1864/09/08 Report of Lt. Col. P.B.Buckingham

The brigade advanced between 1 and 2 p.m. in the above order, the order to advance being given by Captain Kellam, provost-marshal of the brigade. My regiment, occupying the second line in rear of the Eighty-fifth Indiana, was governed by the latter regiment in its movements. It was said that our Second Brigade was preceded by the First, but of this I personally knew nothing further than what was said, and which I believed, but its direction after crossing the first hill I knew nothing of, nor was I informed in what direction our brigade was expected to go after reaching the top of said first hill, so that I only had the movements of the Eighty-fifth Indiana in my front to guide me, and moved when and where it moved, and when it halted my regiment halted, as a matter of course. My regiment acted with the brigade during the battle of that day, officers and men promptly obeying every order. Where all acted so well, allusions to personal courage are uncalled for, and I will only refer to the most noteworthy. In passing the open ground, after crossing the first hill, under a heavy fire of musketry, grape, and canister, the color-bearer was hit and fell out of line; thereupon Adjt. C. Jay Du Bois seized the colors and gallantly carried them forward, holding them until our line was reformed on a new front, when he surrendered them to the sergeant designated to carry them. Soon after dark Lieutenant-Colonel Buckingham, with Company B, Capt. John H. Doolittle, and Company D, Capt. Oliver R. Post, with parties of other regiments of the brigade, was detailed to hold possession of and remove during the night, if possible, four 12-pounder brass pieces captured from the enemy that day, but so near the rebel breast-works as to be within easy musket-range, thus making it impossible to remove them by daylight. This duty he accomplished with perfect success, and by 2 a.m. the guns were brought within our lines. Lieutenant-Colonel Buckingham acknowledges valuable assistance from Colonel Cobham. One hundred and eleventh Pennsylvania, and his men. The regiment remained in line under arms during the night. The following are the casualties of that day, viz, wounded, 14. Monday, 16th, marched in pursuit of the retreating enemy to Field's Mill, crossing Connesauga and Coosawattee Rivers, and bivouacked for the night. May 17, marched to a place about two miles southeast of Calhoun and bivouacked. May 18, marched to a point on the Cassville road about two miles south of Doctor McDowell's house, on a high hill about four miles north of Cassville, and bivouacked in line of battle. May 19, about 11 a.m. this regiment was detailed with the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, under my command, to report to Major-General Butterfield, then about two miles distant toward Kingston, with the First and Third Brigades; the other three regiments of the brigade remained behind with brigade headquarters. About 2 p.m. the division made a demonstration on the enemy with infantry and artillery, the Twentieth Connecticut and Nineteenth Michigan covering the right flank and supporting our artillery. The division advanced about half a mile and swung around on Cassville, the enemy retiring, when these regiments, under my command, were posted on the right of the division, my left connecting with the right of the Third Brigade. The formation of the division for a general advance being completed, these two regiments, thus posted on the right, advanced with the division in good order to the road near the seminary, officers and men acting promptly and bravely. Lieutenant-Colonel Buckingham commanded the Twentieth Connecticut and Major Griffin the Nineteenth Michigan, both discharging their duties with ability and zeal. At this time Colonel Coburn arrived upon the ground and assumed command of these two regiments after that part of the day's operations were over, without the other three regiments; two of the three others were on the march and arrived about or a little after dark. The Twentieth Connecticut was then advanced a few rods to support our artillery, sending skirmishers to the front to drive back the sharpshooters of the enemy. About 8 p.m. these two regiments, the Twentieth Connecticut and the Nineteenth Michigan, assisted by no other troops, in line of battle with fixed bayonets, assaulted and captured Cassville and occupied it until the morning of the 20th instant. I desire to mention the following company commanders for promptness and good conduct throughout these operations, viz: Captain Dickerman, Company I; Captain Woodruff, Company E; Captain Smith, Company C; Captain Post, Company D; Captain Doolittle, Company B; Captain Sprague, Company K; Captain Tarr, Company F; First Lieutenant Royce, Company G. The following are the casualties: Wounded, 4. On the morning of the 20th, after the battle of Cassville and its occupation by this regiment and the Nineteenth Michigan, the enemy was found to have evacuated their works and fled. These regiments, under the command of Colonel Ross, then rejoined the brigade, from which they had been temporarily detached, and moved with the whole corps to the right of Cassville and encamped, where we remained until the morning of the 23d, in the mean time procuring such supplies of clothing and ordnance stores as were necessary. At 4 a.m. on the 23d the regiment, with the corps, was put in motion in pursuit of the enemy, and about 3 p.m. crossed the Etowah River and bivouacked for the night in line of battle. On the 24th the regiment was detailed to guard the ordnance and supply trains of the division, on which duty it remained until the 13th of June. On the 26th of May we were transferred from the Second to the Third