CHICKAMAUGA, GEORGIA
September 19 & 20, 1863

CAPTAIN: In compliance with orders from general headquarters, I herewith submit my report of the action of this brigade in the battle of the 19th and 20th ultimo:

The brigade, composed of Colonel Wilkes' Texas regiment, Col Mill's Texas regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchison's Arkansas regiment, and Captain Douglas' Texas battery, under command of Brig. Gen. James Deshler, moved about 3 p. m. on Saturday, the 19th ultimo, from a point near the junction of La Fayette and McLemore's Valley roads, toward our extreme right and in rear and parallel with our line of battle.

About 4.30 p. m. we crossed a branch of the Chickamauga and moved directly and hastily forward to the extreme right, where the battle seemed raging with great fierceness. After passing for sometime through swarms of stragglers, wounded, and prisoners, we arrived on the line and were formed, facing our right flank, and moved forward to the attack, and proceeded some 200 yards, when the brigade was halted and ordered to lie down. In a few minutes we rose up and advanced to the front, and occupied some time in getting our position. It was now getting dark, but the firing was still heavy and constant between the enemy and some brigade opposite our extreme right and perpendicular to our line. We were not more than a hundred yards from his right flank, where he had a battery of artillery firing at the troops on our right. We remained here some minutes. Brigadier-General Deshler did not know but that the battery was our own, and declined to advance on it in the dark, it being then impossible to distinguish friend from foe. The enemy was beaten back and there was a temporary lull on the field...

About 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the 20th, we moved off a short distance by the left flank and then advanced to the front, passing through a portion of Major-General Cheatham's division. Having gained an open ground several hundred yards in our front, the enemy began, from one or two long-range guns, to shell our line, and as we approached nearer gave us several shots of canister, killing and wounding some 15 or 20 men.

We finally arrived, about 10 a.m., on the ground we were ordered to occupy. We found it being hastily abandoned by the troops who were occupying it before we came. We advanced to the crest of the hill, some 200 yards in front of the enemy's barricades and breastworks, when he opened a destructive fire upon us. We were ordered to lie down and commence firing. We now began the engagement in earnest, but at great disadvantage. The enemy was behind his defenses and we without cover. He had two batteries of artillery; we had none, our own battery not being able to get a positive position to give us aid. Captain Semple's splendid battery was on the hill with us and on the extreme left of the brigade when we moved up and occupied the hill. It fired a few shots, and was moved up to some other position on the field. The enemy poured on our heads from 10 a.m. to 1.30 or 2 p.m. constant and terrible fire of artillery and musketry, which we returned with our rifles with the same constancy and stubborness.

About 12 m. our supply of ammunition began to give out, and I sent a courier to Brigadier-General Deshler to inform him of the fact, and to ask where we could get more. A few minutes after I saw him coming toward my right, some 40 paces from me, when he was struck by a shell in the chest and his heart was literally torn from his bosom.

I may pause here and pay a passing tribute to the memory of our fallen chief. He was brave, generous, and kind even to a fault. Ever watchful and careful for the safety of any member of his command, he was ever ready to peril his own. Refusing to permit a staff officer to endanger his life in going to examine the cartridge boxes to see what amount of ammunition his men had, he cheerfully started himself to brave the tempest of death, that raged on the crest of the hill. He had gone but little way when he fell - as he would wish to fall - in the very center of his brigade, in the midst of the line, between the ranks, and surrounded by the bodies of his fallen comrades. He poured out his own blood upon the spot watered by the best blood of his brigade. Among the host of brave hearts that were offered on the altar of sacrifice for their country on that beautiful Sabbath, there perished not one nobler, braver, or better than his. He lived beloved, and fell lamented and mourned, by every officer and man of his command. He sleeps on the spot where he fell, on the field of his country's victory and glory, surrounded by the bodies of those who stood around him in life and lie around him in death.

"...Just at this critical juncture our ammunition was exhausted, and no one knew where to get more. I assumed command, and supposing that the enemy would advance as soon as the firing ceased, I ordered bayonets fixed and the cartridge boxes of the wounded and dead to be gathered, and one round from them to given to each man to load his gun with, and hold his fire in reserve to repel an assault. While this order was being executed Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson, who was on the left of my regiment, sent Lieutenant Graham to inform me that the four left companies had not been firing. Being at too great a distance from the enemy, he had the good sense to prevent them from wasting their ammunition unnecessarily. I immediately ordered those four companies to the front on the hill, where the fire was hottest, and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson to take command of them, and hold the hill at every hazard till I could get ammunition and have it distributed. I soon procured the ammunition and refilled my cartridge boxes.

