by their fire, but some of their guns were silenced and taken. About 8 o'clock the whole force of the enemy marched upon our lines. In front of our division they could be seen steadily approaching under a most terrible fire of both artillery and musketry, but which gave them no apparent check. Finally the battery on the right of our division rapidly retired; soon after most of the line fell back, some portions of which could not be rallied, but the greater part returned, and with the reserve aided in securing a complete victory. Among the troops rallying the close the fight the Union Brigade was fully represented. The officers and men of the Union Brigade, with some few exceptions, behaved manfully, and the list of killed and wounded shows that in proportion to the number engaged they suffered as severely as any other regiment in the field.

Casualties of the brigade please find appended.*

On the morning of the 5th of October the Union Brigade, under command of Captain Kittel, of the Fifty-eighth Illinois, acting major, started with the division in pursuit of the rebels as far as Ruckersville, Miss., when the force was ordered back to Corinth, where they arrived on the 13th, after a fatiguing march of eight days.

On the 20th of November the Fifty-eighth Illinois was detached and was no longer a part of the brigade. The command then devolved upon Captain Webb. At this place it remained doing garrison duty.

On the 11th of December I returned to Corinth, having nearly recovered from the wound received there on the 4th of October, and assumed command. On the 17th day of December I received the following order from General Dodge, viz:

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF CORINTH,
No 62.
Corinth, Miss., December 17, 1862.

The formation known as the Union Brigade is hereby dissolved. The Eighth, Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa Infantry will proceed to Iowa to-morrow, the 18th instant, under the charge and command of Lieutenant-Colonel Coulter, and report to Adjt. General N. B. Baker, of Iowa, for reorganization. All men on detached service, except those in the First Missouri Light Artillery, will immediately report to their regiments. All Government property and camp equipage will be turned over to the post quartermaster.

G. M. DODGE,

Brigadier-General.

L. H. EVERTS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

GEO. M. REEDER,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

On the morning of the 18th, agreeably to the above order, the Eighth, Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa Regiments embarked on the railroad train for Columbus and Iowa, with the pleasing prospect before them of soon reaching their place of destination, with the hope of grasping friendly hands and enjoying for a brief space of time the endearments of kindred and loved ones at home. But was had not yet "smoothed his wrinkled front," nor were these fond anticipations to be immediately realized, for on reaching Jackson, about noon of that day, it was reported that the rebel Forrest, with a large force cavalry and several pieces of artillery, were in that an attack might be hourly expected. Colonel Lawler, the commander of the post, ordered my command to disembark, to aid in repelling the enemy. The order was of course obeyed, although many doubted the authority. I felt it clearly my duty, and it was soon acquiesced in by

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*Embodied in revised statement, p. 175.

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