[CHAP. XLIII.

dangerously wounded in discharging his duty. Colonel A. F. Rudler succeeded him in command. He, too, fell a victim to a severe and disabling wound in the fight after dark.

Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Turner, of the Thirtieth Tennessee, as ranking officer, then assumed command of this brigade. His coolness and courage was marked throughout.

I cannot, in justice to the generous and brave, consistently close this without expressing my thanks to Brigadier-General Finley for his gallant bearing and prompt assistance in every emergency.

I take the liberty of mentioning Lieutenant Colonel Joseph T. Smith, of the Thirty-seventh Georgia, and Major J. M. Wall, Fifteenth and Thirty-seventh Tennessee, for special gallantry on this occasion.

To the members of my staff-Captain G. W. McCawley, Lieutenants T. E. Blanchard and James H. Bate-I also make my acknowledgments for promptness and gallantry on the field.

The casualties of this command were: Killed,43; wounded, 224; missing, 590. Most of the latter were Floridians who were in the trenches.

For further particulars I respectfully refer to the reports of subaltern officers.*

I am, colonel, very respectfully,

WM. B. BATE,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Colonel GEORGE WILLIAM BRENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

ADDENDA.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. BRECKINRIDGE'S DIVISION,

Numbers 15.
Dalton, Ga., November 28, 1863.

It is with the deepest pain and regret that the brigadier-general commanding learns that a few of the men of this division abandoned their arms upon the late field of battle and in the retreat, and left them in the hands of an insolent, merciless, and inhuman foe, to be used against them in lying waste their country and desolating their homes. Those arms, which were their protection, should have been their greatest companion and pride, and he who would desert them is a coward and a traitor to himself, his family, and his country and in order that these men may be known and in order that these men may be known and promptly punished, the division commander directs that the names of all men, with the number of company and regiment to which they belong, who lost their guns either in the late battle or on the retreat, or who may hereafter lose their guns, be reported to these headquarters, that they may be promptly and summarily punished, in addition to being charged upon the rolls with the value of the guns.

By command of Brigadier-General Bate:

G. W. McCAWLEY,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

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*Not found.

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