Missing: Commissioned officers, 1; enlisted men, 204.

Taken out of action: Commissioned officers, 5; enlisted men, 62.

I have great pleasure in stating that both officers and men of the battalion behaved with the utmost gallantry. I take the greatest pleasure in mentioning my adjutant, First Lieutenant H. H. Clark, who rendered most efficient service, but was most unfortunately seriously wounded.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. A. CROFTON,

Captain Sixteenth Infantry, Commanding.

Captain JAMES W. FORSYTH,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Third Brigade.

Numbers 30.

Report of Captain George W. Smith, Eighteenth U. S. Infantry.

HDQRS. DETACHMENT EIGHTEENTH U. S. INFANTRY, Bivouac at Chattanooga, September 24, 1863.

SIR: In compliance with your order of this date, I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by my command in the battles of the 19th and 20th instant:

My command consisted of the First and Second Battalions, Eighteenth U. S. Infantry, the Second under the immediate command of Captain Henry Haymond, who will report concerning it. The First Battalion was composed of eight companies, B, D, E, F, G, and H, First Battalion, and companies H and G, Third Battalion, with a total of 287 men and 12 commissioned officers. My battalion advanced at half past 10 a. m. in the first line on the right of the Third Brigade, First Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, under fire, and after driving the enemy nearly 2 miles, changed direction of its front by the right flank and by file right.

Believing myself supported on the left, I moved rapidly forward, firing briskly, and found myself in dense woods and hilly ground, detached from the brigade. Assailed by a vastly superior force in front and on the left flank, and suffering severely, I ordered the command to retire, and did so, firing steadily. I soon rejoined the brigade and bivouacked in front of its headquarters. On the morning of the 20th the line was formed at daybreak; the First Battalion in front of the brigade, the Second Battalion forming in its rear,

and being the second line. After heavy skirmishing I discovered the enemy massing in dense columns on my left flank, and ordered the Second Battalion to support my left. This (with the sanction of General King, commanding brigade) was done at once, under fire, my battalions opening their fire at twenty minutes before 9 a. m. The command obstinately held its ground under a fire from the right oblique, the front, and finally-a brigade of volunteers giving way on my left-a galling enfilade from the left flank, causing a frightful mortality in men and officers, under which I ordered my battalions to retire to the second line. This was done, and upon being ordered to halt, the command faced about, formed on its color, and sustained itself against the advance of the enemy. About 1 p. m. I charged the enemy's line, advancing about 600 yards, and upon returning the