No. 172. Report of Lieutenant Colonel Zalmon S. Main, Fifty-second Indiana Infantry, of operations December 15-16, 1864.

HDQRS. FIFTY-SECOND REGIMENT INDIANA VETERAN VOLS.,
In the Field, Tenn., December 23, 1864.

LIEUTENANT: I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by the Fifty-second Regiment Indiana Veteran Volunteers in the battle fought between Generals Thomas' and Hood's forces on the 15th and 16th instant, near Nashville, Tenn.:

On the morning of the 15th instant I was ordered to move my regiment in front of the fortifications near the Hardin pike, and formed on the left of the Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Soon after this formation was completed a general advance was made in line of battle, obliquing to the left until we had gained a distance of about a mile, arriving at a point near the Hillsborough pike, where we found the enemy in force behind strong works. Here the colonel commanding the brigade ordered a halt. Two sections of the Ninth Indiana Battery at once took position some 200 yards in rear of the Fifty-second Indiana Volunteers, and opened fire on a rebel battery in our front behind strong works near the Hillsborough pike, which was the cause of the regiment receiving a terrible shelling from the rebel battery and falling in our ranks, killing 1 and severely wounding 6 others. This was a loss to the regiment that it would not have sustained had it not been for our battery. At about 2 p.m. the whole line was again advanced toward the rebel works, my regiment advancing within 200 yards of them, where we received a galling fire of canister and musketry, having one officer and several men wounded. The Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteers, on my right, having obliqued to the right, under cover of the woods, leaving my regiment without support, compelled me to order a halt, which I did in a ravine near the rebel works, where I soon received orders to move by the left flank to a point of more safety near the Hillsborough pike, where the brigade was formed and a charge made in concert with the Fourth Army Corps, capturing a battery. This about closed the operations of the first day's fight. The regiment soon after went into camp for the night. During the day's fight the regiment sustained a loss of 1 man killed and 1 officer and 10 men wounded.

On the morning of the 16th instant a general advance in line of battle was again ordered, the Fifty-second Regiment Indiana Volunteers taking the center, the Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteers on the right, and the One hundred and seventeenth Illinois Volunteers on the left. In this order the whole line moved forward across the Granny White pike, a distance of about a mile, where we found the rebels posted in a strong position. After some maneuvering the command was halted, where we remained but little exposed to their fire until 3 o'clock, when a charge on the enemy's work was ordered, the regiment occupying the same position in the line that it had in the earlier part of the day. The regiment moved forward in line under a severe fire from a rebel battery in our immediate front and musketry from their works. Yet the whole line pressed forward with a determination that it was plain to be seen that neither rebel batteries nor musketry could withstand the bravery and determination of our officers and men, who had now reached the enemy's works, where prisoners were picked up in squads of six to ten