Upon arriving at the terminus of the railroad (Catoosa wood station) on the morning of the 19th, I rode forward to Ringgold for orders and to obtain wagons for my reserve ammunition, my own train being left with the division upon my departure for Rome. In a few hours I received orders from the general commanding to guard and convey to the army a large ordnance train that would be formed and reported to me. This train was not reported until near 10 p. m. With the train in charge, having_procured a reliable guide in the person of Dr. Evans, of Ringgold, I reached Alexander's Bridge (at which point I was directed to cross Chickamauga Creek, if possible), about sunrise upon the morning of the 20th, after a most fatiguing march during the entire night. I reported my arrival with the train to army headquarters, and, being relieved of further charge of it, was directed to march forward to a point about a mile distant from the bridge, and there awaited further orders. After remaining at this position some twenty minutes, I was ordered by a staff officer of the general commanding to move forward, reporting to Lieutenant-General Polk, and join Major-General Walker's corps. Being at the same time placed under the guidance of a staff officer of General Polk, he turned over the direction of my command to a second officer of the same staff, and he to a third officer. With considerable difficulty, and after marching for some time, I reached the division to which I was attached. Upon reporting my command (at this time numbering only 980, aggregate) I was ordered by MajorGeneral Walker to at once assume command of the division, consisting of Brigadier-General Ector's, Colonel Wilson's, and my own brigade, the brigades of Ector and Wilson, numbering about 500 each, having suffered heavy losses in the engagement on the previous day. Lieut. Gen. D. H. Hill was present when I reported to Generals Polk and Walker, and as I was turning off to assume command of the division requested Major-General Walker to send a brigade to the support of Major-General Breckinridge's division, which was hotly engaged in our front and upon our left. Major-General Walker indicated one of General Liddell's brigades, near by. General Hill asked for Gist's brigade, saying he had heard of that brigade. General Walker remarked that "Gist's brigade is just coming up," and directed me to report to General Hill. I did so. The brigade being now under command of Col. P. H. Colquitt, of the Forty-sixth Geor-. gia Volunteers, he at once reported and received his instructions from General Hill. General Walker then directed me to report the other two brigades also to General Hill, which was promptly done. Colonel Colquitt, having his instructions from General Hill, advanced his command in the direction indicated, being cautioned that he was to support General Breckinridge, two of whose brigades were reported in his immediate front. I was afterward directed by General Hill to follow up and support the advance of the First Brigade with the brigades of Ector and Wilson. Colonel Colquitt, upon advancing a few hundred yards in the woods before him, found himself in the presence of the enemy, strongly posted and massed behind a breastwork of logs, the troops reported in his front having retired before the galling fire of the enemy. The direction taken by Colonel Colquitt was too far to the right, and the left regiment (Twenty-fourth South Carolina Volunteers) only came directly upon the enemy's lines, which were so disposed by a salient as to rake the entire front of the brigade as it came forward with a severe and destructive enfilading fire. The brigade could not have changed direction, as the position of the enemy was not discovered by Colonel Colquitt until the left was within a short distance of the breastworks. The right, however, changed front sufficiently to become directly engaged. Colonel Colquitt did not reconnoiter the position, as he was instructed that our troops were in his front. The enemy now poured forth a most destructive and well-aimed fire upon the entire line, and though it wavered and recoiled under the shock, yet, by the exertions of the gallant Colquitt, nobly seconded by Colonels Stevens, Capers, and other brave and true officers, order was promptly restored, and for some twenty-five minutes the terrific fire was withstood and returned with marked effect by the gallant little band. It was here that the lamented Colquitt fell mortally wounded while cheering on his command, and in quick succession the iron-nerved Stevens and the intrepid Capers were seriously wounded, and many others who deserve to live in their country's memory yielded up their life's blood. One-third of the gallant command was either killed or wounded. Reeling under the storm of bullets, having lost all but 2 of their field officers, the brigade fell back fighting to the position from which they advanced. The brigades of Ector and Wilson kept up their fire from the cover (the enemy did not venture beyond their works, so severely had they suffered) until I was directed by General Hill to withdraw them to the positions they occupied before advancing and reform my whole line in rear of the batteries some few hundred yards distant from the enemy's position. This order was gallantly extended [executed] under a heavy fire by Capt. M. P. King, my assistant adjutant-general. Our lines being re-established, we remained in position until about 4 p. m., when a general advance was ordered. Maj. A. M. Speer, with seven companies of the Forty-sixth Georgia Volunteers, having come up, my own brigade, now under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Napier, was increased to some 1,400 men and officers. I was directed by Major-General