and reached the city at 11 p.m. of the same day, taking position for the night on White Hall street near the outskirts of the city. The next morning the troops were moved out to the rebel works, on the southwest side of the city, and went into camp within the fortifications where they now remain, with the exception of the One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, detached September 4, by order of General Slocum, to report to Colonel Cogswell, commanding the post, for provost duty.

I cannot allow this report to be forwarded without calling your attention to the difficulties under which I have labored to compile it. Being thrown in command of the brigade since the occupation of Atlanta very unexpectedly by the demise of its late commander, the lamented, Colonel David Ireland, and not being personally cognizant of the events of the early part of the campaign, I have been largely dependent on the reports of regimental commanders and the memoranda and personal observations of Captain S. B. Wheelock, acting assistant adjutant-general; therefore I have found it impossible to enter into details as minutely as strict justice to the command would seem to require, but as the operations of nearly or quite every regiment have been under the immediate eye and direction of the general commanding division, his own observations will enable him to supply any deficiencies herein. I can, nevertheless, bear willing testimony to the untiring energy, patient endurance, and unfaltering perseverance of both officers and men in the discharge of their arduous duties during the toilsome campaign of four months just terminated. The record of casualties is in itself an irrefutable witness to the spirit of bravery and unconquerable stubbornness always displayed by this command in action, and the history of this brigade if impartially written, will bear favorable comparison with that of any other body of troops in the service. The two officers who commanded during this campaign have both passed away. Colonel George A. Cobham, One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, who was in command at the battle of New Hope Church on the 25th of May, fell at the head of his regiment in the sanguinary assault of the enemy upon our lines on the 20th of July near Peach Tree Creek, and Colonel David Ireland, One hundred and thirty-seventh New York Volunteers, who commanded during the greater part of the campaign was stricken down by disease after the object of the campaign had been attained. He died in Atlanta on the 10th day of September, one week after the occupation of the city by our forces. I am happy to call particular attention to the gallantry and efficiency of Captain S. B. Wheelock, acting assistant adjutant-general, upon whom a greater labor and responsibility than usual has devolved, and to the ability and faithfulness of the remaining staff officers.

With an apology for the unavoidable delay in the rendering of this report and for the evidence of haste and incompleteness which it exhibits, I remain.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. A. BARNUM,

Colonel, 149th New York Volunteers, Commanding Brigade.

Captain W. T. FORBES.

Actg. Asst. Adjt. General, Second Div., 20th Army Corps.