HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION, FOURTH ARMY CORPS,
November 28, 1864.

Major-General STANLEY,

Commanding Fourth Army Corps:

GENERAL: I am informed that the cavalry has been withdrawn from our left, and my pickets report that two regiments of rebel cavalry have crossed the river. It will be necessary to have cavalry watch those fords, as infantry cannot do it, and as the country is open the whole rebel army may be over on our left flank without hindrance.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

TH. J. WOOD,

Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION, FOURTH ARMY CORPS,
On Duck River, November 28, 1864.

Major General D. S. STANLEY,

Commanding Fourth Corps:

GENERAL: I have General Schofield's note to you, with your reference to me. It seems to me a little strange that General Schofield does not intimate what measures he proposes to adopt to protect ourselves and guard our trains, and still more strange that he does not initiate such measures at once, as the enemy, according to his own statement, has crossed the river in force. It is perfectly patent to my mind, if the enemy has crossed in force, that General Wilson will not be able to check him. It requires no oracle to predict the effect of the enemy's reaching the Franklin pike in our rear. I have ordered Captain Bartlett, my inspector, to take two companies of the Fifty-first Indiana, numbering in the aggregate about 150 men, and post them on a very commanding eminence nearly a mile to the east of our left flank, yKiX whence the approach to us from the ford can be watched, with orders to observe well and give timely notice of any movement of the enemy in that direction; and further, if driven in, to retire as slowly as possible, contesting the ground. It would be useless to send any larger force, as it would not do to make a decided fight so far from our main body. I would suggest that, in case there should be any decided advance on our left flank by the enemy, General Kimball's two brigades should be thrown on my left at once, for the position is open and extensive; that without it be closed we could not extricate our trains, possibly not ourselves.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

TH. J. WOOD,

Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Commanding.

HDQRS. THIRD DIVISION, TWENTY-THIRD ARMY CORPS,
November 28, 1864.

Major-General SCHOFIELD,

Commanding Army of the Ohio:

GENERAL: The difficulty of this position consists in the fact that the ford of the river is so completely encircled and commanded by higher ground on the south of the stream that I fear my pickets may be driven away, and the enemy so have the opportunity to clear the obstructions and pass over. The distance between me and the Fourth Corps is too