tage he had gained. After a long and fruitless march he retreated, having suffered heavier loss than he inflicted.

I was in Tennessee when Brigadier-General Echols informed me of the movement of the enemy through Pocahontas, and I reached Dublin on the 6th ultimo, about the hour the firing commenced at Droop Mountain. I met Brigadier-General Echols' command on Salt Pond Mountain. It was promptly supplied with the necessary arms and clothing, and in four days moved back and re-occupied the points it had occupied before the engagement of the 6th ultimo.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

SAM. JONES,

Major-General, Commanding Department.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General, C. S. Army, Richmond.

Numbers 13. Report of Brigadier General John Echols, C. S. Army, commanding First Brigade, Army of Southwestern Virginia.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE, ARMY OF SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA,
Lewisburg, November 19, 1863.

MAJOR: I have the honor to make the following report of the battle of Droop Mountain, fought on the 6th instant in Pocahontas County, between the troops under my command and those under the command of Brigadier-General Averell, of the Federal Army. The report would have been forwarded sooner but for the necessary delay in receiving the reports of some of the commanding officers who participated in the action:

On the morning of the 4th instant, I received a dispatch from Colonel William L. Jackson, who then had his headquarters at Mill Point, in Pocahontas County, that the enemy, to the number of 1,000, had made their appearance on the evening before at Green Bank, in said county, and on the morning of the 5th instant another dispatch was received from his conveying the information that, on the evening of the 4th, 2,000 of the enemy had advanced to a point within 3 miles of Mill Point, and that if they continued to advance he proposed to give them battle, and suggesting to me to re-enforce him if I could do so, saying that if he could not hold them in check he would fall back toward me. I immediately dispatched him that I would move my brigade to his support.

Accordingly, at 9 a. m. on the 5th instant, this brigade, consisting of the Twenty-second Regiment and Twenty-third and Twenty-sixth Battalions of Virginia Volunteers, and Chapman's battery of four guns, and Jackson's battery of two guns, the latter temporarily detached from Jenkin's cavalry brigade, was put in motion from this place, and was marched during the day 14 miles in the direction of Colonel Jackson. A portion of Jenkin's brigade, the Fourteenth an Sixteenth Regiments of Virginia Cavalry, was also near this place, under the command of Colonel M. J. Ferguson. A portion of the Fourteenth Regiment was directed to move forward by Colonel Ferguson to the support of Colonel Jackson, the Sixteenth Regiment and the