difficult, if not impossible, for us to have taken place; but, as I had hoped, he followed us, and on our returned we met him in a strong position near Marion. Burnbridge with two brigades was in the advance, and received repeated applications from him re-enforcements, I pushed forward past the column to the front, and assumed the immediate control of his command, which I retained until the end of the engagement which ensued. Night, coming on, and the troops of Burbridge being very much disarranged, I determined to postpone any further offensive operations until the following morning, and spent the fore part of the night getting things straightened out. In the morning, upon attempting to advance, we met with a spirited resistance, and in sufficient force to assure me that Breckinridge had his whole command with him. Buckley's brigade,, provided it had carried out, my instructions, should be at the Seven-Mile Ford in the afternoon, and Gillem I sent around the left of the enemy, thus cutting him off from the self-works and compelling him to fight it out where he was, or seek safety in flight.

Brisk skirmishing was kept up during the day, with considerable loss in killed and wounded on boat sides; and as soon as night set in, Breckinridge, as I afterward, finding himself nearly surrounded and cut off from Saltville, withdrew by the road leading over the mountains into North Carolina and escaped. I sent the Twelfth, Ohio Regiment the next morning in pursuit of him; they captured his caissons and some wagons; but finding the road blockaded with trees and other obstructions, I concluded it would be but a waste of time to pursue him, and that night concentrated my whole force near Glade Springs, preparatory to our attack on the salt-works the next day.

At daylight in the morning General Burbridge was directed to take the most direct road, entering the town on the north; General Gillem was directed to follow a more circuitous one, which entered the town assistant attack with the whew of securing the place that way, or before re-enforcements could arrive from the direction of Lynchburg. I myself accompanied the column of Gillem, the head of which approached to within 1,500 yards of Ford Breckinridge. About 3 p. m. I directed Gillem to put a gun, one of two which he had selected out of the eight he had previously captured at Wytheville and from Vaughn, in position and open on the enemy, with the view of notifying Burbridge where he was, and what was being done, and sent a staff officer to Burbridge, with directions for him to attack at once, and with the utmost bridge, with directions for him to attack at once, and with the utmost vigor. I received in reply the assurance that he would attack in half an hour. Night, however, overtook us, and nothing of material advantage had as yet been accomplished. I now directed Colonel Stacy with his regiment, the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, to make a detour to the left, dash into the town, commence burning, shooting, &c., and make as much noise and produce as much confusion as possible.

My instructions were carried out by Colonel Stacy in the most satins factory manner. A portion of his regiment he set to work burning the town, and with the rest he dashed up the steep hill on which Fort Breckinridge is situated, over the rifle-pits and into the gorge of the work, capturing two guns, two commissioned officers, and several privates, without loss of a single man, and with but two horses killed. This was a signal for a general stampede of the enemy, and by 11 o'clock in the night all the works were evacuated and in the possession of Colonel Stacy, and the town of Saltville was in flames. At dawn of the day following I received a message from General Burbridge, through