HDQRS. FIFTY-SECOND
REGIMENT INDIANA VETERAN VOLS.,
In the Field, Tenn.,
December 23, 1864.
LIEUTENANT: I have the honor to make the following report of
the part taken by the Fifty-second Regiment Indiana Veteran Volunteers in the
battle fought between Generals Thomas' and Hood's forces on the 15th and 16th
instant, near Nashville, Tenn.:
On the morning of the 15th instant I was ordered to move my
regiment in front of the fortifications near the Hardin pike, and formed on the
left of the Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Soon after this formation
was completed a general advance was made in line of battle, obliquing to the
left until we had gained a distance of about a mile, arriving at a point near
the Hillsborough pike, where we found the enemy in force behind strong works.
Here the colonel commanding the brigade ordered a halt. Two sections of the
Ninth Indiana Battery at once took position some 200 yards in rear of the
Fifty-second Indiana Volunteers, and opened fire on a rebel battery in our
front behind strong works near the Hillsborough pike, which was the cause of
the regiment receiving a terrible shelling from the rebel battery in its return
fire, nearly all of their shells dropping short of our battery and falling in
our ranks, killing 1 and severely wounding 6 others. This was a loss to the
regiment that it would not have sustained had it not been for our battery. At
about 2 p.m. the whole line was again advanced toward the rebel works, my
regiment advancing within 200 yards of them, where we received a galling fire
of canister and musketry, having one officer and several men wounded. The
Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteers, on my right, having obliqued to the right,
under cover of the woods, leaving my regiment without support, compelled me to
order a halt, which I did in a ravine near the rebel works, where I soon
received orders to move by the left flank to a point of more safety near the
Hillsborough pike, where the brigade was formed and a charge made in concert
with the Fourth Army Corps, capturing a battery. This about closed the
operations of the first day's fight. The regiment soon after went into camp for
the night. During the day's fight the regiment sustained a loss of 1 man killed
and 1 officer and 10 men wounded.
On the morning of the 16th instant a general advance in line
of battle was again ordered, the Fifty-second Regiment Indiana Volunteers
taking the center, the Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteers on the right, and the
One hundred and seventeenth Illinois Volunteers on the left. In this order the
whole line moved forward across the Granny White pike, a distance of about a
mile, where we found the rebels posted in a strong position. After some
maneuvering the command was halted, where we remained but little exposed to
their fire until 3 o'clock, when a charge on the enemy's work was ordered, the
regiment occupying the same position in the line that it had in the earlier
part of the day. The regiment moved forward in line under a severe fire from a
rebel battery in our immediate front and musketry from their works. Yet the
whole line pressed forward with a determination that it was plain to be seen
that neither rebel batteries nor musketry could withstand the bravery and
determination of our officers and men, who had now reached the enemy's works,
where prisoners were picked up in squads of six to ten in each, which I ordered
to be taken to the rear and turned over to any officer that might be found in
charge of the same, without counting them, therefore I am unable to give the
number captured by my regiment. The command, without halting at the rebel
works, continued to move forward, capturing prisoners, until we reached near
the crest of the hill in rear of their works, when the command was halted and
went into camp for the night.
The following is a list of the casualties.*
Very respectfully,,
your obedient servant,
Z. S. MAIN,
Lieut. Col., Comdg.
Fifty-second Regt. Indiana Vet. Vol. Infty.
Lieut. J. D. COBINE,
Acting Assistant
Adjutant-General, Third Brigade.
_______________
*Embodied in Table, p. 101.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
45, Part 1 (Serial No. 93), p. 495-6
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