officers and men under my command was marked with coolness and propriety in the discharge of their duties.

Yours, respectfully,

GEO. H. SHARPE,

Colonel, Commanding One hundred and twentieth New York Vols.

Lieutenant H. C. HINMAN,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Excelsior Brigade.

Numbers 161. Report of Brigadier General Joseph W. Revere, U. S. Army, commanding Third Brigade.

CAMP NEAR FALMOUTH, VA.

December --, 1862

CAPTAIN: In obedience to your order of the 16th instant, I have respectfully to report that on the 11th instant I moved with this brigade from the camp we now occupy, and bivouacked on the left bank of the Rappahannock; passed over the pontoon bridge to the right bank on the morning of the 13th, in company with the division, and formed a line of battle in a sunken road in the rear of the First and Second Brigades and the battery in our front. During this time a heavy action was progressing on our right at Fredericksburg, and on our left, while the enemy appeared to be massing troops in our front.

On the 15th, this brigade relieved the First Brigade in front quite near the enemy, evidently then in strong force and having well fortified his position, the plain on which we lay being completely swept in face and flank by his guns. At 11 p.m., by your order, I silently removed this brigade to the rear of the sunken road, then occupied by Devens' brigade,joining the right of our First Brigade, joining the right of our First Brigade, leaving the Fifth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers as a reserve for the pickets, and, about midnight, retired over the pontoon bridge to the left bank of the river. The Fifth New Jersey and pickets came up at 3.30 a.m.

The officers and soldiers have all behaved with the most exemplary patience and cation, and the only casualty I have the report is Private Philip Smith, Company B, Seventh New Jersey Volunteers, who died from wounds received on December 13.*

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. W. REVERE,

Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, Commanding Third Brigade.

Captain O. H. HART,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Sickles' Division.

Numbers 162. Report of Colonel William J. Sewell, Fifth New Jersey Infantry.

CAMP NEAR FALMOUTH, VA.

December 20, 1862

SIR: I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by my regiment in the late battle of Fredericksburg:

Pursuant to orders from the brigadier-general commanding the brig-

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*But see revised statement, p. 134.

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