duties of his office as adjutant and inspector general of the State. The force then in the field was composed entirely of State officers, civil and military. They had been formed into two brigades of three regiments each and one battalion of artillery, numbering in all a little over 3,000 men. The officers of the militia not needed for these regiments took their places in the ranks as privates with the civil officers. The command had reported to General J. E. Johnston for duty, and had been ordered to guard the crossings of the Chattahoochee River from Roswell bridge to West Point, which duty they continued to performed until ordered by General Johnston to cross the Chattahoochee and support the cavalry upon the left wing of his army, the right wing then being at Kenesaw Mountain.

In the execution of this order the militia were twice brought in conflict with largely superior forces of the enemy's infantry. they behaved well-thoroughly executed the part assigned them, and when the army fell back tot he Chattahoochee they were the last infantry withdrawn tot he fortified position. General Johnston in a letter to Governor Brown paid a handsome, and, I think, well-deserved, compliment to them for their conduct beyond the river and their service in beating back the enemy in their attempts upon the various crossings.

The day we reached the Chattahoochee we were assigned to your corps of the army. You soon placed us in reserve, which it was thought would give some opportunity for drilling and disciplining the command, no opportunity for this having previously occurred.

In the mean time the reserve militia of Georgia were ordered out by Governor Brown, and I was ordered to Poplar Springs, near the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, for the purpose of reorganizing, arming the reserves, &c. We had not been there three days before you found it necessary to order us into the trenches on the east side of Atlanta. You had in the meanwhile been assigned to the command of the army and instructed me to report to you direct, instead of thorough a corps commander. There were at this time about 2,000 effective musketeers in the command. We guarded over two miles of lines, having on them, however, some eighty pieces of Confederate artillery.

On the 22nd of July, while Hardee was attacking the enemy on our extreme right in the direction of Decatur, your ordered the troops on my left to advance. Without waiting for orders I closed the intervals in my line, formed line of battle in the trenches, and moved the militia forward over the parapet more than a mile against the enemy's strong works in our front. They were directed upon a battery which had annoyed us very much. Captain Anderson, who had served with my command beyond the Chattahoochee, volunteered to move his battery with us. He took position in clear, open ground within about 400 yards of the embrasure battery of the enemy, supported by the militia upon his right and left. Within ten minutes the effective fire of the enemy was silenced in our front, and after this they only occasionally ventured to show themselves at the embrasures or put their heads above the parapet. My troops were eager to be allowed to charge the battery, but the brigade upon my left had given way, and though falling back, was extending still farther to the left. Hardee's fire, on my right, had ceased just after we moved out of the trenches. I considered it useless to make an isolated attack, and therefore held the position, awaiting further