Part I - Don's Metal Detecting Forum

file:///I|/civil war books/war of rebellion/38a.txt
the 25th day of August, 1864, Col. M. F. Moore having assumed
command of the brigade.
J. H. BRIGHAM,
Lieutenanl- Colonel, commanding.
566 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. [CHAP. L.
No. 102.
Report• of Capt. Lewis E. Hicks, Sixty-ninth Ohio imfantry, of
operations August 25—September 2.
HDQRS. SIXTY-NINTH REGIMENT OHIO VET. VoLs.,
Jonesborough, Ga., September 2, 1864.
SIR: I have the lionor to submit the following report of the regiment
under my command from the 25th day of August to the 2d day
of September, 1864:
On the evening of the 25th of August marched to rejoin the division.
On the 28th marched to a point on’ the Montgomery railroad,
near Red Oak. Next day were engaged tearing up the road, burning
ties, and bending and twisting the rails.
August 30, marched toward the Macon railroad, and encamped
within three miles of it. On the 1st day of September, 1864,
marche.d to meet the enemy, the Sixty-ninth Regiment raving the
advance of the Third Brigade. Threw out six companies as skirmishers,
the remaining four in reserve, and advanced on theJ onesborough
road until a junction was formed with the left of the skirmish
line of the Seventeenth Corps. The brigade being then ordered
to reconnoiter and develop the force in our front, we advanced in
line of battle through a strip of woods and into an open field, when
we received the fire of the enemy’s outposts, consisting of a light
line of cavalry, dismounted and protected by rail piles, with two
pieces of artillery. We charged across a swamp, intersected by two
wide and deep ditches, whose banks were lined with briars, and up
the opposite slope, and routed the enemy, without loss to ourselves,
and captured a caisson from them. We then advanced to the Macon
railroad, and forming in line of battle at right angles to it (the
Sixty-ninth Regiment being on the right of the front line), threw
out skirmishers, and moved forward through a dense thicket. On
emerging from the woods into an open field the enemy’s skirmishers
were encountered, and soon driven in, and we held their line of pits
in the edge of the woods. After some delay in readjusting the lines
(the Sixty-ninth being now placed in the center), we advanced to
charge the rebel works. We reacLed a point within fifty yards of
the works, and held it for fifteen minutes, under a murderous fire,
which speedily decimated our ranks. The regiments on the right
and left having already withdrawn, the Sixty-ninth fell back ~ short
distance and reformed. The color-bearer having been killed, the
colors were left between the hostile lines. In order to cover them
by our fire and prevent their capture by the enemy,. the regiment
was held in the woods in advance of the rest of the line, which had
retired to the works in the edge of the woods. The colors were thus
saved from capture and were recovered in the second charge. After
a brief interval the regiment again charged with the rest of the line
and the Thirty-eighth Indiana of the second line. The enemy was
dislodged, after a desperate struggle, from the portion of his works
on the right of the railroad, and did not regain them. Seven prisoners
were captured and taken to the rear by men belonging to my
command. We held the ground fought over by our picket-line, and
next morning occupied Jonesborough.
LEW. E. HICKS,
Captain, Comdg. Sixty-ninth Regiment Ohio I7et. Vols.
Lient. H. 0. MONTAGUE.
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