the guns of the 14th Ohio and Welker's batteries fairly mowed great swathes in the advancing columns. They showed great steadiness, and closed up the gaps and preserved their alignments, but the iron and leaden hail which was poured upon them was too much for flesh and blood to stand, and before reaching the center of the open fields the columns were broken up and thrown into great confusion. Taking advantage of this, a portion of Fuller's and Sweeney's divisions, with bayonets fixed, charged the enemy and drove them back to the woods, taking many prisoners.

"General McPherson's admiration for the steadiness and determined bravery of the 16th Corps was unbounded. General Dodge held one of the keys to the position and General Leggett the other, at Bald Hill.'

"Had the 16th Corps given way, the rebel army would have been in the rear of the 17th and 15th Corps, and would have swept like an avalanche over our supply trains, and the position of the Army of the Tennessee would have been very critical, although, without doubt, the result of the battle would have been in our favor, because the Armies of the Cumberland and Ohio were close at hand, and the enemy would have been checked and routed further on."

General McPherson could not have left his point of observation more than fifteen minutes when I detected the enemy's advance in the woods, some distance to my right, and between that flank and General Blair's rear. Fuller quickly changed front with a portion of his brigade to confront them, and pushing promptly to the attack, captured their skirmish line and drove back their main forces. Upon the persons of some of these prisoners we found McPherson's papers, field-glass, etc., which conveyed to me the first knowledge I had of his death, or rather, as I then supposed, of his capture by the enemy, and seeing that the papers were important, I sent them, by my Chief of Staff, with all haste to General Sherman.

From that hour until the close of the battle the conflict raged back and forth, chiefly along the lines of the 15th and 17th Corps, the fighting at times being of the most desperate character. Blair's left struck in the rear, flank and front, gave way slowly, gradually fighting for every inch of ground, until their left was opposite the 16th Corps' right; then they halted and held the enemy, refusing to give another inch.

It would be difficult to find in all the annals of war a parallel to the fighting of the 17th Corps; first from one side of its works and then from the other, one incident of which was that of Colonel Belknap, of the Union side, reaching over the works, seizing Colonel Lampley of the rebel army and drawing him over, a prisoner.

The terrible fighting at Bald Hill and along the line of the 15th Corps I can only speak of as shown by the records, and as given me by General John C. Brown, who commanded the rebel division which attacked us on the Decatur road and broke through the line. The stubbornness and coolness with which they contested every inch of the ground won his admiration, and the manner and method with which the line was re-taken and his force driven out of our entrenchments, he said must have been seen to be appreciated.

The limits of my time will premit of but little more than a brief recital of the salient facts and incidents. I feel that this is sufficient in the presence of men who were a part of, and who saw for themselves the glorious deeds performed by every portion of the Army of the Tennessee. One singular fact connected with this great battle is that, so far as I have been able to learn, no report was made of it by General Hood or any of his corps commanders, or by any division commander engaged therein; nothing that could. by any stretch of the imagination be called an official report, except the brief telegraphic dispatch by General Hood to the authorities in Richmond, stating the bare fact of having fought on that day. In contrast with this the reports on the Union side are singularly full. Almost every commander, from that of an infantry or battery company to the highest in rank, furnished a report of his part in that battle, and General Logan made no less than three different reports, one immediately succeeding the battle, another some weeks later as commander of the 15th Corps, and another as commander of the Army of the Tennessee.

There are some facts connected with the part played by the 16th Corps in that battle which we seldom see in the annals of war. It met the first shock of battle and fired the last shot late that night, as the enemy stubbornly yielded its grasp on Bald Hill. It fought on four parts of the field, and everywhere with equal success; it lost no gun that it took into the engagement, and its

losses were almost entirely in killed, in wounded-the missing having been captured at Decatur through getting mired in a swamp.

At no time during the Atlanta campaign was there present in the 16th Corps more than two small divisions of three brigades each, and at this time these two divisions were widely scattered on the Atlanta field, only ten regiments and two batteries were present, three entire brigades being absent from the Corps. It was called upon to meet the assault of at least three divisions or nine brigades, or at the very least, forty-nine regiments, all full to the utmost that a desperate emergency could swell them, impelled by the motive of the pre-concerted surprise, and orders from their commander at all hazards to sweep over any and all obstructions; while, on the other hand, the force attacked and surprised was fighting without orders, guided only by the exigency of the moment. Their captures represented forty-nine different regi ments of the enemy How many more regiments were included in those nine brigades I have never been able to learn. The fact that this small force, technically, if not actually in march, in a perfectly open field, with this enormously superior force leaping upon them from the cover of dense woods, was able to hold its ground and drive its assailants pell mell back to the cover of the woods again proves that when a great battle is in progress, or a great emergency occurs, no officer can tell what the result may be when he throws in his forces, be they 5,000 or 20,000 men, and it seems to me to be impossible to draw the line that gives the right to a subordinate officer to use his own judgment in engaging an enemy when a great battle is within his hearing.

