1864, while under command of Brigadier General Morgan L. Smith, who is absent from the field, and from whom no official report can now be obtained:

At 1 p.m. of July 22, by the death of Major-General McPherson, and the consequent assignment of Major-General Logan to command the Army of the Tennessee, the command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, devolved upon Brigadier General Morgan L. Smith, commander of the Second Division, by virtue of his seniority. At the time he was directed to assume command, the tactical formation of the corps was as follows; the First Division, Brigadier General C. R. Woods, commanding, formed the right of the line, connecting on the right with the Twenty-third Army Corps; the Second Division, Brigadier General J. A. J. Lightburn commanding (late Brigadier General M. L. Smith's division), formed the center, crossing the railroad and dirt road leading into Atlanta from the east, and the Fourth Division, Brigadier General William Harrow commanding, formed the left, connecting with the Seventeenth Army Corps on the left. Reserves were posted from respective divisions in the rear, and occupied the works advanced from early in the morning. The position now held by the advanced line of the command was the position of the enemy of the 21st, which he had abandoned during the night, and was occupied by the corps early in the morning, with instructions from the general commanding to place them in complete defensible position. The troops were engaged in obeying the directions, when the enemy was discovered by the signal corps to be moving to our left in heavy column, with evident intention of striking us in flank and rear and defeating us, thus securing the Augusta railroad and the transportation of the army let at Decatur, and at the other points in the rear. The troops of the Fifteenth Corps, already in position for defense, were notified that immediate action might result, and they became at once prepared for an assault from the enemy. At about noon the engagement opened furiously on the lines of the Seventeenth Corps, situated as above referred to, upon the immediate left of the corps. Almost at the same time a demonstration was made in our front by the enemy, but we were not assaulted in force for some time after. The Sixteenth Corps, which had been moved into line on the flank and rear of the Seventeenth Corps, becoming severely engaged and requiring re-enforcements Major-General Logan directed that they be furnished from the Fifteenth Corps, which at the time was not seriously engaged. Colonel Martin's brigade, of the Second Division, was accordingly detached and sent to the assistance of the Sixteenth Corps. This disposition materially weakened the line of the Second Division, which covered the main dirt road and the railroad leading into Atlanta, but it was apparently unavoidable and necessary. These dispositions had not long been completed when the enemy made a sudden and desperate movement against the lines of the command, intending to dislodge us. The attack on the center (which covered the dirt and rail road) and the right of the Second Division, joining the First, was in such before that the line at that point gave way and the guns and horses of De Gress' battery (H), First Illinois Light Artillery, four 20-pounder Parrotts, with two brass pieces (12-pounders) of Company A, First Illinois Light Artillery, were captured by the enemy. General Woods, commanding First Division caused the guns of a battery in his front to open upon the animals of the captured battery of De Gress and the troops of the