Stiles promptly moved forward the Sixty-third Indiana and the One hundred and twelfth Illinois, of his brigade, to support the right of those advanced regiments, and the enemy finding it impossible to clear the wood by his fire from the south bank, so as to enable his detachment to reform, withdrew them, and made no further effort to cross whilst we remained in the position.

Owing to the advantage taken of every natural and artificial means of shelter for the men, the casualties in the division did not reach 100, although the command was during the whole day under severe concentric fire from all parts of the enemy's line, which was semicircular and exterior to ours. For details of the casualties reference is made to the lists forwarded herewith. From reports of prisoners I am satisfied the enemy's loss was very much greater than our own.

One of the brass guns of Wilber's battery was struck by a solid shot near the thrunnion and disabled. No other accident occurred to the artillery.

At dark I received orders to move the division to Spring Hill, leaving the skirmish line with proper supports out until midnight, when it should follow the command. The Twelfth and Sixteenth Kentucky regiments were accordingly left as they were, supporting the skirmishers. Major Dow, assistant inspector-general on my staff, together with the brigade inspectors, being also left to direct the rallying and bringing off of the detachments, and the remainder of the command marched at 7 o'clock for Spring Hill, passing the First and Third Divisions of the Fourth Corps on the road. At Spring Hill I received orders to proceed in advance of the army to Franklin without delay, and marched forward, reaching Franklin an hour before dawn on the 30th, having marched over twenty miles since 7 o'clock of the evening preceding.

I have omitted to mention that one regiment of Casement's brigade, One hundred and twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteers, was, on the 28th, detached as an outpost at Rutherford's Creek, on the Franklin pike, and on the 29th was doing picket duty on roads coming into that pike between the creek and Spring Hill. One company, by order of the major-general commanding, reported to Brigadier-General Ruger, commanding Second Division, Twenty-third Corps, for similar duty. The remainder of the regiment reported to the brigade again as we marched to Spring Hill, but the one company has not since been heard from, and is supposed to have been captured from some misunderstanding as to relieving it.

The pickets left at Duck River remained till midnight and were then safely withdrawn, except Lieutenant Sherbondy and ten men of the One hundred and twelfth Illinois Volunteers, who are missing and are supposed to have lost their way in the wood on the extreme right, where they were posted.

The march from Duck River to Franklin was made in the most perfect order; the men, knowing they were moving near the enemy's positions, kept well closed up, and I cannot learn that any were lost by straggling or falling out on the road. The roll-calls at Franklin next morning showed the whole command accounted for, except those referred to above.

Besides expressing my high sense of the services performed by the commandants of brigades during the very trying day and night of the 29th, I beg leave to make special mention of Captain Giles J. Cockerill, Battery D, First Ohio Light Artillery, my chief of artillery, and of Major Tris. T. Dow, One hundred and twelfth Illinois Volunteers, acting assistant inspector-general of the division-the former for his brilliant handling of the batteries of the command during the day and the latter for his