Numbers 25.

Report of Colonel George A. Cobham, jr., One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry, commanding Second Brigade.

HDQRS. SECOND BRIG., SECOND DIV., 12TH ARMY CORPS,
Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, October 31, 1863.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit the following report of the march of my brigade from Bridgeport to Wauhatchie, and of the part taken by it in the action of October 28 and 29 instant:

Having been supplied with three days' rations and 60 rounds of ammunition, we crossed the Tennessee at Bridgeport at 9 a.m. of the 27th instant and marched to Shellmound, arriving there at 2 p.m. Left Shellmound at 5 a.m. of the 28th, and marched to Wauhatchie, reaching that place at 5 p.m. Went into camp on the left of the railroad, about 2 1/2 miles from the knob of Lookout Mountain. The Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers was detailed for picket duty, and Colonel Rickards, commanding officer of the regiment, as division officer of the day. At 11 p.m. of the 28th instant, picket firing being heard in our front, under instructions from the general commanding division, I ordered the One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers under arms, and moved them forward, facing the railroad. The firing ceasing the regiment returned to quarters, but on its renewal after a short interval, I placed that regiment and the One hundred and ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers in position on the Kelley's Ferry road, the right of the One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers resting on the railroad, and their left joining the right of the One hundred and ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers. Owing to the advantageous manner in which Colonel Rickards had posted his pickets, and to the obstinate resistance made by them, the enemy were held in check long enough to enable the line to be formed.

This was hardly accomplished, when the enemy opened a heavy fire on our front, and advanced to the attack. I ordered my men to lie down, to be careful of their ammunition, and to fire low. During the severe action that ensued, lasting until 3 a.m. of the 29th instant, the men never wavered, but conducted themselves with admirable coolness and courage. They had no other protection than that afforded by a few fence rails thrown hastily together under fire. The enemy failing to force our front, moved upon the flanks, and threw in a brisk fire, both from the wood upon our left and from a piece of ground overlooking the railroad on our right. I immediately dispatched orders for two companies of the One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers to move to the right flank and check their advance, but found that Lieutenant-Colonel Walker, commanding that regiment, had already made such a disposition of his troops. With the assistance of a piece of Atwell's battery, which was moved across the railroad, under the direction of Colonel Rickards, Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and which opened finely upon the enemy, and of the two companies of the Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, which had been driven in from the picket line, the attack was repulsed. The left of the line was protected by a regiment of General Greene's brigade, the One hundred and thirty-seventh New York Volunteers.

During the greater part of the time the firing was exceedingly severe, and cost us the lives of some brave officers and men, besides