346
��HISTOKY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY.
��for luka, then Tuseumbia, where it drove stakes for a few days, then moved on to Decatur, crossed the Tennessee River on the pontoon bridge, and stopped at Mooresville, where, on the 4th of July, it was pu])licly announced that Vicks- burg had surrendered unconditionally. From this, went by rail to Stevenson, Ala. Here it assisted in building Fort Harker, in honor of its brave and talented brigade commander. About the latter part of August, the rebel Gen. Bragg, stealing a march, started for Nashville. This required Buell to bestir himself, and to facilitate the movement, tents and other extra baggage were destroyed, and the men (their food consisting chiefly of green corn), started for a race with Bragg, arriving before him in Nashville, then renewing the race to Bowling Green, and next to Louisville, making on this march of al)out four hundred miles, sometimes upward of forty miles per da^'. The regiment being again supplied with shoes and other arti- cles of clothing, it again assumed the aggres- sive, and next is found at Perryville. Pursu- ing the enemy through Wild Cat, it then turned back through Stanford, Scottsville and Gallatin, to Nashville, and camped near the Nolinsville pike, where, Christmas, 1862, found it. While at Nashville, the army was re-organized by Gen. Rosecrans. The Sixty-fourth became a part of the Third Brigade, First Division and Twenty- first Army Corps, Harker commanding the bri- gade. Wood the division and Crittenden the corps. The advance on Murfreesboro being now un- dertaken, the regiment under command of Col. Mcllvain, on the night of December 30, crossed Stone River and skirmished with the enemy, but soon withdrew to the main line on the opposite side, and rested on its ai-ms until morning. At sunrise, it was ordered to double- quick to the relief of Gen. McCook's command — on the right wing, where, with the brigade and other opportune forces, it met and drove back the advancing foe for a time. Re-enforce- ments arriving, the enemy in turn drove back
��the Federal lines, capturing two guns of the Sixth Ohio Battery ; another moment, and a charge made in desperation retook the guns, and here it maintained the line until relieved by McCook's rallied forces, when it moved l)ack to the position it occupied in the morning. On the ] st of January, it was not actively engaged, but the next day supported the Sixth Ohio Batter}' under a galling fire, and, on the two remaining days of the battle, participated in the movements of the brigade, losing in the last five days moi'e than sevent^'-five men. The regiment remained at Murfreesboro until the early part of June, 1863, when it struck out, passing t^hrough Tullahoma and Chattanooga, and confronting the foe at Chickamauga. Skirmished with the enemy a few days near Lee & Gordon's mills, then engaged in the hard-fought battles of the 19th and 20th of September. On both these days, the Sixty- fourth was in the front, only falling back to Mission Ridge on the night of the 20th, and losing in the two days more than one hundred men, out of about three hundred.
Remained at Chattanooga, building works, until November 23. Rations were scarce ; the men frequently, from necessity, gathered the corn spilled b}' the horses while eating, washed and parched it for their own use. , While here the army was re-organized. Harker's Brigade was now attached to Gen. Sheridan's division, Fourth Arm}' Corps, and the army, with Grant in command, advanced and drove the enemy back into their fortifications. On the afternoon of the 25th, they were ordered to take the line of works at the foot of the ridge. The men charged over the works, and, without orders, swept on up the ridge, driving the enemy from its crest and capturing many guns, Harkers brigade being the first one to reach the sum- mit. In this engagement, the regiment lost about sixty men, Capt. Kling being among the killed and Capts. Wolfl' and Hall and Lieut. Albach among the wounded.
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