of the Twenty-third Army Corps, immediately one brigade being relieved at a time; the brigades of General Cox marching from his present position to take up a position on the left of General Schofield's command to connect with General M. L. Smith, commanding Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps. The movement will be made by brigade until the whole division of General Cox is relieved.

2. The entire command will be intrenched in its present position, which will be held at all hazards, especially the hill occupied by Major-General Blair.

3. The trains of this command will be kept behind the main center (Major-General Howard's command) or close up on their own reserves, and in case the enemy assault at any one point all other corps will at once assault the enemy in their immediate front.

4. This entire command will be under arms at 3.30 o'clock to-morrow morning, prepared for any emergency.

5. Corps commanders will be held responsible that their commands are army supplied with ammunition, and caissons and cartridge-boxes will be replenished to-night.

By order of Major General John A. Logan:

WM. T. CLARK,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

NEAR ATLANTA, GA., July 23, 1864-10.30 a. m.

(Received 6 p. m.)

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Washington, D. C.:

Yesterday morning the enemy fell back to the entrenchments proper of the city of Atlanta, which are in a general circle of a radius of one mile and a half we closed in. While we were forming our lines and selecting positions for batteries, the enemy appeared suddenly out of the dense woods in heavy masses on our extreme left, and struck the Seventeenth Corps (General Blair's) in flank, and was forcing it back, when the Sixteenth (General Dodge's) came up and checked the movement, but the enemy's cavalry got well to our rear and into Decatur, and for some hours our left was completely enveloped. The fighting that resulted was continuous until night, with heavy loss on both sides. The enemy took one of our batteries (Murray's, of the Regular Army) that was marching in its placing in column on the road unconscious of danger. About 4 p. m. the enemy sallied against the division of General Morgan L. Smith, which occupied an abandoned line of rifle-trenches near the railroad, east of the city, and forced it back some 400 yards, leaving in his hands for the time two batteries, but the ground and batteries were immediately after recovered by the same troops, re-enforced. I cannot well approximate our loss, which fell heaviest on the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, but count it 3,000; but I know that, being on the defensive, we have inflicted equally heavy loss on the enemy. General McPherson, when arranging his troops, about 11 a. m., and passing from one column to another, unconsciously rode upon an ambuscade without apprehension and at some distance ahead of his staff and ordered and was shot dead. His body was sent in charge of his personal staff back to Marietta and Chattanooga. His loss at that moment was most serious, but General Logan at once arranged the troops, and had immediate direction of them during the rest of the day. Our left, though refused somewhat, is still within easy