without it, he replied that he had been unable to get the order, but expected to get it that evening, and if he did get it he would forward it me by courier, so that I might start the next morning and not be delayed, but that if I did not get it in time, to go whether I got it or not and press horses or anything else I night need in pursuing and driving the guerrillas out of the country. I, by short marches, got down into the country where the guerrillas were concentrated, and after three or four skirmishers started them to running, and in the pursuit nearly every horse I had started out with gave out, and, according to orders, I pressed horses wherever I could find them, and in this way one detachment of my command succeeded in getting up with a detachment of the guerrillas, numbering some 300, and giving them a good thrashing, killing their colonel, Hollis, and scattering, them completely. I never received the order I had asked of Colonel Maxwell. When we were ordered to this part of Kentucky, Colonel Maxwell being ill, I dispatched General Ewing, commanding Second DIVISION, District of Kentucky, asking what I should do with the horses I had pressed. He ordered me to take with me all the horses pressed from rebels. As there were but few Union men in the section of country where I had pressed the horses who had any horses left, and as it was impossible for me at the time to know every man from whom horses had been taken, I did the best I could under the circumstances, returned the few horses the command had pressed of known Union men, retaining only those as I though taken from rebels. Since I have arrived here I have received two letters from Union men, whom I know, stating that their horses had been taken, and requesting me to investigate the matter and if possible, let them have their horses back again, or make some arrangement by which they should not lose the value of them. Upon investigation I find that the horse of one of these men was run down and left and anotherorse is still here. I would respectfully suggest, that as there may be a few other horses taken from Union men that were not returned, my regimental quartermaster may be authorized to give vouchers to those undoubtedly loyal, at a fair valuation for their horses. It would be expensive and trouble-some to return them, and the Government needs them. A deduction might be made at a fair valuation for the horses left in their places, when such are alive or worth anything at all. I beg that some arrangement may be made that will save me from unnecessary trouble and annoyance. I learn that the Twenty-sixth Kentucky, and also the Forty-eighth and FIFTY-second Kentucky Regiments, are being mounted and remounted in the way I suggested and requested, but the order for which I never received. I would respectfully request that my regiment be included.

Very respectfully,

E. A. STARLING,

Colonel, Thirty-fifth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, Commanding

[First indorsement.]

HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, DISTRICT OF Kentucky,
Lexington., Ky., August 16, 1864.

Respectfully forwarded for instructions.

Union men should undoubtedly be paid for their horses taken for Government use.

N. C. McLEAN,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.