Brigade of this division. June 13, the regiment was ordered to proceed to Acworth and report to the issuing commissary at that place for provost and guard duty, where it arrived about 2 p.m. and immediately entered upon the duty assigned to it, Colonel Ross assuming command of the post. We remained here until July 8, when the enemy having been compelled to evacuate Kenesaw Mountain and Marietta, three companies of the regiment proceeded to Marietta, and the remainder to Big Shanty. On the 11th the balance of the regiment left Big Shanty and joined Colonel Ross at Marietta. The 13th Colonel Ross was ordered by Major-General Sherman, commanding Military Division of the Mississippi, to assume command of the post at Marietta, where he remained with the regiment until the 16th, when it joined the brigade to which it belonged in the front. After the regiment had reached the front, Colonel Ross received an order detaching him from it and directing him to return to Marietta and resume command of that post. On the 17th the regiment, under my command, in connection with the corps to which it is attached, crossed the Chattahoochee River about dark, and after advancing some four miles bivouacked for the night in column by division. About 10 a.m. of the following day hue of battle was formed, the Twentieth Regiment in reserve of the brigade, and an advance was made, driving the skirmishers of the enemy before us across Nancy's Creek to Buck's Bluff, about two miles, where we halted for the night in line of battle, with the Fourth Corps on our left and the Fourteenth Corps on our right. On the 20th we again advanced, and about noon crossed Peach Tree Creek, where we were again halted in column by division and rested for about an hour. About 1 p.m. the regiments of this brigade were deployed in line of battle in the following order, with two regiments in front: In the front line, on the right the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin, on the left the Twentieth Connecticut; in the second line the Fifty-fifth and Seventy-third Ohio Regiments, the Twentieth being thus placed in the front line on the extreme left of the division and corps and adjoining the Fourth Corps. The First Division occupied the right of the Twentieth Corps, the Second Division the center, and the Third Division the left. In the Third Division the First Brigade occupied the right, the Second the center, and the Third the left. After being formed in proper order, the order was given to advance to a ravine about 100 rods in our front. This was accomplished under a heavy fire from the skirmishers of the enemy, who were driven back, our line advancing in excellent order. Here we again rested for about three-quarters of an hour, until other dispositions' were made, when, in connection with the Fourth Corps, our whole line was advanced to the crest of a hill in our front. On arriving at this point the enemy, who was concealed in a ravine, made a desperate charge along the entire front of the Twentieth Corps and the right of the Fourth. This was received with a steady and terribly destructive fire from our front line, which stood firmly, determined not to give a single inch of ground. The brigade of the Fourth Corps on our immediate left was compelled, after a short but severe struggle, to fall back some twenty or thirty rods in considerable confusion, but soon reformed, charged, and drove the enemy back, recovering the lost ground. When this brigade fell back the enemy followed closely, thus not only threatening the left flank and rear of my regiment, but actually opened fire upon us from that position. I immediately threw back five companies on my left, so as to face the enemy, and opened fire in that direction, thus contributing not a little in repulsing the enemy on the front of the right of the Fourth Corps. After this corps (the Fourth) had recovered its position in line we were again ordered to advance through a ravine and to the top of a high ridge in our front, which we were to take and hold at all hazards. Our skirmishers had before this been compelled to take refuge within our lines, and we were again advanced, drove the enemy out of the ravine, up and over the hill, punishing him severely as his scattered regiments retired over the rising ground, as the numerous dead and wounded in our front bore witness. On arriving at the top of the ridge we halted, formed the line in perfect order, and held the ground firmly until the battle was over. The right of the Fourth Corps, on account of the determined opposition received, was not able to advance up to our line, but held their line, some twenty-five rods to our left and rear. The enemy was soon discovered, not only advancing at a charge in our front, but also to our left, against the Fourth Corps, and two companies on my left were ordered to face the flank of the enemy and open fire in that direction, while the remaining companies maintained a determined fire against the three lines of the enemy advancing in our front. The attack was repulsed and the enemy fell back in confusion, and, although repeated charges were made during the afternoon, our lines remained firm and immovable. In the early part of the action the Fifty-fifth Ohio was moved from the second line to our left, to fill the space between our left and the right of the Fourth Corps. The regiment stood for four hours in the open field and fought with most determined courage, and both officers and men are entitled to praise for their coolness and steadiness during this most obstinate battle. The regiment was relieved by the One hundred and thirty-sixth New York about sundown, after having fired 150 rounds of ammunition per man, and after the muskets had become so foul from use as to be almost entirely