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and preparations for battle.
The arrival of troops, the concentration of Wilson's cavalry, was all in plain view.
The weather was very severe and the suffering of the men was great.
There was no supply of shoes, and the men covered their bare feet with raw hide taken from animals freshly slaughtered.
Hundreds of Tennesseeans passed their own doors on the march without halting, and many were in sight of their homes when the guns opened.
On December 15th the enemy, having completed his preparation, moved out to attack the left held by Stewart and the right held by Cheatham.
The enemy, says General Stewart, appeared in force along his entire line with the purpose of turning the left flank of the army.
The commanding general dispatched Manigault's and Deas' brigades of Johnson's division, Lee's corps, to Stewart's assistance, and they were placed in line parallel to the Hillsboro pike, opposite redoubt No. 4.
Under attack the two brigades made but a feeble resistance, and the enemy captured redoubts No. 4 and No. 5, with all artillery in them, and killed and wounded many of our men. A battery from Loring's division was brought over and placed in position and the same brigades brought up to its support, but they again fled, causing the capture of the battery, after which the enemy pressed forward and gained the rear of Walthall and Loring.
Walthall, after a gallant resistance, retired his line, when the entire corps formed between the Granny White and Franklin turnpikes, night closing the conflict.
The attack on Cheatham was made by Major-General Steedman with the Twelfth, Thirteenth and One Hundredth regiments of colored troops, under command of Col. Charles R. Thompson of the Twelfth colored; the Fourteenth, Seventeenth (commanded by Col. William R. Shifter), Forty-fourth and a detachment of the Eighteenth colored under Col. T. J. Morgan of the Fourteenth colored; the Sixty-eighth Indiana, Eighteenth
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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