No. 260. Report of Brigadier General Edward Harland, U. S. Army, commanding First Brigade, of operations March 2 - 10.

HDQRS. FIRST Brigadier, FIRST DIV., DIST. OF BEAUFORT, Near Kinston, N. C., March 14, 1865.

CAPTAIN: I herewith submit the following report of the operations of this command from the time of leaving New Berne to the battle of Kinston, inclusive:

On the 2nd instant I received General Orders, No. 1, from headquarters First Division, District of Beaufort, placing me in command of the brigade, and at the same time a communication from the same headquarters, directing me to get my brigade under arms and on the was as soon as possible, all concentrating at Core Creek railroad crossing. The troops were ordered to be supplied with three days' rations and seventy rounds of ammunition. It will be observed that the troops comprising my command consisted of the Ninth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, the Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, the Eighty-fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, the Twenty-third Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and Battery C, Third New York Artillery. The battery was a six-gun battery, armed with 3-inch rifled pieces, known as the ordnance gun. Of these troops the Second Massachusetts, the Twenty-third Massachusetts, and Battery C, Third New York Artillery, were under my command previous to the present organization. The Ninth New Jersey was at Carolina City, and the Eighty-fifth New York at Roanoke Island, both outside of my command, but ordered to report to me, as I was informed, as soon as possible. Colonel Stewart, commanding the Ninth New Jersey, reported to me on the 5th instant, at Core Creek railroad crossing. The Eighty-fifth New York has never reported. On the 3rd instant I left New Berne with my command, but owing to the heavy condition of the roads did not reach Core Creek until the night of the 4th. On the 5th instant the brigade went into camp near the railroad crossing, where Colonel Stewart, commanding the Ninth New Jersey, reported with his regiment for duty. The brigade then consisted of the Ninth New Jersey Volunteers, Colonel J. Stewart commanding, 516 strong; the Second Massachusetts, Lieutenant Colonel A. B. R. Sprague commanding, 499 strong; the Twenty-third Massachusetts, Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Raymond commanding, 392 strong; and Battery C, Third New York Artillery, Captain W. E. Mercer commanding, 131 strong; in all 1,407 effective men, exclusive of the battery.

On the morning of the 6th the command marched up the railroad to Gun Swamp, where they bivouacked that night. Tuesday morning, the 7th instant, I received orders from General Palmer, commanding First Division, to move my brigade up the railroad to the intersection of the railroad and the Trent road, thence down the Trent road to the junction of the Trent and Neuse roads, and from there up the Neuse road to the crossing of Southwest Creek, and if found no signs of the enemy to inform him at once. I was directed, however, not to leave the railroad and go down the Trent road until Colonel Boughton, commanding Second [Third] Brigade, who followed immediately in my rear, was established at the crossing of the railroad and Southwest Creek. In pursuance of the above orders I moved up the railroad with the Ninth New Jersey, Colonel Stewart commanding, in the advance. The advance guard encountered the pickets of the enemy near the British road. Our skirmishers pressed on vigorously, and by