At this time one of the major-general's staff came to me and informed me that I was ordered to hold the hill on which the brigade was formed; that I was not permitted to advance, and must not retire if it were possible to hold my position. I therefore moved my command at once some 20 or 30 paces to the rear of the crest and on the side of the hill, for cover, leaving a body of sharpshooters behind trees on the top of the hill to keep up a fire with the enemy. The enemy's fire soon slackened down to a contest between the skirmishers. At the same time he advanced a line of skirmishers toward the open space between my command and Brigadier-General Polk, on my right. I soon received information from Lieutenant-Colonel Coit, then commanding Wilke's regiment, that the enemy was moving around my right flank in force. I ordered him to throw out a company of flankers and engage them. In less than twenty minutes I was informed that our skirmishers were retiring before the enemy. I immediately ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchison to re-enforce the skirmishers with one company from his regiment, which was promptly done. Still hearing of this flank movement, I ordered Captain Kennard, of Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson's regiment, to re-enforce the other two companies with his, take command himself of those companies, put his men under good cover, and hold the enemy in check at all hazards. He very promptly moved with his company to the ground, assumed command of the three companies, repulsed the enemy's skirmishers, and held his position without a serious struggle. A straggling fire was kept up between the enemy and my sharpshooters till late in the evening, when the advance of our left wing caused him to abandon his works and take to his heels.

The troops of my command, both officers and men, behaved with the greatest bravery, coolness, and self-possession during the whole engagement. They advanced with a steady step, under heavy fire of shell, canister and musketry, to their position, and held it with firmness and unwavering fortitude throughout the fight. Texans vied with each other to prove themselves worthy of the fame won by their brothers on other fields, and the little handful of Arkansas troops showed themselves worthy to have their names enrolled among the noblest, bravest, and best of their State. It is scarcely possible for them to exhibit higher evidence of courage, patriotism, and pride on any other field. They were not permitted to advance and would not retire, but as brave men and good soldiers they obeyed the orders of their general and held the hill.

Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson, Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchison, and Major Taylor remained constantly in the line, handled their commands with ability, and conducted themselves gallantly throughout the entire action.

I most respectfully refer you to the reports of subordinate commanders for particular acts of gallantry, lists of casualties, &c. I feel it my duty, however, to record the names of Lieut. Matthew Graham, of Company C, Tenth Texas Regiment, and Private William C. McCann, of Company A, Fifteenth Texas Regiment, as worthy of honorable mention for conduct more than ordinarily gallant on the field. Lieutenant Graham several times volunteered and insisted on being permitted to carry orders and messages up and down the line, where he was constantly exposed to the thickest fire. His services were highly beneficial to Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson, who speaks of him in terms of highest praise. Private McCann was under my own eye. He stood upright, cheerful, and self-possessed in the very hail of deadly missiles; cheered up his comrades around him, and after he had expended all his ammunition, gathered up the cartridge boxes of the dead and wounded and distributed them to his comrades. He bore himself like a hero through the entire contest, and fell mortally wounded by the last volleys of the enemy. I promised him during the engagement that I would mention his good conduct, and as he was borne dying from the field he turned his boyish face upon me and, with a light and pleasant smile, reminded me of my promise

The First Texas Battery, commanded by Capt. James P. Douglas, belonging to Deshler's brigade, was not engaged on the 19th.

On the 20th, it followed the brigade as far as the open field covered thickly with felled timber, when, finding it impossible to follow us farther, Captain Douglas moved toward our left flank, and came into another field, where he was exposed to the enemy's fire. He immediately opened fire on Douglas from two of his batteries, killing 1 of his horses and knocking down one of his wheels. He extricated himself from this position, and by order of Major-General Cleburne, took position on the hill with the brigades of Brigadier-Generals Wood and Polk, in rear of my line. He afterward moved down on the right to where Brigadier General Polk was warmly engaging the enemy; disengaged his horses, and carried his pieces by hand in the very face of the foe. He fired a few rounds at 60 or 80 yards distance from the enemy, advancing his pieces by hand with the line of Brigadier-General Polk's brigade. The enemy were soon routed and fled the field.

Too much praise cannot be bestowed on Captain Douglas and the officers and men of his battery for their gallant conduct. They were not engaged for any considerable length of time, but the very short quarters at which Captain Douglas threw down the gauntlet soon decided the enemy to yield the field to a battery that could charge a brigade of infantry behind their rifle pits.

Capts. J. T. Hearne and B. F. Blackburn, and Lieut. G. B. Jewell, of the brigade staff, are entitled to my thanks for promptly reporting to me when Brigadier-General Deshler fell, and for their valuable services rendered to me during the engagement.

The aggregate strength of the brigade, including the battery, on the morning of the 19th, was 1,783. I lost in the fight 52 killed and 366 wounded.

I have the honor, &c.,
R. Q. Mills Colonel,
Commanding Brigade,