of May 31. His brigade was composed of the Fifty-second and One hundred and fourth Pennsylvania, the Eleventh Maine, and the Fifty- sixth and One hundredth New York Volunteers. General Naglee's report did not arrive in time to be forwarded with my report of the battle. The paper he has now furnished contains matter which will lead to angry controversies, and ought not, in my opinion, to appear in its present form among the reports of the battle.

The objections to General Naglee's report are the following:

1st. It refers to the movements of the Fourth Corps, or parts of it, for several days prior to and in the battle, and it is not his province to refer to them in his report of the battle of the battle further than to give the position of the troops of his own brigade.

2nd. General Naglee states that he gave orders to other troops besides his own brigade without giving the authority for so doing. To allow such a practice to subordinate commanders without stating reasons to justify it would have most disorganizing tendency.

3rd. General Naglee has referred to a line of battle formed in rear of and near to the Nine-mile road in a manner which seems to convey the impression that the line there formed was about the termination of the battle. It is captain, however, that two other distinct lines of battle stoutly resisted the enemy after the one above referred to. As General Naglee does not refer to his being near the first of the last two lines, and as I did not see him there, I infer he was not present. In the last line of battle formed during the day, and which line staid the advance of the enemy, I know General Naglee was not present.

4th. General Naglee's report conveys the idea, I think, that one division or one brigade of the Fourth Corps did nearly al the fighting on the 31st and that the other division did very little fighting.

5th. Having mentioned General Naglee favorably in my report of the battle, I respectfully request that the paper now forwarded from him as his report may be returned to me as objectionable for the reasons stated above. I will then require Brigadier-General Naglee to report the operations of his own brigade during the battle of May 31. At the same time I wound intimate to him that if he desires to describe the operations of the Fourth Corps or of General Casey's division or the conduct of individuals not under his command or his own conduct generally, there will be no objection to his doing so in a separate paper.

I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant,

E. D. KEYES,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Fourth Corps.

Brigadier General S. WILLIAMS,

Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac.

[Inclosure.]

HEADQUARTERS NAGLEE'S BRIGADE,
Camp in the Rear, June 19, 1862.

LIEUTENANT: Before alluding to the occurrences of the 31st of May it would probably add to a better understanding of the subject to refer to the advance of my brigade on the 24th, 25th, and 26th, a week previous.

Having crossed the Chickahominy from the railroad to Bottom's Bridge on the 20th, and made a reconnaissance from the Chimneys, near Bottom's Bridge, tao Within 2 miles of the James River on the Quaker road in the 23d, General McClellan ordered a reconnaissance of the road and country by the Williamsburg road as far as the Seven