the charge on the 15th. Long with the command, he has endeared himself to every member of it; brave and courteous, the service has lost a gallant officer and society a gentleman by his untimely death.

The officers of my staff, each and all, deserve special credit for their personal services, both on the field and in their respective departments. They rendered invaluable aid on the field by their activity and discrimination and their acute perception of the weak points and the proper time and moment for executing the different movements with which they were charged.

In the supply department everything moved with a prompt energy and reliability that gave an additional impulse forward to each officer and man.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. J. SMITH,

Major-General.

Brigadier General W. D. WHIPPLE,

Chief of Staff, Department of the Cumberland.

Numbers 144. Report of Brigadier General John McArthur, U. S. Army, commanding First Division, of operations December 15-16, 1864.

HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, DETACH. ARMY OF THE TENN.,
Near Pulaski, Tenn., December 28, 1864.

MAJOR: I have the honor to forward the following report of the part taken by my division during the battles of the 15th and 16th instant in front of Nashville, Tenn.:

Pursuant to orders from the major-general commanding, I moved on the morning of the 15th, at 7 a.m., the First Brigade, Colonel W. L. McMillen commanding, consisting of the Seventy-second and Ninety-fifth Ohio, One hundred and fourteenth Illinois, Ninety-third Indiana, and Tenth Minnesota Infantry Regiments, and Cogswell's Independent Illinois Battery; also the Second Brigade, Colonel L. F. Hubbard commanding, composed of the Eleventh Missouri, Eighth Wisconsin, Fifth and Ninth Infantry, and Second Iowa Battery, out from the entrenchments around Nashville on the Charlotte road; also the Third Brigade, Colonel S. G. Hill commanding, consisting of the Twelfth and Thirty-fifth Iowa, Thirty-third Missouri, and Seventh Minnesota Regiments, and Company I, Second Missouri Artillery, out on the Hardin road; the Third with orders to take position on the right of the Second Division, and the First and Second to swing to the left, and connecting with the Third, so as to complete the line. The two brigades on the Charlotte road waited two hours for the cavalry to take the advance, according to the instructions received the evening previous; but no move taking place on their part, and being informed that the line was awaiting my arrival, I passed through the cavalry line, deploying to the left of the road, right resting on same, until they reached Richland Creek, two miles and a half, encountering the enemy's battery and skirmishers, which were silenced by Cogswell's battery, giving the cavalry an opportunity of advancing. Finding that they were too far advanced, and not connecting with the main line, I moved them by the left flank obliquely to the rear, connecting with the Third Brigade,