[CHAP. XLIII.

ing of the fight returned and rendered me all the assistance in his power. He selected and reformed the new line after we withdrew from our first position.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

P. R. CLEBURNE,

Major-General.

Colonel GEORGE WILLIAM BRENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of Tennessee.

Numbers 16.-JOINT RESOLUTION of thanks to Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, and the officers and men under his command, for distinguished service at Ringgold Gap, in the State of Georgia, November 27, 1863.

Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, and the officers and men under his command, for the victory obtained by them over superior forces of the enemy at Ringgold Gap, in the State of Georgia, on the 27th day of November, 1863, by which the advance of the enemy was impeded, our wagon train and most of our artillery saved, and a large number of the enemy killed and wounded.

Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate the foregoing resolution to Major-General Cleburne and his command.

Approved February 9, 1864.

Numbers 249.

Report of Lieutenant Richard W. Goldthwaite, Semple's (Alabama) battery.

SEMPLE'S BATTERY,

December 7, 1863.

CAPTAIN: I send you the following report of the part taken by Semple's battery in the engagement of November 27:

The artillery of the division, with the exception of Semple's battery, had been moved with the retreating army. Two pieces which, having been ordered to report to Wright's brigade on the night of November 25, had been detached since then, in the morning rejoined the command. Captain Douglas, of Douglas' battery, then commanding battalion artillery, had given orders for these two pieces to be moved forward to where the division was in line of battle awaiting the approach of the enemy, but by order of Major-General Breckinridge ridge, given in person by that general, First Lieutenant McClelland, commanding the section, was made to report to Brigadier-General Lewis. The command of Brigadier-General Lewis was formed in line about a mile in rear of the position held by Major-General Cleburne, and here this section remained during the engagement.

The two remaining pieces, early in the morning of the 27th, had been thrown into battery on a position which had previously been selected by Major-General Cleburne. The position was just at the northern mouth of the gorge called Ringgold Gap. The gap was bounded on the right by a high ridge, and on the left by a steep, almost inaccessible hill, around the base of which ran the Chicka-