Our casualties were 3 killed and 12 wounded, and 3 missing.

Colonel [William] Bull and Captain [A. N. T.] Beauregard, of the staff of General Beauregard, and Captain [B. H.] Read, of General Ripley's staff, reported to me for duty upon the occasion, and, together with my own staff, rendered efficient service.

I am, captain, your obedient servant,

JOHNSON HAGOOD,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Captain [W. F.] NANCE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

Numbers 4. Reports of Brigadier General A. H. Colquitt, C. S. Army, commanding brigade.

HEADQUARTERS COLQUITT'S BRIGADE,
July 17, 1863.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit an account of the reconnaissance of the enemy's position and forces on James Island, made on the morning of July 16.

My command of consisted of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina, Lieutenant-Colonel [J. G.] Pressley; Sixth Georgia, Colonel [J. T.] Lofton; Nineteenth Georgia, Colonel [A. J.] Hutchins; four companies of the Thirty-second Georgia, Lieutenant-Colonel [W. H.] Pruden, and Captain [E. L.] Parker's battery of light artillery.

By order of Brigadier-General Hagood, these forces united at Secessionville at 12 o'clock on the night previous. At 3.30 o'clock we took up the line of march and moved to the picket outposts. Waiting until dawn, six companies of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina Regiment were deployed as skirmishers on the right and left of the road leading from Secessionville to Legare's house, with instructions to press forward as fast as practicable. Just after crossing the first causeway, our skirmishers encountered the enemy's pickets, and a brisk fire was kept up for a few minutes, when the enemy's line gave way and retreated in confusion. My skirmishers, advancing, pressed the retreating line beyond Legare's overseer's house. Captain Parker's battery followed the reserve skirmishes, and my other forces moved by the flank in rear of the battery. When near the house, perceiving that a considerable party of the enemy had been cut off by the left of the line of skirmishers, I sent a company from the Nineteenth Georgia Regiment with instructions to kill or capture them. I moved forward until I reached the road leading across the lower causeway. I found the enemy drawn up in line of battle in front of his camps, 400 or 500 yards beyond. His force, I think, id not exceed 1,500 infantry and a battery of artillery. They could, I think, easily have been routed, and the spirit of the command was high for the enterprise. Captain Parker moved his battery into position and fired several rounds into his ranks with good effect. I had proceeded, however, as far as I had instructions, and the object of the expedition having been accomplished, I directed the movement to the right, recrossed the marsh, and returned through open fields to Secessionville. While passing through Legare's plantation, we were subjected to a