order was issued for the division to march out on the Marietta road, where, it was afterward ascertained, lay Hardee's corps. Fortunately the order was countermanded. At daylight the following morning the enemy drove our skirmishers back upon their reserves, and out line of battle was immediately formed on the ground where we had slept. The skirmishers were speedily re-enforced, and the enemy drived back to the mountain, but we lost some valuable officers before it was accomplished, among them Captain Sawyer, of the Twenty-seventy Ohio, one of the most faithful officers of the command. During the day our skirmishers were pushed well up the mountain side, and our lines advanced to near the foot of the mountain and strongly intrenched. On the 28th the enemy attempted to storm the line to our right, but his skirmishers only attempted to advance in our immediate front, and were held in check by our own skirmishers without assistance from the line of battle; but the skirmishing was so severe for several days that we sustained considerable loss.

On the 1st of June the Army of the Tennessee moved four or five miles to the left (north) to united with the Army of the Cumberland. The Fourth Division was held as rear guard to cover this movement, and followed without molestation from the enemy. Encamping near Pumpkin Vine Creek, works were thrown up covering the right flank of the army, but through we had some skirmishing, and our batteries exchanged some shots with the enemy's artillery, nothing important transpired till he fell back from our front on the 4th. Moving on the morning of the 5th the division reached Acworth on the 6th, where it enjoyed several days' rest. On the 11th the Second Brigade took part in an armed reconnaissance which developed the enemy strongly intrenched some three miles south of Big Shanty. The First Brigade following, formed line to the left of the Second, and extended to connect with the corps of Major-General Logan. Here seemingly close to the foot of Kenesaw Mountain (yet nearly three miles distant), in plain view of his troops on the summit, and watched closely by his signal corps, whose flags were in constant motion, we met that obstacle which for twenty days bid defiance alike to the bravery of our soldiers and the skill of our commander.

The accompanying map* will exhibit the different positions occupied by the division during the approach to the mountain, every one of which cost us a sharp skirmish to gain, and all of which were strongly fortified by the willing hands of men who toiled as cheerfully in the trenches as they fought bravely in the ranks. When the general assault of June 27 was ordered, the Sixty-fourth Illinois was selected to drive the enemy's skirmishers up the mountain side, and, if possible, to gain a foothold upon the crest. They advanced with great gallantry, and a few bold men got close to the enemy's line of works; but the task assigned them proved more than men could accomplish, and nearly 50 brave fellows fell in the attempt. They drove the enemy back into his main works near the crest, but the steep and rocky face of the mountain was an obstacle if itself more formidable than a line of men, and beyond this they could not go. They held a position, however, higher than anybody on their right or left, and during the night toiled patiently till it was rendered tenable and secure.

Early in July the enemy evinced a nervousness at the movements of the extreme right of our army, and on the morning of

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* To appear in the Atlas.

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