Numbers 72. Report of Colonel John F. Staunton, Sixty- seventh Pennsylvania Infantry.

NEAR BRANDY STATION, VA. M,

December 3, 1863.

LIEUTENANT: I have the honor make the following report, in compliance with circular dated headquarters Third Brigade, Third Division, Third Army Corps, December 3, 1863, of the part taken by my command in the recent movements and operations of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Third Army Corps:

About 8 a. m. on the 26th day of November, 1863, the regiment took up the line of march, left in front, in the column of the brigade from Brandy Station, Va., and arrived at Jacobs' Mills Ford, on the Rapidan River, between the hours of 2 and 3 p. m. of the same day. The crossing of troops in advance of the regiment occasioned a delay at this point of two or three hours. The regiment crossed the river about 5 p. m., and, after marching a distance of 2 or 3 miles, returned to within a mile of the river, where it bivouacked for the night. The next morning, November 27, shortly after daybreak, the march was resumed, and about 2 p. m. the regiment reached the vicinity of the place where the engagement of the 27th ultimo occurred. After a halt of an hour or so, it again advanced, and, making a slight detour, came upon the right flank of the enemy while the engagement just mentioned was still in progress.

The regiment at this juncture was in line of battle on low, marshy ground, through which flowed a small stream. A short distance in front was a steep elevation, and in the rear a piece of woodland covered with dense undergrowth. Receiving orders to fall back to a position in the woods above referred to, the regiment moved back in as good order as the character of the ground would permit to the position designated, and a few minutes later, the action having terminated with the close of the day, the men rested upon their arms for the night.

In this action the regiment lost in killed and wounded 3 enlisted men, viz, Sergt. Hezekiah Slaughenhaupt, Company F, killed, and Corpl. Charles Evans, Company E, and Private Frederick James, Company C, wounded. At daybreak the following morning, November 28, the regiment was again in motion, and after a long and fatiguing march halted in front of the enemy's lines in Mine Run Valley about 10 p. m. On the 29th ultimo, about 1 p. m., the regiment was ordered to take its place in line of battle on the left of the brigade, for the purpose of assaulting the works of the enemy, in which position it remained until dark, when it proceeded to relieve the One hundred and twenty- second Ohio Volunteers, then on picket duty in front of the Third Division, Third Army Corps. It was relieved from picket duty the following morning about daylight by the regiment,- Volunteers, and, the brigade having moved during the night, marched some 3 or 4 miles toward the left of the Federal lines, to a point on the plank road, where it arrived a little after 9 a. m.

When the regiment reached the point just mentioned, it was temporarily attached to the First Brigade, Third Division, Third Army Corps, which, massed in double column, was lying on the left of the plank road, and took its place on the left of that brigade. Between