No. 2 Report of Major General Don Carlos Buell, U. S. Army, commanding Army of the Ohio, of operations from April 8 to June 10.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO,
Huntsville, Ala., August 1, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the army under my command in the recent campaign against the enemy's forces at Corinth:

The circumstances attending and following the battle of Shiloh subjected my troops to the greatest discomfort for some ten days after that event. Rains and use rendered the roads almost impassable, so that the wagons and baggage that had been left behind on the forced march which was made to reach the battle-field on the 6th and 7th of April arrived very slowly. The troops, therefore, had not only to live in the open air in miry camps and frequent cold, drenching rains, but to carry their provisions some 2 miles from the river to the camps over roads so muddy as to be difficult even for horses.

These privations produced a serious effect on the health of the troops, and dysentery of a threatening type prevailed very generally among the officers and men. The arrival of our wagons and the removal of the troops to the high ground bordering Lick Creek, more remote from the impure water and atmosphere of the battle-field, soon wrought a favorable change in the health of the army.

During this period the ordinary outpost duties of an army in the vicinity of an enemy were shared by all the troops, but no other active service against the enemy was performed, excepting occasional reconnaissances by the cavalry and an expedition to destroy the bridge on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad at bear Creek, 26 miles east of Corinth, in which General S. S. Fry's brigade, of Thomas' division, took an active part. These were, I Believe, in each case successfully executed, but as they were conducted by officers not under my immediate command, i cannot detail them particularly.

The force which advanced against Corinth, under the command of Major-General Halleck, was composed of the Army of the Ohio, under my command; the Army of the Mississippi, under the command of Major-General Pope, and the Army of the Tennessee, under the immediate command of Major General George H. Thomas. The first formed the center, the second the left, and the third the right of the combined force. General Thomas' division of my army was temporarily attached to the Army of the Tennessee, and continued with it until after the evacuation, and, indeed, is not at this time under my control. This left me with four divisions, commanded respectively by Major General A. McD. McCook, Major General William Nelson, Major General T. L. Crittenden, and Brigadier General T. J. Wood, which, with the cavalry under Colonel James S. Jackson, amounted in all to about 28,000 men.

The more immediate preparations for an advance commenced on the 29th of April. My army moved close up to Lick Creek, and preparations were commenced for crossing at two points, namely, at Atkins' and at Greer's. The creek was bridged at these points and the marshy bottom corduroyed for about three-quarters of a mile. Another crossing was made at an earlier day lower down, but that was made to open communication with General Pope, and not with a view to the final advance. The upper road was made by General McCook's division and the other two by General Wood's, assisted in each case by Colonel