May 18^th in the morning—I have just received your letter of May 12^th which was               

mailed the 13^th making the trip in five days—pretty good. I sent the medical

journals for preservation & will probably send more bye & bye. I am better this morning. I expect to send this to day—

 

Resaca Ga May 17^th 1864

My dear wife—I again have an opportunity of writing you, and I must not let it pass without taking advantage of it; but when I can send it off I dont know. I wrote you last the 11^th which I hope you will receive in good time for I know that you must be extremely anxious just at this time. We have been fighting every day since I wrote you last, and have driven the enemy before us, and he continues to retreat, fighting as he goes, and I presume the fighting will continue for several days yet. On the 13^th the Rebels evacuated Dalton and fell back to near Resaca, which is about fifteen miles south of Dalton; we followed them closely in the morning and captured some prisoners and before night our cavalry was skirmishing with them hotly. On the morning of the 14^th I saw the 73^d boys, and ascertained that none of them had been hurt; since then I have not heard from them; and all our hard fighting has occurred since. Just at night on the 14^th the enemy massed their forces on our extreme left, being our Brigade, and as our men gave way, the rebels came on in immense numbers, with the intention of capturing the 5^th Ind. Battery which belongs to our Brigade, but they happened to "catch a [?]", for our Battery had no notion of giving up / their guns, and they fought like bloody tigers, throwing case and canister shot with the greatest rapidity that I ever saw guns fired, double shooting them all the time. The air was perfectly red from their constant flashing, and the scene was terribly beautiful. I dont think the enemy would have reached the Battery if it had not been supported, but just at the critical moment, Genl Hooker threw in a Brigade that opened a destructive fire, and the rebels skedaddled in haste. most singular to say, our whole Division didn't have more than twenty-five men killed & wounded in that assault, and the Battery didn't lose a man, and but one horse. Whenever we see the official report, the 5^th Ind. Battery will have honorable mention. After it was over Genl. Hooker rode up to commander of the Battery and patted him on the shoulder, and said "I will remember your Battery ever after this". I was sitting on my horse a short distance in the rear, and it was the most magnificent sight I ever saw. On the 15^th there was much heavier fighting, but our Division was at no time hotly engaged. The 20^th Army Corps had taken up position on our left, and they bore the heaviest of the battle and lost quite a number of men. All the wounds I attended to on that day were Hooker's men. I cut out one grape shot, one inch and a half in diameter that had passed nearly through the poor fellow's thigh, but I think he will recover as the bone was not injured. I went to the Hospital in the afternoon of the 15^th and worked till after midnight attending to the wounded, but they / were mostly from the 23^d Corps Schofield's men.

 

Yesterday morning we found the rebels had fallen back in the latter part of the night, and we move out early after them, and came into this place about noon. By 4 O'clock P.M. the cars followed us in. Here the rebels burned the R.R. Bridge over the Conasauga river, which will require three or four days to build. The engineers are already at work at it. in the meantime our forces have moved on south, and last evening made another attack on them and drove them again, capturing a battery and quite a number of prisoners. They are fighting again today but I know nothing of the results, I have no fear however of the consequences. The losses in our Regiment up to this has been two killed & about fifteen wounded—three have since died of their wounds. George Mell that used to work for J. H. McKinstry is the only one hurt in Co. H. he is wounded through the arm but without injury to the bone.

 

Upon arriving here at Resaca, Col. Moore was assigned to the command of the Post, and our Regiment & two others will remain here to garrison the place, while the rest of the army moves on in pursuit, so that I presume we will not have any more fighting to do in this campaign. The prisoners taken at the front are being sent back here, and we forward them on to Chattanooga by railroad. They have been coming in in squads all day. I saw two rebel surgeons among them. They said they were ordered to come in to take care of their wounded, which I suppose is the case. 

 

Now for myself—I am not well, but you will discover from my letter thus far that I have been busy so you may imagine I am not much sick. I was taken sick at Catoosa Springs, and have not been well since. In the first place I supposed my attack to be Bilious fever, but in a few days, Diphtheria developed itself, and has continued ever since, though in a mild form. my throat is quite sore, and gives me a great deal of trouble, but my general health is not much disturbed, and I continue going about, with a pretty good appetite, and dont think I am going to get down, any more than I am now. I am very cautious, in taking care of myself, and as we expect to remain here for a while I will do just about as well as if I was at home—in fact I think now we have stopped moving, and I will not have to be out doors any more, that I will be well in a few days. I hope you will not be uneasy about me, for I think I will be well by the time you get this, as I am already much better than I was a few days ago.

 

You asked my advice about getting a silk; get one if you wish to either a full dress or skirt as you choose and if you want to go east and spend the spend the summer, nothing would please me better. I received a letter from you the 15^th dated the 5^th and though engaged in a fight I found time to read it, twice. Hoping I may never be sicker, and that you are well, I remain your affectionate Husband—

                                                                                   

James              to Hattie—

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