All of the troops, so far as I am informed, acquitted themselves well, but I feel it is but to those who took the most prominent part in the execution of those plans that they should receive the greater share of that honor which is the dearest reward of the soldier. I repeat, therefore, that when the Cheeseman was captured there were six guns playing upon her, of which two (of Morton's battery) belonged to Colonel Bell's command, and four (two of Rice's and two of Hudson's battery) belonged to my command. They were placed on the bank of the river, Rice's being the upper, Hudson's the center, and Morton's the lower battery, and the boat was disabled before she had passed the center battery by one of the first shots fired at her.

The gun-boat Undine and the transport Venus were captured after Colonel Bell had withdrawn his brigade, including his artillery, and when there were no troops present excepting those belonging to this DIVISION. The troops immediately engaged in the capture were the Fifteenth Regiment and the Twenty-sixth Battalion Tennessee Cavalry and one section of Hudson's battery. It has been said, however, that these boats were badly crippled by Colonel Bell as they passed his position in the morning and before any part of this DIVISION had arrived, but in reply to this I would respectfully say that the Venus was not materially injured when she was captured, as is shown by the fact that she was used immediately afterward to tow the gun-boat to the landing. The shot which struck her injured her cabin and upper works, but had not damaged either her machinery or her hull. Colonel Bell stated to me that, in obedience to orders, he did not fire at either of the boats until they had passed his position. This exposed their sterns and larboard sides to his fire, but the shot which disabled the Undine struck her in front and on the starboard side, and could not have come from Colonel Bell's battery. In addition to this, the boat was manageable, and maintained a sharp fight for some time after Colonel Bell had withdrawn his brigade. In view of these circumstances I think it evident that the greater share of the honor of capturing these boats belongs tot hose troops to whom they were actually surrendered.

Our loss in this affair was 1 man of Rucker's brigade severely wounded; that of the enemy, so far as we have been able to ascertain it, was 5 killed and 6 wounded on the Venus; 3 killed and 4 wounded on the Undine, and 1 wounded on the Cheeseman; total, 8 killed and 11 wounded. We also captured 43 prisoners, among whom was 1 officer and 10 men of the U. S. Infantry. The others belonged to the different boats.

On the morning of November 1 moved my command up the river as far as Danville, where we encamped, placing our guns in position on the river-bank so as to protect our boats (the Undine and Venus), which had been ordered to move up the river, keeping in rear of our batteries.

On the following morning I moved toward Reynoldsburg, in accordance with previous instructions, but was afterward orders, by the major- general commanding, to halt near Davidson's Ferry, and to place my guns in position at that place, which was done. Our boats having ventured too far beyond the protection of our batteries, were attacked by two of the enemy's gun-boats, and the Venus was recaptured by them.

On the 3rd instant we moved up the river opposite to Reynoldsburg and Johnsonville, and had frequent skirmishes during the day with the enemy's gun-boats, of which there were three at the latter place, but without any decisive results. Here we were joined by Colonel Mabry's brigade of cavalry and Thrall's battery of 12- pounder howitzers, attached