[CHAP. XVII.

engaged the batteries which had been replaced, and in ten minutes had expended our last shot, when I ordered my men to limber to the rear. We retired under a galling fire of grape and canister.

In this short engagement Harman Grathouse was wounded in the hand by a piece of shell and Nicholaus Myers was struck by a spent grape. Sergeant Harding, while pointing his gun, was severely injured by the bursting of a shell within a we inches of his head. The concussion injured his brain, and he now lies in the hospital in a critical condition.

I cannot too highly praise the coolness of my little band while under the enemy's fire. Second Lieutenant H. C. Barger, the only commissioned officer with me, displayed great coolness and daring, and was always to be found at his post, doing his duty as a faithful officer and brave man.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

I am, dear colonel, your most obedient servant,

JASPER M. DRESSER,

Captain Artillery Company A, First Brigade.

Colonel RICHARD J. OGLESBY,

Commanding First Brigade.

Numbers 11. Report of Colonel William H. L. Wallace, Eleventh Illinois Infantry, commanding Second Brigade.

HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION,
U. S. Advance Forces, Fort Donelson, Tenn., February 17, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of my brigade from the timber of leaving Fort Henry, on the 11th instant, up to the 16th instant, when the Federal forces entered this fortification.

My brigade, as formed by order of General U. S. Grant, commanding the District of Cairo, consisted of the Eleventh Illinois Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel T. E. G. Ransom commanding; the Twentieth Illinois Infantry, Colonel C. C. Marsh commanding; the Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry, Colonel I. N. Haynie commanding; the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, Colonel T. Lyle Dickey commanding; Captain Ezra Taylor's Chicago Light Battery B, first Illinois Artillery, four 6-pounder field guns and two 12-pounder howitzers, and Captain E. McAllister's battery of three 24-pounder howitzers, first Illinois Artillery-the whole constituting the Second Brigade of the First Division, commanded by Brigadier General John A. McClernand, and containing about 3,400 effective men of all arms.

About noon of the 11th instant, while in camp at Fort Henry, I received orders from General McClernand to put the infantry and artillery of my brigade on the march, and move out 3 or 4 miles on the Telegraph road towards this place. At 4 o'clock p. m. the forces designated marched out and encamped on the road 4 miles from Fort Henry. At sunrise on the next day (the 12th instant) I was joined by Colonel Dickey's cavalry, and marched with my whole command by the Telegraph road towards Fort Donelson, keeping up frequent communication with Colonel Oglesby's First Brigade, which was moving at the same time by the Ridge road, Colonel Dickey's cavalry thoroughly