No. 414.

Report of Colonel John S. Fulton, Forty-fourth Tennessee Infantry, commanding Johnson's brigade.

HEADQUARTERS JOHNSON'S BRIGADE, September 30, 1863.

SIR: I have to report the action taken with the enemy by the

Forty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-third, and Seventeenth Tennessee Regiments, composing this brigade, and Company E, of the Ninth Georgia Artillery Battalion (a battery of two howitzers and two small riffled pieces), commanded by First Lieutenant W. S. Everett, in an affair at and from Ringgold to Chickamauga, on the 19th and 20th instant:

By order from Brigadier-General Johnson this brigade moved at 3 p.m. on 17th instant, from its encampment, 3 miles south of Ringgold, on the Ringgold and Dalton road, in the following order: Twenty-fifth, Forty-fourth, Twenty-third, and Seventeenth Tennessee Regiments. On our approaching Ringgold a supply train on its way to Ringgold had been reversed and was rapidly returning. At this juncture, I received an order from General B. R. Johnson to form the brigade in line of battle at the foot of Taylor's Ridge and throw forward skirmishers to hold Ringgold. The twenty-fifth Tennessee Regiment being in front took position on its right flank to protect the wagons rapidly moving to the rear. The brigade was formed in line of battle at the foot of Taylor's Ridge, the Forty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Tennessee Regiments on the right of the road,
Twenty-third and Seventeenth Tennessee Regiments on the left. A company from each regiment was sent in charge of Major Davis to hold Ringgold, with a detachment of Scott's cavalry on my flanks. A section of the battery was placed on my extreme right on elevated ground, where I ordered it to open upon the enemy's battery posted on the hill above and to the northwest of Ringgold, which had fired 2 shots into the town. After firing 8 rounds I dislodged the enemy, who was pursued by Colonel Scott's cavalry, with a section of Everett's battery, 6 miles. He (Colonel Scott) having reached their encampment, a few rounds of grape and canister were fired among the enemy's camp fires, when Colonel Scott, with the section of artillery, retired.

The brigade rested on their arms in line of battle during the night. Rations were cooked and in haversacks by daylight on the morning of the 18th instant, when we took up line of march to Leet's Tanyard. After marching a short distance the line of march was changed. The regiments countermarched and followed the enemy in the direction of Chattanooga, and having reached Peeler's (overshot) Mill we found that the enemy were near us. The brigade was formed in line of battle and skirmishers thrown forward, together with the left wing of the Forty-fourth Tennessee Regiment, under General Forrest, followed by the right of that regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel McEwen, jr. Lieutenant Everett fired a few rounds on the enemy, under direction of General Forrest. The skirmishers of the Seventeenth Tennessee Regiment engaged the cavalry pickets of the enemy, killing 3 men and mortally wounding 1.

The enemy's skirmishers having been driven back, the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-third, and Seventeenth Regiments were moved forward,