In this movement but eight companies of my regiment were engaged, the remainder being paroled prisoners at Annapolis, Md., since April last.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient, servant,

Edward C. James,

Colonel. Lieutenant-Colonel Lusk, Assistant Adjutant -General.

No. 383. Report of Major General Robert H. Milroy, U. S. Army, commanding, Second Division, of operations June 1-15.

Baltimore, Md., June 30, 1863 .

Colonel: I have been compelled by the exigencies of public duties connected with my late command to defer until the present time a report of the recent operations about Winchester . Having no reports from brigade commanders, and no even an opportunity of conferring with them, I am still unable to give a detailed report . A sense of duty to myself and to the officers and soldiers whom I had the honor to command requires that I should submit some general statements. I occupied Winchester with my command on December 25 last, and continued in the occupancy up to Monday morning, the 15th instant, when, for reasons which will appear in the sequel of this report, I was compelled to evacuate it. When I first occupied Winchester, the Valley of Shenandoah from Staunton to Strasburg was occupied by the rebel General Jones, with a force variously estimated at from 5, 000 to 6, 000 men, and constituted principally of cavalry. Embolden at the same time occupied the Cacapon Valley with a force composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, estimated at 1, 500 men . These were the only forces by which I was in danger of being assailed, unless by a forces from Lee's army, which, it was supposed, would be prevented from hostile demonstrations in my direction by the Army of the Potomac. The objects of holding Winchester was to observe and hold in check the rebel forces in the Valley, and to secure the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad against depredations. Late in March, in pursuance of an order issued upon my own suggestion, I stationed the Third Brigade of my division, consisting of the Sixth Regiment maryland Volunteer Infantry, Sixty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, First Regiment New York Cavalry, and Baltimore Battery, at Berryville Colonel McReynolds, of the First New York Cavalry, commanding. My instructions to Colonel McReynolds were to keep open our communication with the Harper's Ferry and to watch the passes of the Blue Ridge (Snicker's and Ashby's Gaps)and the fords of the Shenandoah River known as Snicker's and Berry's . To this end he was to cause to be diligently scouted the country between him and those localities and as far south as Millwood. I was expressly instructed to undertake no offensive operations in force. Acting in accordance with these instructions, I kept my forces well in hand in the vicinities of Berryville and Winchester, excepting that during the expedition of