Suppose the 16th Corps, with less than 5,000 men, seeing at least three times their number in their front, should have retreated, instead of standing and fighting as it did, what would have been the result? I say that in all my experience in life, until the two forces struck and the 16th Corps stood firm, I never passed more

anxious moments.

Sprague's brigade of the same corps was engaged at the same time within hearing, but on a different field at Decatur, fighting and stubbornly holding that place, knowing that if he failed the trains massed there and en route from Roswell would be captured. His fight was a gallant and, sometimes, seemingly almost hopeless one -giving ground inch by inch, until finally he obtained a position

that he could not be driven from, and one that protected the entire trains of the army.

As a matter of fact, no part of the 16th Corps received reinforcements in time to effect the results of its fighting. It was after the hard fight of the 16th Corps was over, though its left was still being threatened by Wheeler's cavalry, that Martin's brigade of the 15th Corps was ordered to its relief, but before it could take any part, or even get into position, Martin was recalled by General Logan in person, who called for additional aid to restore the line at the railroad; he also called for a brigade from the 16th Corps, and led in person Colonel Mersey's brigade, with one of my staff officers who had already been over the ground and was acquainted with it, to guide him direct to the critical point.

On the performance of that brigade on that occasion, I quote the words of that staff officer, Colonel Jonas:

"I conducted Mersey's brigade to the point where needed; arrived at the railroad, he at once deployed and charged, all the men of the 15th Corps at hand joining with him. Mersey's brigade re-captured the works and the guns; old Colonel M. was slightly wounded, and his celebrated horse, "Billy," killed. By your direction, I said to General Morgan L. Smith, (temporarily in command of the 15th Corps): General Dodge requests that you return this brigade at the earliest practicable moment, as there is every indication of renewed assault on our own line.' And, after saying that your request would be respected, General Smith added: Tell General Dodge that his brigade (Mersey's) has done magnificently, and it shall have full credit in my report.`" Afterwards one of Mersey's officers-Captain Boyd, I think-in trying his skill as an artillerist, cracked one of the re-captured guns.

In this battle Colonel Mersey and many of his men whom he so gallantly led had served their time and were awaiting transportation home. Eloquent words have been written and spoken all over the land on behalf of the honor, of the bravery of the soldier, but where is the word spoken or written that can say more for the soldier than the action of those men on that field? They were out of service; they had written that they were coming home, and their eyes and hearts were toward the North; many an anxious eye was looking for the boy who voluntarily laid down.

his life that day; and many a devoted father, mother or sister has had untold trouble to obtain recognition in the War Department because the soldier's time had expired; he was mustered out, waiting to go home, and was not known on the records; but on that day he fought on three different parts of that field without a thought except for his cause and his country.

I have never seen an estimate of the percentage of the killed and wounded to the actual number of the forces engaged in this battle. Such an estimate would give the difference of loss as between fighting behind intrenchments and on open ground. I have tried to obtain the exact number of the forces present in each unit that day, but have failed. Such a list is not in existence, but taking the corps by regiments and batteries, we can arrive at a fair approximation of the actual number present. Averaging the regiments at three hundred and thirty and the batteries at eighty men each, gives a loss of four per cent. in the 15th Corps, seven per cent. in the 17th Corps and fifteen per cent. in the 16th Corps, showing a percentage of killed and wounded in fighting on the open ground in one instance double, and in another three times as great as in fighting behind intrenchments.

At about 10 o'clock on the night of the 22d, the three corps commanders of the Army of the Tennessee (one of them in command of the Army) met in the rear of the 15th Corps, on the line of the Decatur road, under an oak tree, and there discussed the results of the day. Blair's men were at that time in the trenches, in some places the enemy held one side and they the other. The men of the 15th Corps were still in their own line, but tired and hungry, and those of the 16th were, after their hard day's fight, busy throwing up intrenchments on the field they had held and won. It was thought that the Army of the Cumberland and the Army of the Ohio, which had not been engaged that day, should send a force to relieve Blair, and Dodge, being the junior corps commander, was dispatched by General Logan, at the requests of Generals Logan and Blair, to see General Sherman. My impression is that I met him in a tent, I have heard it said that he had his headquarters in a house. When I met him he seemed rather surprised to see me, but greeted me cordially and spoke of the loss of McPherson. I stated to him my errand. He turned to me and said: "Dodge, you whipped them to-day, didn't you?" I said, "Yes, sir." Then he said: "Can't you do it again to-mor