had got his teams harnessed up, and safely conducted
his train to the rear of Schofield’s position,
holding in check Wheeler’s cavalry till he had
got off all his trains, with the exception of three
or four wagons. I remained near the Howard House,
receiving reports and sending orders, urging Generals
Thomas and Schofield to take advantage of the absence
from their front of so considerable a body as was evidently
engaged on our left, and, if possible, to make a lodgment
in Atlanta itself; but they reported that the lines
to their front, at all accessible points, were strong,
by nature and by art, and were fully manned.
About 4 p.m. the expected, sally came from Atlanta,
directed mainly against Leggett’s Hill and along
the Decatur road. At Leggett’s Hill they
were met and bloodily repulsed. Along the railroad
they were more successful. Sweeping over a small
force with two guns, they reached our main line, broke
through it, and got possession of De Gress’s
battery of four twenty-pound Parrotts, killing every
horse, and turning the guns against us. General
Charles R. Wood’s division of the Fifteenth Corps
was on the extreme right of the Army of the Tennessee,
between the railroad and the Howard House, where he
connected with Schofield’s troops. He
reported to me in person that the line on his left
had been swept back, and that his connection with
General Logan, on Leggett’s Hill, was broken.
I ordered him to wheel his brigades to the left, to
advance in echelon, and to catch the enemy in flank.
General Schofield brought forward all his available
batteries, to the number of twenty guns, to a position
to the left front of the Howard House, whence we could
overlook the field of action, and directed a heavy
fire over the heads of General Wood’s men against
the enemy; and we saw Wood’s troops advance
and encounter the enemy, who had secured possession
of the old line of parapet which had been held by our
men. His right crossed this parapet, which he
swept back, taking it in flank; and, at the same time,
the division which had been driven back along the
railroad was rallied by General Logan in person, and
fought for their former ground. These combined
forces drove the enemy into Atlanta, recovering the
twenty pound Parrott guns but one of them was found
“bursted” while in the possession of the
enemy. The two six-pounders farther in advance
were, however, lost, and had been hauled back by the
enemy into Atlanta. Poor Captain de Gress came
to me in tears, lamenting the loss of his favorite
guns; when they were regained he had only a few men
left, and not a single horse. He asked an order
for a reequipment, but I told him he must beg and borrow
of others till he could restore his battery, now reduced
to three guns. How he did so I do not know, but
in a short time he did get horses, men, and finally
another gun, of the same special pattern, and served
them with splendid effect till the very close of the
war. This battery had also been with me from
Shiloh till that time.