July 2-General Williams, commanding the division, having been placed in command of the corps, General Ruger, commanding the Third Brigade, assumed command of the division. Early in the morning we were again moved to the front upon the right, when we formed a line of battle, threw out skirmishers, and held this position until about 11 a. m., when we were withdrawn, and marched by the way of Littlestown and Gettysburg turnpike across Rock Creek, and formed in the woods about half a mile tot the right of Cemetery Hill, in two lines of battle, on the right of the Second Division of this corps, under command of General Geary; our rear line behind a stone wall, our front line parallel to the stone wall and about 40 paces in advance, when we immediately built breastworks to protect the front line. The brigade, after having established its breastworks in front, with the stone wall in rear, had a very strong position, and was able to resist almost any assault that could have been made in front. Late in the afternoon, I received orders to march in the rear of the Third Brigade, and we proceeded about 1 1/2 miles to the left of the general line, where our forces had been having a desperate engagement with the enemy, and which continued until our arrival, and we commenced forming a line of battle by way of relieving and re/enforcing our exhausted and wearied troops, which had been maintaining the fight on this part of the line. The enemy at this moment withdrew, and we remained in line until dusk, when the general commanding the division ordered me to return in the same order to our intrenchments. Before arriving at our former position, anticipating that the enemy might be occupying our works, before entering the woods south of the works, pursuant to orders from the general commanding, the brigade was placed in double line of battle, and one company from the One hundred and twenty-third New York Volunteers and one from the Fifth Connecticut were forwarded into the woods as skirmishers, with instructions to approach cautiously the intrenchments and ascertain whether they were occupied or not. It was soon ascertained by the skirmishers that the enemy had not only obtained possession of our works, and were occupying them in force, but had advanced into the woods south of them. On our men retiring, they were fired upon by the enemy from the woods south of the works and immediately in front of our line. This firing temporarily produced some confusion upon the right of the rear line, occupied by the One hundred and forty-fifth New York Volunteers, under the command of Colonel E. L. Price, who, for the time, apparently lost command of his men. By the steadiness of the line in front and left of the rear line, the efficient action of the various members of my staff, strongly aided by the general commanding, present at the time, the men soon resumed their position, and order was restored. The One hundred and twenty-third New York Volunteers, which was one of the regiments in the front line, lost 1 man killed-but whether it was from the fire of the enemy or from a responding fire improperly commenced by some of our men in the rear line cannot be determined-when this brigade, under the orders of the general commanding the division, was moved a short distance to the rear, where they were, in a measure, concealed by a rise of ground in front, and remained upon their arms until morning. Skirmishers advanced during the night. Lieutenant Marcus Beadle, Company I, One hundred and twenty-third New York Volunteers,