ing the place. I directed General Shackelford to dismount the cavalry command under General Sanders and send it out on the Kingston road a mile in advance of our proposed line of defense, for the purpose of holding the enemy in check until our men were able to take up their positions on the line and fortify. This work was most nobly accomplished. The troops worked all day and night of the 17th, and by noon of the 18th they were pretty well covered. During all this time the gallant Sanders, with his dismounted cavalry, held the enemy in check. Just as I sent out orders to withdraw within the lines I received information that he was mortally wounded. He was brought into the city, where he received all possible attention, but he died the next day. The service lost in the death of General Sanders one of the most noble spirits, and we, his comrades, a beloved and faithful friend.

Captain Poe had before leaving Kentucky organized an engineer battalion from the Twenty-third Corps, and had by great efforts succeeded in bringing over the mountains a quantity of entrenching and other engineer tools. These proved to be of the greatest possible value to us during the siege. The line of defense established commenced at a point on the river and ran at nearly right angles with the river to a fort which the enemy had commenced on the hill north of the Kingston road, and about 1,000 yards in front and to the right of the college; from this point it ran along and nearly parallel to the river across First Creek over Temperance Hill to Maybry's Hill, near Bell's house, thence to the Holston river at a point a little below the glass-work on Temperance Hill to Flint Hill. The line on the south side was not continuous. We occupied four prominent hills, which commanded the city as well as the open country to the south of it. General Ferrero's division of the Ninth Corps, under General R. B. