turnpike leading from Lewisburg to Franklin. A reconnaissance of the position as soon as it was light showed that the ground immediately south of the village was almost level and without any cover from woods or orchards for a distance of nearly a mile from the outskirts of the village, and even for a considerably longer distance on the Columbia pike.

A brick dwelling, belonging to a Mr. Carter, the southernmost one of town, stands on the west side of the turnpike upon a slight knoll over which the road runs as it leaves the village. This knoll has an elevation of about ten feet above the lower ground around it, and even less above that directly south, the slope then being so slight as to be scarcely perceptible to one approaching from that direction. The crest of this elevation is about 200 yards in length from right to left, and is divided nearly equally by the Columbia pike. Two other turnpikes diverge from the village going southward, the Lewisburg pike on the left [east] and the Carter's Creek pike on the right [west]. A curved line intersecting these two last-mentioned roads at the edge of the village crossed each of them upon slight elevations of ground, similar to that at Carter's house on the Columbia pike. This being the only line apparently tenable near the outskirts of the town, and sufficiently short to be occupied in reasonable strength by the two divisions of the corps [the Second being weakened by the absence of the strongest brigade], and it being also substantially the line indicated by the major-general commanding upon our approach to the town, I ordered the troops into position upon it, and directed that they throw up breast-works immediately. To completely understand the nature of the field it is, however, necessary to notice that the railroad also passes out of the town toward the southeast, and a little to the left of the Lewisburg pike, and that the Harpeth River, running northwestwardly, is nearly parallel to the railroad and quite near to it for some distance, whilst on our right it opens a considerable space between it and the Carter's Creek pike. Upon the north bank of the Harpeth and near the left of our line, as indicated, is a fort, erected some two years since [Fort Granger], which commands a stretch of the river to the left, and also a cut of the railroad, through which troops might advance under cover toward the left of our line. Reilly's brigade [First], of my own division, was placed with its right resting upon the Columbia pike, its front line consisting of the One hundredth Ohio and One hundred and fourth Ohio Volunteers, its second line of the Twelfth and Sixteenth Kentucky and the Eighth Tennessee Volunteers. Its left extended somewhat beyond a cotton gin, which stood in a slight angle of the line about 100 yards from the Columbia turnpike. The Second Brigade [Colonel J. S. Casement, One hundred and third Ohio, commanding] extended the line from Reilly's left to the Lewisburg pike, the Sixty-fifth Indiana, Sixty-fifth Illinois, and One hundred and twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteers forming his first line, and the Fifth Tennessee Volunteers in the second line. The Third Brigade [Colonel I. N. Stiles, Sixty-third Indiana, temporarily commanding] continued the line from Casement's left to the Harpeth River, the One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana, Sixty-third Indiana, and One hundred and twentieth Indiana Volunteers in the first line, and One hundred and twelfth Illinois Volunteers in the second line.

Upon the right of the pike I directed Brigadier-General Ruger, commanding Second Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, to put his division upon the line indicated, reaching as far as the right as he could firmly hold the line. He accordingly placed Strickland's brigade