My loss is 6 men drowned, 1 officer and 4 men wounded, and 4 officers and 90 men missing. We captured about 200 prisoners, but have retained but 4 officers and 80 men, on account of their inability to walk. We took also about 150 horses. My men and horses have subsisted entirely upon a very poor country, and the officers and men have suffered cold, hunger, and fatigue with remarkable fortitude.

My command has marched, climbed, slid, and swum 355 mils since the 8th instant.

WM. W. AVERELL,

Brigadier-General.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

BEVERLY, VA., December 26, 1863.

(Received 7.40 p. m.)

SIR: My command has arrived at this place after a march of 400 miles across these rugged mountains. It was a hard struggle to reach the supplies which were sent to meet us. We had been without rations eight days in a wild, desolate region which furnished barely enough to prevent starvation. With frozen feet forced marches were made in frost and snow and through swollen streams, by my noble soldiers, without a murmur. For three days my guns were dragged, almost entirely by the men, over roads so slippery that horses cold gain no foothold, and some limbs were broken and men otherwise injured by their falling. The forces from the Kanawha and Shenandoah, which co-operated as I had requested, remained only long enough to assist in passing through the enemy's lines southward, when they withdrew, and the enemy was left at liberty to concentrate against my return.

The rebel General Early, who had left Hanover Junction on the 15th, reached Millborough on the 17th, and formally demanded my surrender on the 20th, stating that I was completely surrounded, and any attempt to escape would be useless, and that he desired to avoid further effusion of blood. No formal reply was returned to him. The division of Fitzhugh Lee, which left Charlottesville on the 14th, first appearing against our forces in the valley. These were posted at Buchanan and Fincastle. Not less than 12,000 men were maneuvered to effect my capture, but when they through it most certain, it was found Early was late.

We were received kindly and politely by the people everywhere, and Union sentiments are quietly entertained by many in the country through which we passed.

The clothing of my men has been ruined in this expedition by being torn, burned, wet, and frozen, and I request that the Quartermaster's Department be directed to make them a New Year's gift of a new suit throughout.

WM. W. AVERELL,

Brigadier-General.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.