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.