[CHAP. XXVIII.

Numbers 40.

Report of Colonel A. S. Marks, Seventeenth Tennessee Infantry.

CAMP NEAR BRYANTSVILLE, KY.,

October 12, 1862.

GENERAL: In compliance with your order I have the honor to submit the following report relative to the part taken by my command in the battle of Perryville on the 8th instant:

By your order I moved forward from the position occupied by your brigade in rear of the White House, and advanced cautiously, with skirmishers thrown forward, to the crest of the hill overlooking the Doctor's Brach. At this point a section of Darden's battery was placed in battery, and I was ordered by Major-General Buckner to support it, and in a short time after the pieces were placed in battery the enemy directed his fire upon it from a battery in front and one from the left. The shelling from the enemy's batteries was well directed, but having my command behind the crest of the hill no casualties occurred. In the mean time you had moved all of your command forward save my regiment and the Twenty-third Tennessee. When the engagement became general upon the right I was ordered to move forward and join my brigade. I immediately began my advance, and not knowing the position occupied by you I directed my march toward the hill immediately beyond the Doctor's Branch. From a battery in my front the enemy kept up a continual shelling during my advance, but I found no difficulty in preserving perfect order and coolness. Our line upon the right had already forced the enemy to retire from his position and it was my purpose in the absence of orders to move up the hill upon the right of the house beyond the Doctor's Branch and assail the enemy upon his right, but when I reached the branch I found the Fifth Confederate moving out from under the bluff by the left flank, and finding the bluff difficult of ascension I determined to move farther up the branch by the left flank, where the ascent would be easier, and also where I could act in conjunction with the Fifth Confederate. The Fifth Confederate had passed the house referred to when the enemy opened fire from beyond the house. There was a stone fence running parallel with the branch which gave entire protection to my command, and I did not suffer from the first fire of the enemy. There was a second stone fence about 40 paces beyond and parallel with the one upon the branch and also beyond the house. I immediately threw six companies forward and occupied it. I then ordered a company to move around to the right and turn the enemy's left, but at that conjuncture Colonel White came up with his command and took position upon my right, which prevented the move upon my part. The enemy's fire upon my regiment was heavy and incessant, but being well protected it suffered but little, while it delivered its fire with coolness and precision. The engagement was thus continued until the enemy abandoned his position and our ammunition was exhausted. By your order I then detached a company and sent it back for ammunition, but before its return I was ordered by a staff officer, unknown to me, to move forward over the hill upon which one of our batteries was afterward placed. I had bayonets fixed and moved forward. When I had arrived near the crest of the hill the same officer ordered me to have my bayonets taken off. I protested against this, as I had no ammunition. When he ascertained that fact he ordered me to retire, but immediately Major-General Buckner came up at that time and ordered me to hold the hill at all hazards.