Infantry Volunteers, and Colonel E. H. Wolfe, of the FIFTY-second Indiana Infantry, were encamped in line of battle on the left of the Tupelo road, the Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel James I. Gilbert, of the Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry Volunteers, being encamped in the rear and on the left flank of the supply train as guard for the train.

On the morning of the 14th of July, heavy firing having been heard on the picket-posts, I ordered a line of skirmishers to be formed in front of my command. At 7 a. m., after drawing in our skirmishers, the enemy appeared in considerable force in front of the First Brigade, THIRD DIVISION, SIXTEENTH Army Corps, commanded by Colonel C. D. Murray, of the Eighty-ninth Indiana Infantry Volunteers, with the unmistaken intention of capturing the batteries and driving our line of battle in perfect disorder. Then enemy were permitted to advance in solid columns upon our line through an open field. Our lines being concealed from their view by the brow of the hill, we were not discovered until the enemy had reached a point about twenty paces distant, when the troops of the First Brigade, THIRD DIVISION, SIXTEENTH Army corps (composed of the One hundred and twenty-second Illinois Infantry Volunteers, commanded by Colonel J. I. Rinaker; the Eighty-ninth Indiana Infantry Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Craven; the FIFTY-eighth Illinois Infantry Volunteers, commenced by Captain Heelan; The Twenty-first Missouri Infantry Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Moore; the One hundred and nineteenth Illinois Infantry Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Thomas J. Kinney), sprang to their feet, and, with a yell like that of demons, rushed forward, pouring into the ranks of the advancing foe a desperate volley of musketry, causing them to flee in the utmost disorder, exclaiming, "My God! my God!" The THIRD Indiana Battery, command by Lieutenant Burns, which was posted on the right of the First Brigade, and Battery G, Second Illinois Light Artillery, together with the FIFTY-second Indiana Infantry Volunteers, and the one hundred and seventy-eighth New York Infantry Volunteers, commanded by Colonel E. H. Wolfe, of the FIFTY-second Indiana Infantry Volunteers, did admirable execution by the right and left oblique firing, causing the enemy to beat a hasty retreat in the utmost confusion. For about three hours the enemy kept shelling my lines, but was vigorously replied to by the batteries above mentioned, and with the effect of silencing one of his batteries, and compelling another to move out of range, which rendered their fore comparatively harmless. After pursuing the retreating enemy to the foot of the hill in front of our position, my lines halted, and for a few moments continued firing upon the scattered fugitives. They were then, after all resistance had ceased on the part of the enemy, ordered to march back to their original position in line of battle, which they did in good order. Too much praise cannot be awarded to Colonel J. I. Rinaker and the officers and men of the One hundred and twenty-second Illinois Infantry Volunteers for the gallant manner in which they met the fire of the advancing foe. The above-named regiment being posted on the right of the First Brigade, THIRD DIVISION, SIXTEENTH Army Corps, and immediately on the left of the First DIVISION, SIXTEENTH Army Corps, by cross-firing on the columns advancing in front of the First DIVISION, SIXTEENTH Army Corps, dealt a deadly and murderous fire. For the balance of the day the enemy left us undisturbed until 10 p. m., when,. after driving in our pickets, a considerable force of the enemy charging in on the left of the THIRD Brigade, evidently with the design of driving us from our eminence. The One hundred and