, Tyler's and Jackson's brigades won the Confederate honors of the day, driving back in gallant style that part of the enemy's line which confronted them. Lieutenant-Colonel Billopp, Twenty-ninth Georgia, died gallantly at his post of duty. At Nashville, December 15th and 16th, the Thirty-seventh Georgia, Tyler's brigade, fought with conspicuous gallantry, holding the extreme left of Bate's line defending the Granny White pike until most of the command had fallen. ‘The breach once made,’ says General Bate, ‘the lines lifted from either side as far as I could see almost instantly and fled in confusion. Two regiments, the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Georgia, then my extreme right, commanded by Colonel Mitchell, Jackson's brigade, did not break, but remained fighting until surrounded.’ General Jackson was among the captured.

Olmstead's brigade, at Murfreesboro during the Nashville catastrophe, marched to Columbia, the barefooted and ill-clad men suffering terribly in the intense cold, and during the subsequent retreat fought in the rear guard. Their successful charge upon the enemy's advance near Pulaski on Christmas day, is remembered as an example of heroic devotion. The whole Confederate rear guard was engaged in that charge, and captured a number of cavalry horses and one cannon, a 12-pounder Napoleon. The conduct of the Confederate rear guard under Forrest and Walthall excited the admiration of the