No. 175. Report of Colonel Jonathan B. Moore, Thirty-third Wisconsin Infantry, commanding Third Division, of operations December 15-16 and December 20-31, 1864.

HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION,
DETACHMENT ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,

In the Field, December 22, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by the Third Division, Detachment Army of the Tennessee, in the battle of December 15 and 16, at Nashville, Tenn.:

At 8 a.m. of the 15th, by order of the major-general commanding, I placed the Forty-fourth Missouri Infantry in the trenches on the Charlotte pike, with the first section of the Fourteenth Indiana Battery, the Fortieth Missouri Infantry, with the second section of the Fourteenth Indiana Battery, in the works on the Hardin pike. I then moved out on the Hardin pike with three regiments of the First Brigade, Fourteenth and Thirty-third Wisconsin and Seventy-second Illinois, Colonel L. M. Ward commanding; two regiments of the Second Brigade, Ninety-fifth and Eighty-first Illinois, Colonel L. Blanden commanding, and Company A, Second Missouri Light Artillery, of six guns, First Lieutenant J. Zepp, commanding. I formed these brigades in column by regiments, and moved forward as reserve and to support the First and Second Divisions, which were both advancing in line upon the enemy's works. At 1 p.m., by order of the major-general commanding, I ordered Colonel L. M. Ward, with his brigade, to the right to support General McArthur, who, with his division, was then charging one of the enemy's forts. At about 4 p.m. Colonel Ward reported back to me, and I immediately moved my entire command forward in line, and filled up a large gap in McArthur's lines between Hubbard's and Hill's brigades, caused by Hill's brigade moving to the left. In my front I found the enemy strongly posted behind a stone fence on the Hillsborough pike, but unable or unwilling to stand for a moment against our advancing lines. In this charge my command captured between 200 and 300 prisoners and 3 pieces of artillery. Night found my entire command on the front line, driving the enemy, and about one mile beyond the Hillsborough pike, my battery, six guns, playing upon their retreating and broken ranks. Darkness put a stop to the battle. My command lay upon their arms upon their line, which I judged to be in the center, and between the First and Second Division, until 4 a.m. of the 16th, when, by order of the major-general commanding, I moved back to the Hillsborough pike, and to the right upon it about one mile and a half upon our extreme right to support General Cox's division, of the Twenty-third Corps. Here I remained during the day guarding the right flank.

The First Brigade had wounded: Private Lyman Fairclo, Company C, Thirty-third Wisconsin Infantry, gunshot wound in leg, slight; Private John R. Edwards, Company F, Thirty-third Wisconsin Infantry, gunshot wound in head, slight; Private George Welch, Company F, Thirty-third Wisconsin Infantry, gunshot wound in foot, slight. The Second Brigade had wounded: Sergeant Kennedy, Company A, Ninety-fifth Illinois Volunteers, cannon shot, compelling amputation of the thigh. Company A, Second Missouri Light Artillery, lost, killed by a shell, Private Simon Okley. None missing from my command. I can only account for the small loss in my command as one of the rebel