No. 137.

Report of Lieutenant Colonel John S. Pearce, Ninety-eighth Ohio Infantry.

HDQRS. NINETY-EIGHTH Regiment OHIO VOL. INFANTRY,
In Camp, near Atlanta, Ga., September 9, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following official report of the marches, skirmishes, battles, casualties, &c., of the Ninety-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the campaign in Georgia, commencing May 2, 1864, and ending September 8, 1864:

The regiment, with the division, left Rossville, Ga., on the morning of the 2nd of May and marched to Ringgold, Ga., and there remained until the 4th, when it was ordered on picket duty one mile south of the town, and also to make a reconnaissance down Taylor's Ridge to Nickajack Gap. Five companies, under command of Captain John A. Norris, Company C, were at once detached and proceeded on the reconnaissance, while the other five went on duty as pickets. In the afternoon the reconnoitering party returned without any loss or having met the enemy. On the morning of the 5th the regiment rejoined the brigade, and, remaining in camp until the 7th, marched with the brigade on that day to Tunnell Hill, which place we reached about noon. At 4 p.m. the 8th the regiment constituted a part of the assaulting party on the enemy's lines east of the railroad and in front of Rocky Face, meeting with no loss. Was then sent to relieve the One hundred and eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry on the knoll on the west side of the railroad, and directly in front of the gap. Here we remained skirmishing with the enemy, and at intervals under heavy artillery fire, until the morning of the 12th, losing but 1 man in the mean time, Benjamin E. Ferguson, Company C, wounded on the evening of the 9th. On the morning of the 12th we, with the balance of the brigade, took up the line of march for Resaca, and, passing through Snake Creek Gap, came up to the enemy strongly intrenched at that place on the 13th. On the morning of the 14th heavy skirmishing and soon volleys of musketry were heard along some portions of the line, and early in the afternoon was ordered to take position along the creek running in front of and distant about 800 yards from the enemy's main fort on the left of our line. As the regiment was advancing to that position it was heavily shelled from the fort. The only loss, however, sustained was that of Jesse M. Woods, Company B, who was instantly killed, and Paisley, of Company H, and Walton, of Company K, wounded. At night the regiment, having been relieved, moved one mile to the rear and bivouacked, and on the following morning (15th) marched to the right a short distance, and relieved a portion of the Twentieth Army Corps from the trenches. That night the enemy evacuated, and on the morning of the 16th the regiment, with he balance of the division, was ordered to go to Rome, and soon thereafter was on the way, and, after marching about twenty miles, bivouacked for the night eight miles from that place. On the following morning resumed the march and soon came up with the enemy's scouts and pickets. The Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, being in the advance, did the skirmishing, and easily drove the rebels back to within a short distance of the town. After a brisk little fight between the Third Brigade, under command of Colonel Dan. McCook, and the enemy's main line of battle, the latter retreated, leaving