Walker to support the advance of General Liddell's division. Upon reaching the Chattanooga road, General Liddell found his command exposed to a heavy fire upon both flanks and fell back to my rear. The gallant Forty-sixth Georgia Volunteers, occupying the right of the brigade, eager to avenge their beloved colonel, the brave Captain Cooper, and other true officers of the regiment, with a loud cheer, led by their brave major, charged through the wood before them, driving the enemy and capturing some 40 prisoners. The remainder of the brigade followed up handsomely the advance upon the left. Upon reaching the Chattanooga road, the force of the enemy that engaged and fired upon the flanks of General Liddell's division had retired from view, and not being aware of any support upon my right, I at once halted the command, threw out skirmishers to my front and upon my right flank, and sent information of my position to Major-General Walker. The brigades of General Ector and Colonel Wilson advancing, took up positions to the left of the First Brigade without encountering any serious opposition. Not receiving any further orders and night being nearly upon us, we bivouacked upon the field of victory. General Liddell, whose command was promptly reformed, came up and took position on my right. The firing ceased, loud cheers went up to heaven, and the grandest, most important battle of the war was fought and won. I would respectfully refer the major-general commanding to the reports of Brigadier-General Ector* and Colonel Wilson for particulars in relation to their respective commands, and acknowledge my indebtedness to them for judicious and efficient support. To Maj. B. Burgh Smith, brigade inspector; Capt. M. P. King, assistant adjutant-general; Lieut. L. M. Butler and J. C. Habersham, aides-de-camp, of my staff, I am under great obligations for valuable assistance in reforming commands, extending orders under heavy fires, and other efficient service. Maj. J. S. Green, brigade quartermaster; Capt. J. A. Bowie, acting brigade commissary, and Lieut. J. M. Hunt, acting brigade ordnance officer, were at their posts and in efficient discharge of their respective duties. I would recommend to the favorable notice of the general commanding the distinguished gallantry of Col. C. H. Stevens, Twentyfourth South Carolina Volunteers, who, besides being severely wounded, had 2 horses killed under him. * I have the honor to inclose a report of those officers and men from my own brigade represented by their commanding officers as having conducted themselves meritoriously upon the field of battle. I cannot close my report without expressing my satisfaction at the conduct and efficiency of the officers, and my admiration for the brave and soldierly bearing of the men of the division which I had the honor to command in the battle of Chickamauga. Their rolls of killed and wounded testify to the place which they occupied in the picture.t I am, captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Capt. Jos. B. CUMMING, No. 323. Report of Col. Claudius C. Wilson, Twenty-fifth Georgia Infantry, commanding brigade. HEADQUARTERS WILSON'S BRIGADE, Mission Ridge, October 1, 1863. CAPTAIN: It was not until 1 o'clock on Friday night, the 18th instant [ultimo], that my brigade succeeded in crossing Shallow Ford, on the Chickamauga River, the road having been blocked up by the wagons and artillery trains of the brigades and divisions which preceded us on the march. We bivouacked on the west side of the river that night prepared to follow our division on the next day's march. The ordnance train of the division not having succeeded in crossing Friday night, I was directed by special order from division headquarters to remain with the train, holding my brigade as a guard until it had crossed, and then to rejoin the division. I immediately detached the Thirtieth Georgia Regiment and sent it to the ford as a guard to that portion of the train that had not crossed, and to fur *Not found. +Nominal lists of casualties not found. A tabular statement of losses in the Twenty-fourth South Carolina shows 5 officers and 38 men killed, 10 officers and 104 men wounded, 1 officer and 11 men captured, a total of 169. nish fatigue parties to help forward disabled or stalled wagons, having first reconnoitered the position and thrown out two companies on each road leading to the ford to guard against surprise by the enemy. About 9 a. m. the whole train had crossed and was put in motion, with the Twenty-fifth Georgia Regiment and a section of the battery ahead as an advance guard and the rest of the brigade in rear. In this order we had marched about 2 miles from the ford to the intersection of the road from Alexander's Bridge with the road to Lee and Gordon's Mills, when I received from one of General Forrest's staff an order from division headquarters directing me to go with General Forrest and obey his orders. The train was thereupon sent forward alone, and the brigade filed to the right on the Alexander's Bridge road, conducted by the staff officer who had brought me the order. One company, however, of the Thirtieth Georgia Regiment, which had been thrown out as skirmishers from the ford, had not yet overtaken the regiment, and did not until the fight was over, but fell in on the left of General Ector's brigade and behaved gallantly, as I am informed, during the engagement of that day. This was Company B, Capt. R. M. Hitch. Riding forward with General Forrest he informed me that the enemy in considerable force were engaging his cavalry to the right and front of my position, and he directed me to select a position and form line of battle on the left of the road. I formed my line on the ridge of the long hill, which from