were by this time well nigh exhausted, and only succeeded in seriously harassing them in their retreat, killing and wounding a number and picking up a considerable number of stragglers. Finding the regiment far advanced without support, I commanded a halt, reformed my line, and afterward joined the brigade, when it advanced. Captain Rowan, with a score of men, was so far in advance that the command to haled did not reach him, and he continued the chase for a mile or more, keeping up a lively skirmish with the retreating enemy. As they fled the rebels endeavored to drive back with them a drove of beef-cattle, some fifty in number. Captain Rowan's squad succeeded in stampeding these, and the enemy was compelled to abandon them. I took n definite account of the number of prisoners captured by the regiemtn, though I know there were hundreds of them. I had no men to spare to guard either them or the battery while there was a fleeing mass of rebels before me, so leaving prisoners and guns to the rear I pressed forward in pursuit of the routed enemy.

In claiming the capture of prisoners and guns for my regiments I wish to acknowledge that there were a number of men from other regiments in the brigade who fought most gallantly side by side with my men. Some were skirmishers and some had pushed forward far in advance of their regiments, but at the time the battery was captured and the prisoners in the works immediately to the right and left of it my regiment was the only organized force there present to make the capture. Every one of my officers without exception behaved most gallantly, and the same is true of the enlisted men. I had in the regiment some eighty new recruits, who had received their arms only two or three days before the battle and had not been drilled an hour, yet they vied with the old soldiers in heroic conduct.

I would make emphatic mention of Sergt. John Vincent, color-sergeant of the regiment, who was the first man of my regiment on the works and the first man at the battery. As the advanced along the parapet, bearing the national colors, the rebel foes dropped their weapons, and once more were compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of the glorious flag which waved in triumph over them. First Lieutenant William Dawson, Captain Charles E. Rowan, Adjt. E. A. Blodgett, and, indeed, all my officers and men, deserve especial praise for their distinguished gallantry during the battle. I append a list of killed and wounded.*

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEORGE HICKS,

Major, Commanding Regiment.

Captain H. F. TEMPLE, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

Numbers 23. Report of Colonel Jesse H. Moore, One hundred and fifteenth Illinois Infantry, of operations December 15-16, 1864.

HEADQUARTERS 115TH ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY,
Rutherford's Creek, Tenn., December 19, 1864.

SIR: In compliance with orders, I have the honor to submitting the following as my report of the part taken by my regiment in the battle before Nashville, Tenn., on the 15th and 16th instant:

On the 15th my regiment moved out from camp with the Second Brigade about daylight and took position in reserve, supporting First and

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*Nominal list (omitted) shows 3 men killed, 9 men wounded, 1 man missing.

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