to follow, by the way of Stevenson, Winchester, &c., and a brigade of the First Division was left as an escort to convoy them. At midday on the 31st of October, at Athens, instructions were received from the commanding general to move to Pulaski immediately. The Third Division being the only portion of the crops which had arriver at Athens, marched that afternoon ten miles, involving the passage of Elk River, reached Pulaski. Ont he following morning preparations were commenced for putting the town in defensible condition. General Hatch's cavalry, which had arrived there the preceding day, was dispatched to the Tennessee River, int he neighborhood of Florence, to co-operate with General Croxton's command, already in that region, in gaining intelligence of the movements of the enemy, and to retard his march should he cross the Tennessee River and attempt to move northward.

By Saturday, the 5th of November, the three divisions of the corps, less the brigade escorting the artillery and trains, were concentrated at Pulaski. On the following morning an elaborate system of field-works was laid out, a certain portion assigned to each division, and ground was immediately broken int heir construction. The labor was vigorously continued, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, till the works were completed, and when completed the works were impregnable; the Fourth Corps could have easily held them against the entire rebel army commanded by General Hood. The trains and artillery of the corps reached Pulaski on Saturday, the 12th. Ont he following day the several batteries were assigned their positions in the various works. The information received from the cavalry corroborated the information which had been previously obtained, that the enemy was in force on the Tennessee River and was preparing to advance. The vital questions were, what route would he take, and where would the blow fall. Ont he 13th of November Major-General Schofield arrived at Pulaski, and ont he 14th assumed command of all the forces. He brought with him a portion of the Twenty-third Corps. The information received front he 14th to the 22nd attested that the enemy had not only crossed the river in heavy force, but was moving northward. On the 22nd it was satisfactorily settled that he was moving northward through Lawrenceburg, and would thence probably move on Columbia; possibly, however, he might turn eastward from Lawrenceburg toward Pulaski. The Second Division of the corps was sent to Lynnville, ten miles north of Pulaski, the afternoon of the 22nd. During the forenoon of the 23rd it was ascertained satisfactorily that the bulk of the enemy's force was moving northward from Lawrenceburg. Hence the remaining two divisions of the corps, the First and Third, with the artillery and trains, moved to Lynnville during the afternoon of that day. Information received during the night at Lynnville indicated that the enemy was advancing rapidly on Columbia, and would probably reach that place on the 24th. This would have place him between us and Nashville.

The head of the corps moved at 1 a. m. of the 24rh, and by 3 a. m. the whole corps was in motion. By a rapid march the two leading divisions of the corps, the Second and Third, were concentrated at Columbia and in position by 12 m., having marched a distance of twenty miles. They had been preceded by Cox's division, of the Twenty-third Corps, which had barely arrived in time, by turning westward some two or three miles south of Columbia, and taking position on the Mount Pleasant road, to prevent the head of the enemy's column from occupying Columbia in advance of our forces. When the corps evacuated Pulaski on