About September 25th Hood's flank movement around Atlanta had advanced so that Sherman divined his intentions and ordered our division north by rail to Chattanooga. The 26th Ohio was thrown in the lead (advance guard) on two passenger coaches, each man with loaded gun ready for immediate action. The division followed by freight trains in sections. On arriving at Chattanooga we were kept on trains much of the time and moving from place to place between Dalton and Bridgeport, many times nearly smothered with smoke as we rode on top of the cars through the tunnel under Missionary Ridge. After Hood moved west into Alabama we started to join the main army west of Rome, Ga., where orders met us by which we crossed Lookout and Sand Mountains to Stevason, Ala., where we were mustered for pay October 31, going from there by rail to Athens, Ala., thence marched to Pulaski, Tenn., thus placing ourselves between Hood, now at Florence, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn. We held this position until Hood advanced via Columbia. We moved October 21 to Lineville and to Columbia on the 23rd formed line of battle, each flank reaching Duck River, one above the other, below the town. This position we held, skirmishing lightly, until the night of the 27th when we crossed to the north bank. Early in the morning of the 29th, Thomas at Nashville ordered General Schofield (in direct command at Columbia) to fall back to Franklin. The trains, over eight hundred wagons, were started on the Nashville pike. When the head of this train reached Spring Hill, eleven miles away, they were stopped by the enemy's cavalry. Our division, General Wagner commanding, hastened to the relief of the train, arriving about 1 p. m., Opdyke's brigade leading, and drove the enemy out of the town north. Bradley's brigade, the second in line of march, formed line facing east and advanced nearly a mile, our brigade, Colonel Lane commanding, forming the reserve. The 26th Ohio soon after was ordered to extend the skirmish line east of the pike farther south and take possession of and hold a dirt road coming into the pike over a mile south. At this place we were located near a cotton gin, on which an outlook was posted, who soon reported Confederate troops in sight. We built a rail barricade, each man got out of cartridge box and bit off ten cartridges and made all the arrangements we could for rapid firing. The gray lines could be seen by Sergeant Hall (the outlook) for a long distance and he kept posting us as to their movements. He held his post too long and was killed in the effort to reach us at the barricade. It was undulating farm land where we were located, with timber showing south of us and also in our rear three-fourths of a mile or one-fourth west of the pike. We could see the gray lines east of us, at some places half a mile away, as they were advancing, but owing to the roll of the land they passed out of our view nearly one-fourth of a mile in front or