Thompson, Company G, First Rifles. * Another brigade, under General Robertson, and composed of Texas troops, which lay concealed beyond the woods and near the foot of the ridge, ran, as reported by the prisoners, without firing a shot. The enemy's force at this point [his extreme right] consisted of the division of Major-General Hood, and was composed of three brigades, under the rebel Generals Anderson, {J. B.
Robertson, and {H. L.
Benning. They very greatly outnumbered us, but the rapidity of the movement and the gallant dash of my men completely surprised and routed them. They fell back nearly a mile to a second ridge, and intrenched themselves. By this charge of McCandless' brigade and the Eleventh Regiment., Colonel Jackson, the whole of the ground lost the previous day was retaken, together with all of our wounded, who, mingled with those of the rebels, were lying uncared for. The dead of both sides lay in lines in every direction, and the large number of our own men showed how fierce had been the struggle and how faithfully and how persistently they had contested for the field against the superior masses of the enemy. The result of this movement was the recovery of all the ground lost by our troops, one 12-pounder Napoleon gun and three caissons, and upward of 7, 000 stand of arms. Large piles of these arms were found on brush heaps, ready to be burned. Our wounded were at once cared for, and, under the able and prompt management of Surg. L. W. Read, surgeon-in-chief of this division, who came promptly upon the field, they were moved to hospitals in the rear, and carefully provided for. On the 4th, the large number of arms were collected, under the immediate direction of Lieutenant Harding, the ordnance officer of the division, and the brigade, which had been on incessant duty for forty-eight hours, under an annoying picket fire for a great period of the time, was withdrawn to the rear. My list in killed and wounded was 20 officers and 190 men, 3 only missing. The nominal and tabular list +is inclosed. Colonel Charles Fred. Taylor, the gallant and brave leader of the Bucktail Regiment, fell while leading his regiment to the charge. No braver soldier and patriot has given his life to the cause. The gallant men of this division fought upon their own soil-some of them at their very homes; and there was not an officer or private soldier who did not realize that the very contingency to meet which the division was formed had now arisen. The result is evinced in the gallantry displayed by those who were fortunate enough to enter the field when our left was overpowered and the enemy wa boldly advancing upon the key of our position. Great credit is due to Colonel William McCandless, commanding the First Brigade, for his management of his brigade and the prompt and faithful execution of the order given to him in the face of a galling fire on the 2d, and for the rapid and successful dash upon the enemy on the 3d, and I recommend him especially to the notice of the major-general commanding the corps. To Colonel Fisher, commanding the Third Brigade, great credit is also due in early realizing the importance of the occupation of the

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*A medal of honor awarded to Sergeant Thompson for this service.

+Embodied in revised statement, p. 180.

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