The operator at Moscow also says that the operator at La Fayette informed him that the enemy were coming this way, and that he learned the facts from scouts. All quiet here, but for several hours we have heard heavy artillery firing to the southwest. I will keep a sharp lookout here.

Respectfully, &c.,

BEN. J. SPOONER,

Colonel, Commanding Post.

While I was reading the above, Captain B. P. Chenowith, assistant inspector-general, Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, arrived from La Grange, bringing a duplicate of the same. I immediately made another effort to communicate with Colonels Hatch and Phillips, after which I fell back to Worsham's plantation, a little south of Parham's, where another road leads to Mount Pleasant, a position that enabled me to fall on the enemy's rear in case he attacked La Fayette, as Colonel Spooner's dispatch indicated, or to move west or southwest in the event of his retreating.

On my arrival at Worsham's I sent the following dispatch to General E. A. Carr:

HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, In the Field, 7 Miles South of La Grange, on Holly Springs Road, October 11, 1863-11 p. m.

E. A. CARR,
Brigadier General, Comdg. Left Wing, 16th Army Corps, La Grange, Tenn.:

GENERAL: I move on the Holly Springs road directly to Hudsonville, starting at 4 o'clock to-morrow morning. Will make a forced march to that point. I have fallen back to this place, fearing the enemy might attack La Grange. Everything possible will be done to bring the enemy to an engagement, and, if possible, recapture General Sherman. Have heard nothing from Colonel Hatch since 11 o'clock this morning. Colonel Phillips will co-operate with me in the morning from Coldwater.

Very respectfully,

T. W. SWEENY,

Brigadier-General.

I, of course, expected to hear from Colonel Hatch which way the enemy was moving. The party I last sent out to communicate with Colonel H [atch] returned, stating that they had been fired upon by a picket guard near Hudsonville and driven back.

Next morning I started for Hudsonville, where I arrived about 2 a. m. Hatch's troops had left about an hour before, going in the direction of Mount Pleasant.

While en route to Hudsonville I received a communication from Colonel Phillips, stating that he had possession of the fords and had destroyed all the bridges on the Coldwater, and had two strong reconnoitering parties north of that stream; that he had had no collision with the enemy up to that time. Monday, 12th, but that as soon as he could learn of his whereabouts he would inform me. This was the last I heard of Colonels Hatch and Phillips until the morning of the 14th. In the meantime I made several attempts with the few mounted men I had to communicate with the cavalry, but the parties being small were driven back, with the exception of one, which I sent by the way of Lamar and Mount Pleasant, and I remained entirely ignorant of the fate of that until I joined Colonel Hatch's command on the evening of the 15th.

On the morning of the 13th, I sent Colonel Rice with three regi-

47 R R-VOL XXX, PT II