a.m. same day, having gone eight miles, and took position to the south of the town, and received orders to construct works of defense. At 2 p.m. I moved to the right and to the southwest of the town, and took position in line of battle, my right resting near the Mount Pleasant pike, and facing to the south. We there constructed a line of breast-works and sent out skirmishers, who engaged the enemy. We remained in that position until 7 p.m. on the 25th, when we received orders to be ready to move at a moment's notice. About 11 p.m. we moved slowly through the town, and crossed the Duck River; moved up the river half a mile, and rested for the night. Captain Sparks and thirty men were on picket, and did not cross the river until the morning of the 27th. On the 26th one man of Sparks' detail was wounded. On the morning of the 26th we moved in position, and there remained until the 29th. At 7 p.m. on the 29th we were ordered into line, and marched out half a mile on the Franklin pike, and took position behind earth-works to the left of the pike. We remained there half an hour, and then took up the line of march for Franklin. We arrived at Franklin at 5 a.m. on the morning of the 30th, having marched twenty-three miles during the night. Captain Ragle, Company K, and thirty men, brought up the rear of the brigade from Columbia, and arrived at Franklin about 9 a.m., having lost one man, who, from fatigue, was left by the way, and probably fell into the hands of the enemy. On the night of the 29th our wagons were attacked by the enemy, and one of them burned or destroyed, containing regimental baggage. Part of our baggage, which was sent to Pulaski, by instructions from Colonel Henderson, for want of transportation, was destroyed on the 23rd, including part of the regimental and company books and papers.

I am, sir, very respectfully,

DAVID G. BOWERS,

Major, Commanding Fifth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.

Captain C. D. RHODES,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

Numbers 141. Reports of Colonel Israel N. Stiles, Sixty-third Indiana Infantry, commanding Third Brigade, of operations November 30 and December 15-16, 1864.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTY-THIRD INDIANA VOLUNTEERS,
Nashville, Tenn., December 5, 1864.

SIR: In compliance with instructions received from Brigadier-General Cox, I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the operations of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, at Franklin, Tenn., on the 30th of November, the brigade being temporarily under my command on that day, owing to the illness of Colonel Thomas J. Henderson, the brigade commander.

By direction of General Cox I placed the command in position early on the morning of the 30th, on the left of the Second Brigade, and with the left resting on the river and in the following order: One hundred and twentieth Indiana Infantry, Sixty-third Indiana Infantry, One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana Infantry, with the One hundred and twelfth Illinois Infantry a short distance to the rear in reserve. Substantial works were at once thrown up, and such portions of our front as were not already obstructed by a well-grown and almost impenetrable