The Atlanta Campaign
© All Photographs, Robert Marshall
Major McDowell continues:
"Leaving the city to the care of other troops, about the 1st of May the Fifteenth Kentucky rejoined the brigade and moved to Rocky-face Ridge, near Ringgold, Georgia, where we again beheld our old enemy on the height above us, perfectly safe in his fastness as far as we were concerned, for the face of the ridge was a perpendicular rock from twenty to thirty feet in height.
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General McPherson found Snake-creek Gap, and turned the positions, and General J. E. Johnson withdrew. Following on through Dalton we came to Resaca, on the Oustahola River, where we found the enemy entrenched in a very strong position. Here our brigade got into position exposed to the enemy's artillery and musketry at short range, and we lost some good soldiers -- among others, Captain Irvine McDowell, who was killed on the works while cheering his men on to duty. Cut off in his youth, and so soon after his promotion so nobly won, and being a favorite with the entire regiment, his untimely end was mourned by all.
Again turning the enemy's flank, we pressed him on through Kingston, Georgia, and Burnt Hickory, and came to Alatoona Mountains, where many severe battles were fought. Still pressing the enemy, he fell back to Kenesaw Mountains. Here his position seemed impregnable, and indeed proved so, for after many weeks we again flanked and pressed him out of position, following him up through Marietta, Georgia, to the Chattahoochee River, where we camped and rested a few days.
Crossing the Chattahoochee River we approached Peach-tree Creek, where we again
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found the enemy; but he withdrew from our front, and we crossed the stream, which was much swollen from recent rains. The Twentieth Corps having crossed and gone into position to await the crossing of the remainder of the army, our brigade joined the right of the Twentieth Corps (General Hooker). A ravine passing into the line where the Fifteenth Kentucky should have been, we were placed in the rear of the ravine, thus lying at an angle to the main line.
While waiting here the enemy advanced in line of battle, without skirmishers, and the memorable battle of Peach-tree Creek (July 20, 1864), one of the bloodiest of the entire campaign, was fought.
The One Hundred and Fourth Illinois of our brigade, joined General Hooker's right, and we, in echelon, joined the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois. The enemy felt the line from end to end, and, coming to the right of the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, mistook it for the extreme right of our line, and made a rush to double us up. This movement threw their left to our line, and, with an enfilading fire, the Fifteenth Kentucky sprang over the hastily constructed works and charged them, throwing them into confusion, and rolling up their line from left to right until their retreat became a rout.
It has not generally been known that any other troops except the Twentieth Corps were engaged in this fight, but it is nevertheless a fact that two regiments of our brigade (one Hundred and Fourth Illinois and Fifteenth Kentucky), under General John S. Beatty, made the extension of the line to the right just long enough to prevent the enemy from turning the right of General Hooker's corps, and did good and efficient service.
On the 22nd of July 1864, we moved toward Atlanta, and marched right up to the works before we were apprised of the fact that they were occupied. We soon found it out, however, and concluded not to take Atlanta that day, but worked around it for forty days, and while we were at Jonesboro, twenty miles south, learned that General Slocum was in the city. For thirty days we had burrowed around the city from its immediate front to Utoy creek. We had felt and fought nearly every day, and then one night we were called away, and, joining General Sheridan's command, we moved down the landtown roads, and crossing the forests we came to the West Point Railroad near Red Oaks, and, destroying it for miles, we continued our march southward, of General Slocum's entrance into Atlanta.
When our pickets were withdrawn from before Atlanta, the Confederate troops in our front were General Joseph Lewis' Kentucky brigade, who called across to know where we were going, to which our pickets replied, To the flank. 'All Right,' was the rejoinder from the rebels, 'we'll be there to hull those acorns some day soon.' Our corps badge was an acorn. At Jonesboro we met this same brigade again, catching them when they were not expecting so many yanks, and capturing several hundred prisoners, among the rest Colonel Phil. Lee.
After the battle many of our regiment went over to see the prisoners, for we were sure that we would meet many old friends among them. Colonel Phil. Lee, in his own old way, approached Colonel Taylor, and shaking hands with him said, 'Well, Colonel, we have come over to hull those acorns.' We stayed several days in Jonesboro, and then the army was moved back to Atlanta and went into camp. The Fifteenth Kentucky were again the rearguard, and it was in the streets of Jonesboro, Georgia, that the last shots of the Confederates were made at our regiment.
After getting back to Atlanta, our term of service having expired, we were sent to Chattanooga and put in charge of the trains between that city and Atlanta. After a month of this service we were ordered to Bridgeport, Alabama, to guard the bridge across the Tennessee River, which was threatened by the invasion of General John B. Hood.
Here we remained until after the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, and on the 25th day of December 1864, we took a train and came to Louisville, Kentucky, where we were mustered out of the United States service on the 14th day of January 1865, after a faithful and arduous service of three years, three months, three weeks, and three days.
To sum up the history of the Fifteenth Kentucky is a task both pleasant and painful. Pleasant, because it can be said that in lines of the army, and always received the commendations of our commanders and the love and esteem of our companions. Painful, from the fact that of eight hundred and eighty-eight men and officers mustered into the United States service in 1861, over four hundred were killed and wounded on the battle-fields of our country.