the northeast overlooks and commands the plain where our first encounter with the enemy took place, posting the artillery by sections on the most elevated positions and opposite to the intervals between regiments. We had not remained in this position long when an order from General Forrest informed me that the enemy were pressing him sorely in front and directed me to move up on his left. This order was promptly executed, the brigade moving off by the right flank, and, filing up the Alexander's Bridge road about three-eighths of a mile, was formed forward into line. The line was scarcely formed when firing commenced on the left. The order was given to move forward at once, and the line stepped off with the enthusiasm of high hope and patriotic determination, and the precision and accuracy which only disciplined and instructed troops can attain. The enemy's skirmishers were encountered at once and driven in on their first line, which opened upon us a terrific fire. Steadily the line moved forward and poured into the enemy's ranks a well-directed fire, which very soon caused his line to break and flee from the field in confusion, leaving dead and wounded covering the field over which we marched. The command still pressed forward on the retreating foe and soon encountered a second line of battle, which seemed to have been drawn up 300 or 400 yards in rear of the first. Then again the contest was renewed with great energy and the position disputed with stubborn resolve. The firing at this point was terrific, and many brave officers and men fell while gallantly discharging their duties. For a time our line wavered, and the overwhelming force of the enemy seemed determined to drive us from the field. Rallying from the shock of this new encounter, our line again moved forward with determination and energy, and finally succeeded in driving back the enemy's second line in confusion to his breastworks, which had been erected of fallen trees about 400 yards in rear of his second line. At this time an order from General Forrest directed me not to press the enemy farther; but in the mean time our line had come within range of the breastworks, from which a constant and galling fire was poured into our ranks and a heavy force was moving around our left flank. I at once dispatched one of my staff to General Ector, who I knew was a short distance in our rear, with a request that he would move up on my left; but before my messenger reached him, General Forrest had ordered his brigade to the right, a position held up to that time by the cavalry. In the meantime, the enemy, having turned my left, poured an enfilading fire into our thinned ranks and compelled the whole left of the line to fall back, including the Thirtieth Georgia Regiment, which occupied the center. Observing this movement and pressed by a galling fire in front, the right of the line (made up of the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-ninth Georgia Regiments) began slowly to fall back. This movement having been promptly arrested, I passed toward the left with a view of rallying the rest of the brigade, and succeeded in restoring some order to the thinned ranks of the Thirtieth Georgia, when I discovered the enemy still pressing around the left toward an open field through which our line had advanced. I thereupon directed Lieutenant-Colonel Boynton, then commanding the Thirtieth Georgia, to fall back a little farther to a wood on the left of the road, intending to reform on it. While this was being done General Ector's brigade went in on the right of my line, and the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-ninth Georgia Regiments went with this brigade again into the action and remained with it during the fight of that brigade, and the sharpshooters and Louisiana battalion were rallied and reformed in rear of other troops of our division, which at this time had come up to our relief. Having been reformed and our cartridge boxes replenished, the brigade took up its position again, and remained on the battle-field that night and moved with the division next day. During the action of this day (Sunday), the 20th instant [ultimo], it was not our fortune to be much engaged. Our ranks had been much reduced, and we mustered not over 450 aggregate. About 12 m., the right of our line having advanced some distance, we engaged the enemy in a thick wood about half a mile from the Chattanooga road in connection with General Gist's brigade, which was in front of us, and General Ector's, which was in our rear. At this time the three brigades were occupying the same line nearly, and this arrangement necessarily resulted in some confusion. After a very unsatisfactory fight, lasting probably forty-five minutes, and in which we lost some valuable officers and a few men, we were ordered to fall back and reform. This was accomplished, the line falling back a few hundred yards, where we remained until about 5 p. when the line was reformed, with General Gist's brigade on the right, General Ector's on the left, and mine in the center, the division being under the command of General Gist, and advanced to the last charge, meeting, however, no enemy, and having the satisfaction of taking up our bivouac upon the field from which our enemy had been driven in confusion. This brigade entered the fight with an effective force of 1,200 men, and lost during the two days' fighting 99 killed, 426 wounded, and 80 missing. Of the number missing many were wounded and fell into the enemy's hands, but were recaptured with the field hospital he had established near the battle-field. Of the number wounded several have since died, among them Lieut. Col. A. J. Williams, commanding the Twenty-fifth Georgia Regiment, a brave and gal |