quarters. It has not yet been returned, and it is supposed that Colonel Hughs forwarded the paper directly to your office; if it is still in your office please place the inclosed with it and forward them together. If, however, the original application has not reached your office, be kind enough to direct Colonel Hughs to forward it immediately, in order that it may accompany the inclosed remonstrance.*

I am, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. FOOTE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

[Inclosure.]

HEADQUARTERS JOHNSON'S BRIGADE,
Signal Hill, Va., September 12, 1864.

Major General B. R. JOHNSON,

Petersburg, Va.:

The application of Brigadier-General Archer for this brigade to be transferred to his command having been submitted to us, we, the undersigned, in behalf of the officers and men of this command, respectfully beg leave to enter our solemn protest against consolidation with or transfer to any brigade. The members of this command, to a man, are opposed to any arrangement by which they may lose their identity as a brigade. We have existed as an organization, known as Johnson's brigade, now exceeding two long years. We have fought on many battle-field and undergone innumerable hardships together. Officers and men have vied with each other to make Johnson's brigade second to none in the armies of the Confederate States. After the battles of Shiloh and Perryville, where we lost over one-half of our original numbers, we entered Tennessee and recruited to a very large brigade before the battle of Murfreesborough. On that memorable and ensanguined field the brigade acted a conspicuous part, being in Cleburne's division and on the extreme left of the enemy. There we lost 672 officers and men. Even after this heavy loss we again recruited the command to almost the maximum number required by law. At Hoover's Gap we suffered severely, Stewart's division, of which we formed a part, being the only troops confronting the enemy at that point and Johnson's brigade bringing up the rear of the army to Chattanooga. After the demoralization of the retreat from our own State and a campaign in East Tennessee and North Georgia, we again met the enemy on the glorious and ever-memorable field of Chickamauga. Here, as you are aware, our losses were very heavy, being over one-half of the entire command. About 23rd of November, 1863, we left the Army of Tennessee to re-enforce General Longstreet at Knoxville. We arrived in time to take part in that engagement. At Bean's Station the command composed one-third of the force in your successful attack and rout of a greatly superior enemy, numbering about five to none. The whole winter of 1863 was a series of active operations. The troops of this command were kept constantly on outpost duty and suffered immensely, both from exposure and lack of supplies, never remaining stationary or in quarters but for a few days at a time. We were taken from that scene of action about 1st of May, 1864, and brought to Richmond, Va., where we arrived just in time to confront the enemy at Port Walthall and Fort Clifton. It will be remembered that a detachment of men from this brigade, under Lieutenant F. M. Kelso, manned the guns at Fort Clifton, and resisted successfully the advance of five of the enemy's

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*See Foote to Brown, September 24, 0. 1283

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