Report of Major General David S. Stanley, U. S. Army, commanding Fourth Army Corps, of operations in North Georgia and North Alabama, September 29-November 13, 1864. *

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH ARMY CORPS,
Huntsville, Ala., February 25, 1864.

Report of the services of the Fourth Army Corps from the time of separating from General Sherman's army at Gaylesville, Ala., to and including the battle of Franklin, Tenn.:

About the 1st of October it was known that the rebel army under Hood had crossed the Chattahoochee and was moving north upon the railroad to Chattanooga. On the 3rd the Fourth Corps moved in pursuit of the rebel army, being the leading corps of our army. The route in following Hood took us first to Marietta; thence, via Pine Top and Lost Mountain, to Allatoona and Kingston; from Kingston to rome, where, finding that Hood had struck the railroad north of Resaca, the corps marched to Resaca, and, with the Fourteenth Corps, crossed Rocky Face Mountain just north of Snake Creek Gap, compelling the enemy to relinquish his old upon that pass. Our course, following in pursuit of the enemy, led us through Ship's Gap and down the Chattooga Valley to Gaylesville, Ala. The marching was severe, but in the entire mountains, I do not know that a gun was fired in the corps at the enemy. We were lying quietly in the valley of the Chattooga, gathering our subsistence and forage from the country, when, upon the 26th of October, a reconnaissance of the Army of the Tennessee down the Coosa confirmed the reports we had received that Hood's entire army had moved off toward the Tennessee River. On the same day I received Special Field Orders, Numbers 104, directing me to move the entire corps, sick included, via Alpine and Winston's Gap, to Chattanooga or Bridgeport, as circumstances might require. It was through I would receive instructions on the way from General Thomas. The second DIVISION, commanded by Brigadier General G. D. Wagner, which had been detached and at Chattanooga, joined at Alpine. On the 28th the corps reached La Fayette, General Grose's brigade, of the Second DIVISION only taking the route via Winston's on account of the very diffrning of the 28th I received a dispatch, via Valley Head, from Major-General Thomas in Nashville, directing me to march to Stevenson. Orders were sent to General Grose to cross Sand Mountain to Bridgeport, and the main body of the corps the same evening reached the vicinity of Chattanooga. A dispatch from General Thomas was received in the evening, directing the corps to move along the railroad, to be picked up by cars as they could be, and to move to Huntsville or to Athens as early as possible. Upon consultation with Mr. Tindall, the railroad superintendent at Chattanooga, it was found that, owing to the superior facilities for loading troops at Chattanooga, the corps could be soonest embarked at that point. General Wood's DIVISION (the THIRD) were all started before noon. No artillery or transportation was taken: officers' horses were only transported. A dispatch was received from Major-General Thomas directing me to march to Pulaski upon arriving at Athens, unless it was ascertained that the enemy had not yet crossed the Tennessee River. I followed the THIRD DIVISION myself, and arrived at Athens about 9 o'clock the morning of the 31st. Here.

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* See p. 576.

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