May 1, at about 10 a. m., I received orders from the division commander to draw in my pickets and move my command forward on the road toward Fredericksburg. I at once moved to the front with the brigade, and took a position in the woods on the left of the road, about three-fourths of a mile in advance of Chancellorsville. I formed my command in line of battle, with the Fifth Connecticut Volunteers on the right, the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers in the center, and the Twenty-eighth New York Volunteers on the left, while the One hundred and twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers was formed in column on the center as a reserve, and reported for further orders. I then received orders to advance through an open field toward a woods occupied by the enemy. I at once ordered Companies B and K, of the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, to the front, deployed as skirmishers, under the command of Captain Caldwell, of the latter company, and in this order moved rapidly forward. My skirmishers soon became engaged with those of the enemy, who gradually fell back as my line advanced. I soon reached the position I was ordered to occupy, when the enemy opened on me with artillery and musketry. I at once ordered my line to lie down.

After occupying this position for about half an hour-having previously strengthened my skirmishers by sending four companies of the Twenty-eighth New York Volunteers to relieve the two from the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and after sending as aide-de-camp to General Slocum, commanding the corps, for permission to take a battery of the enemy's not more that 500 yards in my front, which annoyed me considerably by its shells-I received an order to fall back to my former position, and support Captain Knap's battery in a retrograde movement to our camp of the night previous. I at once commenced my movement by facing by the rear, and moved back in perfect order. I lost no men in this movements, although the enemy kept up a continuous fire of artillery and musketry. I had, however, previous to falling back, lost 1 man killed and 6 wounded in the Twenty-eighth New York Volunteers while engaged with the enemy's skirmishers and by explosion of his shells.

I reached my position of the night previous about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and at once put my command at work strengthening our position by building strong barricades along the whole line. At the same time, five companies of the One hundred and twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers were thrown to the front as pickets. I also instructed my command to keep constantly on the alert for any attack that might be made by the enemy.

Some changes in the disposition of troops to my immediate front and right took place during the night. General Birney, with his division, arrived on the field about 9 o'clock in the evening, and, as I had become familiar with our position, I tendered my services to him in conducting him to a point where a battery could be advantageously place. This was done, after which I called in my pickets and sent them into the woods to the right and front of this battery, with instructions to keep a sharp lookout, to prevent the enemy from surprising it. These men were relieved on the morning of May 2 by General Birney.

The brigade remained in position behind the barricades until some time in the afternoon of Saturday, May 2, when I received an order to move out into the open field a little to the left of the position occupied the previous night by the battery above mentioned. I formed my command in three lines-the Fifth Connecticut Volunteers in the front; the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers in the second line, and the One