Here too I had an opportunity to do good service, as our previous practice had given us the range and elevation of the point at which the enemy's column entered the wood.

Our fire ceased about 8.30 p.m. Tuesday, and at 2 a.m. I moved in company with General Kearny's division to Harrison's Landing, arriving there at about 9 a.m. July 2. My only firing since then has been some 80 or 90 rounds fired at the battery that shelled our camp on the morning of the 3rd July.

Of the general behavior of my officers and men during the foregoing actions I can only say that in every instance where I could observe it I was entirely satisfied. My men were cool and persistent, my officers collected and carefully attentive to the efficient working of their sections. Where all did so well it is somewhat unjust to mention either, and yet I cannot forbear to mention Lieutenant W. A. Arnold, my first officer, for the coolness and determination he showed upon very occasion. I regret greatly the loss of one of the pieces of my battery, the more that I was not present, and am unable to judge from my own knowledge of the circumstances attending its loss; yet the entire confidence that I repose in Lieutenant Jastram and in the non-commissioned officers of his section makes me confident that the loss of the piece was a military necessity. I am the more completely convinced of this when I learn that one of Captain Thompson's pieces [an officer of well-known judgment and bravery] was left, although it was away from the field when Lieutenant Jastram entered, and I feel confident that as Captain Thompson had personal charge of his battery there must have been good and sufficient cause for the loss of both his piece and mine.+

Upon inspection, I find the vents of my Parrott pieces greatly enlarged from rapid and continued firing, so much so as almost to render them unserviceable. The copper vent-piece of the howitzers, although fired as many times, is but little injured.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

GEO. E. RANDOLPH,

Captain, Commanding Battery E, First Rhode Island Artillery.

Captain ALEXANDER MOORE,

Actg. Asst. Adjt. General, Kearny's Division, [Third Corps.]

[Indorsements.]

*Not a single man of my division fell back. This conduct was extraordinary. Lieutenant Jastram lost his piece by not reporting to me, who was in the advanced fire at about that period. The fugitives may have been McCall's. I desire Lieutenant Jastram's conduct to be brought up before official investigation.

P. KEARNY,

Brigadier-General, Division.

+Captain Thompson lost his piece by not reporting that he could not get it off from some accident to his horses. I was in advance of where his battery was. The enemy never occupied the place until the retreat of next morning.

P. KEARNY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Division.

Respectfully forwarded.

At my intimation for them to do so, both Captain Thompson and Lieutenant Jastram have applied for a court of inquiry as to the abandonment