Numbers 607.

Reports of Colonel Ellison Capers, Twenty-fourth South Carolina Infantry, Gist's brigade, of operations May 6 - July 18 and September 1.

HDQRS. TWENTY-FOURTH SOUTH CAROLINA VOLS.,
Jonesborough, Ga., September 10, 1864.

MAJOR: In compliance with the late order from brigade headquarters, I have the honor to report the operations of the Twenty-fourth South Carolina Volunteers during the campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, embraced between the 6th of May and the 18th of July last.

By the organization of the Army of Tennessee, in winter quarters at Dalton, the Twenty-fourth South Carolina Volunteers was attached to Gist's brigade, Walker's division, Hardee's corps. The brigade was composed of three regiments and a battalion, viz, the Sixteenth and Twenty-fourth South Carolina Regiments, the Forty-sixth Georgia, and the Eighth Georgia Battalion.

During the winter of 1863-64' we were comfortably quartered in huts, located on the Spring Place road, about two miles east of Dalton. The drill and discipline of the regiment were carefully observed, especially in the early spring, and when the campaign opened in May Gist's brigade was in fine condition for the work before it, and no part of it in better trim than the Twenty-fourth. The appearance of the enemy in front of Tunnel Hill on the 5th of May was the signal for breaking up our encampment, and on the 6th we marched out of winter quarters. Walker's division marched through Dalton into Crow's Valley, and took position in support of troops holding Mill Creek Gap. We were bivouacked in line, and except to supply details for picket duty we were not engaged with the enemy until the 9th, when Company I, of the Twenty-fourth, became involved in a sharp skirmish under the following circumstances: The pickets of the Sixty-third Georgia, Mercer's brigade, being pressed back in our front, the general directed me to send forward a company to their support. I detailed Company I for the duty. Captain Wever, though quite sick and very lame, led his company gallantly against the enemy's picket-line and drove it back, regaining the ground lost. Lieutenant Tillman was slightly wounded, 2 of the company killed, and 6 others more of less severely wounded in this affair. About 9 o'clock I withdrew Company I from the front, and at 10 o'clock the Twenty-fourth marched with the brigade through Dalton on the Resaca road. The march was continued rapidly all night, the brigade arriving near Resaca about 8 o'clock on the 10th. A force of the enemy, since known to have been McPherson's corps, had marched past the left of our position at Dalton and taken possession of Snake Creek Gap, opposite to Resaca and some miles distant from that place. On the day of the 10th, and during that night, the regiment, with the brigade, was held constantly in readiness to move to the support of the troops opposing the enemy in Snake Creek Gap, but we did not leave our bivouac until early on the morning of the 11th, when we crossed the Oostenaula, and marched to a point on the railroad, half way between Resaca and Calhoun. It was understood that a force had marched down the west side of the Oostenaula, and that this force might cross the river and readily reach the railroad at