with the harness, the horses having been killed. The Rifles behaved finely. Lieutenant-Colonel Kane very slightly wounded, but still in the field. I have collected the dead and wounded, and am about to move back to camp.

GEO. A. McCALL,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

General McCLELLAN.

HEADQUARTERS McCALL'S DIVISION, Camp Peirpoint, December 22, 1861.

GENERAL: I have the honor to present for the information of the General-in-Chief a more detailed account of the affair at Dranesville on the 20th instant, together with the reports of Brigadier General E. O. C. Ord, commanding Third Brigade of my division, and the commanders of the Sixth Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel W. M. Penrose; of the Ninth Infantry, Colonel C. F. Jackson; of the Tenth Infantry, Colonel J. S. McCalmont; of the Twelfth Infantry, Colonel J. H. Taggart; of the First Rifles, Lieutenant Colonel T. L. Kane; of two squadrons of the First Cavalry, Lieutenant Colonel J. Higgins; and Easton's battery, Captain H. Easton, Pennsylvania Reserves.

On the evening of the 19th, having learned that the enemy's pickets had advanced to within 4 or 5 miles of our lines and carried off two good Union men and plundered and threatened others and that their reserve was in the neighborhood of Dranesville, I gave written instructions to Brigadier-General Ord to move with his brigade at 6 a.m. on the 20th to surround and capture this party, and at the same time to collect a supply of forage from the farms of some of the rank secessionists in that vicinity.

Brigadier General J. F. Reynolds, with the First Brigade, was directed to move on to Difficult Creek, to be ready to support Ord in the event of his meeting a force stronger than his own.

At 10.30 a.m. on the 20th I received a dispatch from General Ord, written on the march, informing me that the guide had learned on the way that there was a full brigade, but without artillery, at Herndon's Station, 500 infantry and cavalry at Hunter's Mill, and 200 infantry between Dranesville and the Potomac. I immediately mounted my horse, and with my staff and an escort of cavalry moved rapidly forward to overtake, if possible, Ord's brigade. I stopped for a few moments with Brigadier-General Reynolds at Difficult Creek, and having directed him to be in readiness to move forward rapidly in case he should be required to support Ord, I rode on. When within about 2 miles of Dranesville I heard the first gun fired by the enemy. It was soon answered by Easton's battery, which imparted to me the fact that the enemy had artillery with them.

A rapid ride soon brought me to the field, where Ord was hotly engaged. I found Easton's battery judiciously placed, and in full blast upon the enemy's battery, about 500 yards in front, on the Centreville road. Here I stopped to observe the practice of our battery, while one of my staff rode off to ascertain where General Ord was. While here, admiring the beautiful accuracy of the shot and shell thrown by this battery upon the battery of the enemy, a force of infantry and cavalry made their appearance from cover on the enemy's right, moving in a direction to turn our left. Colonel McCalmont, whose regiment was on the left, was notified of this movement, but a few shell from our battery skillfully thrown into their midst checked their advance and drove them back ignominiously to cover.