Baird's Division

On September 20, 1863, until 6 p.m., Brigadier General Absalom Baird's division of Thomas' Corps, with the brigades of Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner, Brigadier General John C. Starkweather, and Brigadier General John H. King, held a line in the woods around the northeast corner of Kelly field after withdrawing the previous evening from the vicinity of Jay's Mill. At 3 o'clock a.m., Baird posted his division about 150 yards in advance of the field and strengthened its front with a breastwork of logs and rails. Starkweather's brigade held the right facing east with four guns positioned to enfilade the line to the left, Scribner's brigade was next on the left with its left refused and facing northeast, and King's brigade, facing north, formed the left of Baird's line, which was soon extended by Dodge's brigade of Johnson's division, while the rest of Johnson's division stood on Baird's right. Fighting on Baird's front began about 10 o'clock and remained heavy until 1 p.m. Breckinridge's division assaulted first and gained the Lafayette road, but was finally driven back and around the Union left at 11 a.m., when Walker's and Liddell's divisions of Walker's corps replaced it; these attacks were repulsed by 1 p.m. The struggle on Baird's left for possession of the Lafayette road also involved, though not all at the same time, the brigades of Dodge, John Beatty, Grose, parts of Willich and Berry, Stanley, VanDerveer, and Barnes. Except for heavy skirmishing, there was little fighting on Kelly field from 1 p.m. until late afternoon. At 5:30 p.m., General Thomas ordered General Reynolds to begin withdrawing this part of the army. Baird and Johnson were heavily attacked when the order to retire reached them; they held briefly, then withdrew in confusion to the woods west of Kelly field, where they were not pursued. From there Baird's division proceeded to Rossville by way of McFarland's Gap. During the two days of battle, the division lost 181 killed, 794 wounded, and 1202 missing, for a total of 2177.

Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia · United States