SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO,

Numbers 178.
Nashville, Tenn., December 12, 1864.

I. All preparations will be made to-day for active operations. The men will have three day's rations in haversacks this evening. Supply trains, including forage, will be loaded and ready to move to-morrow morning. Ammunition trains will be fully loaded. Artillery horses will be rough-shod, as far as practicable.

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XIV. Lieutenant Colonel J. B. Boyd, chief quartermaster Department of the Ohio, will proceed to Louisville, Ky., and establish his officer there.

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By command of Major-General Schofield:

J. A. CAMPBELL,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. THIRD DIVISION, TWENTY-THIRD ARMY CORPS,
December 12, 1864.

Major-General SCHOFIELD:

Colonel Hayes, One hundredth Ohio, report that this morning large bodies of the enemy, with trains, were moving toward our left. There appears to be some movement amongst them. This p. m. a column moved from their first works back tot heir second line. Some shells from Fort Negley seemed to reach them, and they passed directly to the rear, out of sight. Am not certain it was to avoid the shells, or permanent movement. Would send out a reconnaissance, but it is so icy that it would be dark before they got far enough to discover anything. There was a reported movement of a skirmish advance on our right, but has not developed anything yet. I mention this to enable you to compare with reports from other parts of the lines.

J. D. COX,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS DETACHMENT ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
Nashville, Tenn., December 12, 1864.

Major General HENRY W. HALLECK,

Chief of Staff:

GENERAL: I have the honor to introduce to you hereby Colonel William F. Lynch, Fifty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, who has been serving for the past eighteen months in my command as regimental and brigade commander. He entered the service in April, 1861, as a private, and afterward raised the Fifty-eighth Illinois, and was mustered into service with it December 20, 1861. Since that time he has been in the battle of Fort Donelson, Shiloh (where he was captured, after a heavy loss in officers and men), Fort De Russy, Pleasant Hill, and Yellow Bayou, La., in which last battle he was severely wounded in the leg while cheering his men to the charge. As regimental and brigade commander he has few equals in energy, decision, and tact in the service; as an officer he is cool and courageous, and as a gentleman courteous and refined. His services and ability entitle him to a higher