Regiment Indiana Volunteers, Sixth Indiana (dismounted) Cavalry; Fourteenth Sixteenth, and Forty-fourth U. S. Colored Troops; detachments of the Fourteenth, Twentieth, and Seventeenth Army Corps, organized into a provisional division and commanded by Brigadier General Charles Cruft; and the Eighteenth Ohio and Twentieth Indiana Batteries; amounting in the aggregate to about 5,200 men-moved from Chattanooga, by railroad, on the 29th day of November, and proceeded to Cowan, Tenn., where I took my command from the cars the next morning at 8 o'clock and placed it in position. At 6 p.m. of the same day I received an order, by telegraph, from the major-general commanding to proceed as rapidly as possible, with my command and report to him at Nashville, arriving at that place at 5 p.m. on the 1st day of December. By an accident to one of the trains the command of Colonel Johnson, of the Forty-fourth U. S. Colored Troops, was detained until the morning of the 2nd of December, when the train conveying his troops was attacked by the cavalry of the enemy five miles south of Nashville. I herewith submit Colonel Johnson's report of his encounter with the enemy.

On the 2nd day of December I moved my command, by order of the major-general commanding, into position, and occupied and fortified the ridge between the Murfreesborough and Nolensville pikes, and crossing the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad on Rains' farm.

December 3, by order of Major-General Thomas, I withdrew my command from the position occupied the day previous and placed it on a line indicated near the city of Nashville, on the north side of Brown's Creek, extending from the Nolensville pike across the Murfreesborough pike, the left resting near the house of Major Lewis, a short distance from the Lebanon pike. This position was strongly fortified by my troops, and held until they were withdrawn to participate in the action on the 15th of December.

December 5 and 7, by order of Major-General Thomas, I directed a small brigade of colored troops, under the command of Colonel T. J. Morgan, of the Fourteenth U. S. Colored Troops, and the Sixty-eighth Indiana Volunteers and Sixth Indiana (dismounted) Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Biddle, to reconnoiter the position of the enemy in my front. This force on both days drove the enemy from the left of the works constructed by my command on Rains' farm, which he gad taken possession of after my troops abandoned them. These reconnaissances were conducted by the officers in command with prudence, energy, and ability, and were successful in developing the enemy's position. A detailed account of the result will be found in the report of Colonel Morgan, herewith forwarded.

December 11, in compliance with the order of Major-General Thomas, I directed Brigadier-General Cruft to reconnoiter the enemy's position. This reconnaissance, made by a brigade under the command of Colonel J. G. Mitchell, owing to the whole surface of the country being covered with ice, rendering it almost impossible for men or animals to move over uneven ground, and on account of the steep slopes to be ascended in approaching the position of the enemy, was a difficult duty, but it was accomplished and the position of the enemy developed.

December 13, in obedience to the orders of Major-General Thomas, a brigade of General Cruft's troops, under the command of Colonel A. G. Malloy, reconnoitered in front of my position, and left the enemy's right. The ground being still covered with smooth ice rendered the movement tedious and hazardous, but under all the disadvantages was