unserviceable. On being relieved we fell back a short distance and remained under fire, supporting the One hundred and thirty-sixth New York, until the enemy retired. Soon after dark the enemy fell back, leaving his dead and wounded on the field. Wounded rebel officers belonging to the Third, Thirty-third, Fifty-fifth [Thirty-fifth?], and Forty-fourth Mississippi Regiments, left on the field in front of the Twentieth, remarked that they had lost more men during this engagement in killed and wounded than they had before during the war. During our advance a rebel color bearer in front of the right of my regiment was killed, and a rebel officer, who sprang forward and seized the colors to bear them off, was also shot dead, but a soldier from the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin succeeded in obtaining the flag. During the action our division captured 7 stand of colors. The night following a formidable line of intrenchments was thrown up along the entire front of our corps, and the succeeding day was spent in burying our own and the dead of the enemy. The casualties in this regiment at the battle of Peach Tree Creek were as follows, viz: Commissioned officers wounded, 6; enlisted men killed, 8; wounded, 41. On the morning of the 22d it was found that the enemy had abandoned our immediate front, and in connection with the corps the regiment moved to within about two miles of Atlanta, where the enemy was again found strongly intrenched. After proper disposition of the troops had been made and line of battle formed, a strong line of intrenchments was constructed under quite a spirited shelling from the enemy. An attack was made during the day upon our skirmish line, in which 2 men of the regiment were wounded. At the same time 1 other was supposed to have been captured, as he was reported missing from the skirmish line. On the 23d the enemy again endeavored to force back our line of skirmishers, but was repulsed, and during the skirmish the regiment had 1 enlisted man killed, 1 was reported missing, probably captured, and 1 non-commissioned officer wounded and taken prisoner. Toward night the regiment, with the brigade, moved to the right of the First Division of this corps and adjoining the left of the Fourteenth Corps, near the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad, where it occupied the same line of works already constructed, and during the night a detail of 125 men from the regiment assisted in building a new line of works considerably in advance of the old one. On the 25th we had 1 enlisted man killed and on the 28th 1 wounded. On the last-named date the regiment, with the brigade, was ordered to the extreme right of the army, in support of troops engaged there, but before arriving at the designated position the enemy was repulsed and we were ordered back to the position last occupied. On the 29th the regiment accompanied the division, moving to the extreme right of our lines, in support of a reconnaissance made by a division of the Fourteenth Corps. The lines of the enemy were found, and after a brief skirmish between the division of the Fourteenth Corps and the enemy, we halted for the night and threw up intrenchments. The following day an advance was again made, a new position occupied, the regiment and division being held in reserve. On the 3d of August the regiment moved back with the division to the position on the right of the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad, held by the Fourteenth Corps, relieving it and occupying the intrenchments in that portion of the line. In this position the regiment remained, assisting by details made in advancing our line and constantly skirmishing with the enemy and under his artillery fire, till the morning of the 25th of August, when it was ordered to move out of the works in front of Atlanta and proceed to Turner's Ferry, on the Chattahoochee River, which place the regiment reached about noon, and under the direction of Colonel Wood, commanding the brigade, laid out and partially constructed a line of works for the whole brigade, the balance of which joined us on the 26th, when the works were completed. On the 27th the enemy appeared in our front, opened upon us with artillery, and drove in our skirmishers, but on approaching our works were repulsed. The loss in the regiment in this skirmish was 1 enlisted man killed, 1 wounded, and 1 missing. The 31st a detail of fifty men was made from the regiment to proceed, with similar details from other regiments of the division, on a reconnaissance toward Atlanta. On the 2d instant a detail of 120 men was made for the same purpose, and with other details from the regiments composing the Second and Third Brigades of the division, all under the command of Colonel Coburn, of the Second Brigade, proceeded to Atlanta, and with but little opposition occupied the city. During the day a further detail of seventy-two men from this regiment was ordered to join the troops already in the city. On the morning of the 4th the remainder of the regiment, together with the balance of the brigade, joined the troops in the city and occupied the rebel works on the south side of the same, where we have remained until the present date. Capt E. D. Dickerman, of Company I, was in command of the regiment from the 1st to the 6th of May, Lieut. Col, P. B. Buckingham from the 6th to the 9th, Col. Samuel Ross from the 9th of May to the 16th of July, Lieut. Col. P. B. Buckingham from the 16th July to the date at which this report closes. Below be pleased to find a detailed report of the casualties occurring in this command during the time intervening between the opening of this campaign, on the 3d of May, and the closing of this report, on the 8th day of September.(*)