The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1864-09-27

[The following interesting letter from
Dr. L. A. BREWER, Division Surgeon,
written to his wife, has been kindly fur
nished us for publication. r~of

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f. paeJQ bl-hmts5 ir a
! ssmhnla - n9 CAMr AT DrcArrR, Ga.l
/ o;q.tYo Sept. 10, 1864. IS
1t is over two weeks now since Iwrote
to you. i have no doubt but the time
seems long, and it may be that you
have been somewhat anxious in regard
to the result of our movement--as it is
we have returned with less casualties
than any expedition we have engaged
in during the campaign. So far as our
Division is concerned-our Brigade
lost only five men wounded and two
killed.
Before we commenced the move
that finally routed the rebels from At
lanta, our troops occupied the north
west and southwest of Atlanta, orrath-
er line extending from the northeast
of Atlanta around to the southwest
side; a line in all, about ten miles. All
the extra baggage wagons AMI teams
not needed to transport our twenty
days rations which we took with us,
were sent back to the rear at the Chat
tahoochee river, and the goth Corps
sent with them to guard the r. r.
bridge over the river, and to take care
Of the trains. On the 26th of last month
the troops commenced moving to the
south Of Atlanta, on a parallel with the
r. r., and the 2ad Corps being on the
extreme right or farthest south, remain
ed where they were until the other
troops all moved around them, when
on the evening of the 2sth our Corps
withdrew from tho imam ediate E-e..t &c
the enemy, and moved in the rear Of
the other troops. The rebels came out
of their works when our Corps left
their front, for the purpose of making
an attack, but they only marched a
short distance before they about wheel
ed and retired to their works. Nearly
all day of the goth was spent in getting
the wagon trains in motion and arrang-
ed for the march. On the 30th we
moved out from Camp Creek about A
miles and struck Montgomery X. Road
about IA miles south of Atlanta. The
X. Road was all torn up, the ties burn
| ed, and the rails bent and twisted for
several miles up and down the road, by
troops that had preceded us. On the
3lst we moved at sunrise-struck the
rebel works about four miles from Camp
thrown up to protect the Macon Il. Il.
The rebels left before we got there, and
we picked up a newspaper in camp that
showed the rebels were completely ta-
ken by surprise. The editor of the pa
per, stated the general belief that had
been indulged in was, that the Yankees
had all left Atlanta and retreated back
loverthe Chattahoochee river. twas mot
so certain that it was so. 1t was the
opinion he said of some of the leading
military men, that a party of the Yanks
had gone down south Of Atlanta for
the purpose of destroying the II. Road
between East Point and Griffin-but if
such was the case, the Yankees would
find Gen. Hood on hand to meet their
case. The whole article showed con-
clusively, that the rebel Gen. Hood was
utterly taken by surprise and knew
nothing about the move of our troops
south, until too late to offer any resis-
tance to their advance, for our troops
were ahead of them and could destroy
the rail road before any force could
reach them. ao ~s
On the lst of Sept our Corps pushed
on to, and took possession of the Macon
r. r. within about eight miles Of Attain
ia, and commenced tearing it up, burn
ing the ties and destroying the rails
which was most .effectually done to
within 2 miles of Jonesboro, 20 miles.
The troops that started out first struck
down to the II. II. at Jonesboro, and
the rebel Gen. Hood sent one Corps
down there to capture them, supposing
there was but small raiding party.
When they got down there, our troops
attacked them and drove them with
great loss. That was on the 30th. Gen.
Hood finding his one. corps whipped,
sent another down as reinforcement and
before they got there our troops were
all on the spot except the 2ad Corps,
and they attacked the rebels and put
them, to a. perfect rout, killing and
wounding- 1000, capturing between
1000 and 5000 prisoners and 10 pieces
of artillery. Sept. Cd Hood marched
the balance of his troops ont Of Allan
ia, to the support of those at or near
Jonesboro. On the night of the lst Of
Sept, our whole camp was startled by
loud reports of artillery, which seemed
to be in our immediate rear. Quite .
number of the commanding officers
were up, and expected an attack, but
the firing seemed so much different from
anything else that we had been accus-
toned to, that we were at first at loss
to know what it was, But it was soon