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 Major-General 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. Lieutenant General 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 Colonel P. H. Colquitt, of the Forty-sixth Georgia 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 brigade 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