Second Brigade - First Division - Army
of the Tennessee
Colonel C. Carroll Marsh
This brigade of four regiments was encamped, with its left in Woolf Field, in the following order of regiments from left to right: Forty-fifth Illinois, Forty-eighth Illinois, Twentieth Illinois, Eleventh Illinois. It formed line of battle on its parade ground Sunday morning, April 6, 1862, and at about 8 a.m. moved out, first to the front, but immediately afterwards to the left, and formed along the Corinth road, its left at the northwest corner of the Review field, its right near the crossroads, Burrows's battery at the center. In this position the brigade was fiercely attacked by Wood's brigade of Hardee's corps and Stewart's brigade of Polk's corps. It withstood the attack from about 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., when it fell back about 700 yards and re-formed at right angles to the center of its camp. It held this position for a short time and then fell back to Jones Field, where it rallied and in conjunction with other troops recaptured its camp at noon. In this advance the Twentieth and Eleventh Illinois, assisted by the Eleventh Iowa, captured Cobb's Confederate battery. The brigade retained possession of parts of its camp for about two hours, retiring slowly to Jones Field, where it was engaged until 2:30 p.m., when it fell back to Hamburg and Savannah road, where its three left regiments united with the Third Brigade and bivouacked Sunday night, just south of McArthur's headquarters. The Eleventh Illinois, reduced to a captain and 80 men, bivouacked near the siege guns, and was in reserve on Monday. The Twentieth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-eighth formed a part of Marsh's command on Monday and advanced nearly west, recovering their camps at about 3 p.m.
11th Illinois - Lieutenant Colonel Thomas E.G. Ransom
20th Illinois - Lieutenant Colonel Evan Richards
