Numbers 258.

Report of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Merrill, Seventieth Indiana Infantry, of operations July 20 - September 3.

HEADQUARTERS SEVENTEENTH INDIANA VOLUNTEERS, September 19, 1864.

CAPTAIN: I respectfully submit the following report of the movements of the Seventieth Regiment Indiana Infantry Volunteers from the 20th of July, 1864, to the 3rd of September, 1864:

The 21st was spent in burying our own dead and the corpses left by the enemy on the field of battle. On the morning of the 22nd an advance of two miles was made and works thrown up, behind which we remained until the morning of the 26th,when the line was again advanced. On the evening of the same day we were relieved and ordered to occupy a line in rear of and supporting the Second Division, Twentieth Army Corps. In obedience to orders received on the afternoon of the 28th, we moved to the right for the purpose of re-enforcing Howard's army, but as it was soon ascertained that the movements were unnecessary, we returned to the original position, only, however, to shift our place on the 29th to the extreme right of the army as a support to Davis' division, of the Fourteenth Army Corps. The movement to the right was continued on the 30th, succeeded by the erection of breast-works.

August 2, received an order to move back to the left, and, after resting for the night in reserve, we relieved the regular brigade, of the Fourteenth Army Corps,on the 3d. New works in advance were thrown up and occupied on the 5th, succeeded by a similar advance and occupation on the 12th instant. At 8 p.m. August 26 the regiment quietly deserted their works, and, falling back along the railroad, arrived before daybreak on the south bank of the Chattahoochee River. The following day, 27th, we crossed the river and took a position a mile above the railroad bridge in works formerly built and defended by the enemy.

Respectfully submitted.

S. MERRILL,
Lieutenant-Colonel Seventieth Indiana Volunteers.

Captain JOHN SPEED,

Asst. Adjt. General, Third Div., Twentieth Army Corps.

Numbers 259.

Report of Major Zachariah S. Ragan, Seventieth Indiana Infantry.

NEAR ATLANTA, GA., September 22, 1864.

The regiment marched from Wauhatchie Valley at 6.30 a.m. on May 2, 1864, marching via Gordon's Mills, passing three miles south of Ringgold. Whilst crossing Taylors' Ridge, Lieutenant Hardenbrook, in charge of a squad of ten men, surprised the enemy's pickets, capturing 3 horses, together with some other things. Encamped on the night of the 7th in front of Dug Gap, where the regiment was held, in expectation of being engaged, until the morning of the 11th; marched at 5 o'clock into Snake [Creek] Gap; spent part of the day