cretion about withdrawing the troops, and, in fact, they could not have been withdrawn with safety after the enemy had gained their immediate front.

This is the first disaster that has befallen this division since I have had the honor to command it, and I hope I may therefore be pardoned for referring to the history of the past camping, in which the division captured twenty-seven pieces of artillery and prisoners amounting to more than double the amount of its entire loss on this latter occasion. Three of the guns of the Louisiana Guard Battery captured on the 7th, had been previously taken from the enemy by Hays' brigade by actual assault, and the other was brought off from Sharpsburg by the men of the battery, after the enemy had been compelled to abandon it, by one of the brigades of this division, it being the only piece of artillery captured by our troops at that battle.

Accompanying this report are the reports of Brigadier-General Hays and Lieutenant-Colonel Tate, with a statement from Captain Carrington, commanding Jones' artillery battalion.

Respectfully,

J. A. EARLY,

Major-General, Commanding Division.

Lieutenant Colonel A. S. PENDLETON,

Asst. Adjt. General, Second Corps, Army of the Northern Virginia.

[Indorsement.]

HDQRS. SECOND CORPS, ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
November 13, 1863.

Respectfully forwarded.

Brilliant as have been the services of this division and its gallant commander during the past campaign, it is but justice to the other troops engaged to say that the capture of the artillery at Winchester, to which I suppose General Early refers, was due in great part to the presence and handsome conduct of Major-General Johnson and his brave division.

R. S. EWELL,

Lieutenant-General.

Numbers 45. Report of Brigadier General Harry T. Hays, C. S. Army, commanding brigade, of engagement at Rappahannock Station.

HEADQUARTERS HAYS' BRIGADE,
November 10, 1863.

MAJOR: In pursuance of orders from division headquarters my brigade, under command of Colonel D. B. Penn, Seventh Louisiana Regiment (I myself being engaged in conducting a court of inquiry in the case of Colonel Skinner, Fifty-second Virginia Regiment), left camp at sunrise November 6, instant, and proceeded to the Rappahannock River near the point where the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Bridge formerly spanned that stream. Arrived