Today in History:

402 Series I Volume XXXVIII-III Serial 74 - The Atlanta Campaign Part III

Page 402 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. Chapter L.

the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. When near the Calhoun and Rome cross-roads, the skirmishers of the advanced brigade came upon the enemy in some force, and were compelled to fall back to a better position, which they did, holding the enemy in check until the troops got into line, the Third Brigade at the right, the Second in the center (holding the road), and the First Brigade on the left. In this formation skirmishers were pushed forward, supported by a regiment from each brigade, taking possession of a hill near Rome Cross-Roads, upon which a section of Battery B, First Michigan, and Battery I, First Missouri Light Artillery, were placed, opening upon the enemy's skirmishers. At the same time the Third Brigade was shifted to the left of the road, nearly in front of the First Brigade, and the Second Brigade thrown to the right of the road, both advancing cautiously, and their skirmishers becoming more warmly engaged, until the skirmishers of the Third Brigade came to a small stream held by the enemy, in rifle-pits on its opposite side, which checked their farther advance, while on the left Captain Taylor, Sixty-sixth Illinois Volunteers, was thrown forward with four companies of that regiment as skirmishers, with orders to proceed cautiously toward the Rome road, taking possession of and holding the same, if possible. Upon receiving his instructions, this officer charged forward, taking possession of said road; but, instead of simply holding the same, through a misunderstanding of his orders, or from being too impetuous, passed beyond the road approaching a hill on its left, when, without any warning, the enemy sprang from cover in line of battle, and charging the thin skirmish line drove it, in some confusion, back across the Rome road, and upon the remainder of the Sixty-sixth Illinois Infantry Volunteers and a portion of the Eighty-first Ohio, thrown forward as its support, where they were repelled, and the line immediately re-established. It was here that Colonel Burke, commanding Second Brigade, was severely wounded in the leg, and Captain Taylor, Sixty-sixth Illinois Infantry, shot through the head, being instantly killed, while trying to steady their men. At the time of this charge by the enemy, a rebel battery was opened upon some employ caissons, and the main road pursued by the troops, and now filled with ambulances removing wounded, creating quite a stampede among camp followers, &c., who had by accident ventured too near the front, but not a man in the ranks, not a soldier with arms, left his post. At 4 p. m. the troops were brought back in good order, taking position on the left of the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, which by this time had come up, and which position it occupied until dark on the evening of May 17.

The casualties in this division during its engagement and skirmishers with the enemy on the 14th and 15th of May at Lay's Ferry, and up to the evening of the 16th, resulted as follows: Commissioned officers-killed, 1; wounded, 8. Enlisted men-killed, 15; wounded, 181; missing, 4. Aggregate, 209. Prisoners captured from the enemy, 48.

The division moved from its position near Rome Cross-Roads at dark on the evening of May 17, in rear of the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, on the Rome road; thence on Adairsville road, passing near Adairsville, and arriving one mile and a half from Kingston, Ga., on the 19th of May, where the command was encamped, having marched from Lay's Ferry, a distance of twenty-nine miles. On the 20th of May orders were received from the


Page 402 THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. Chapter L.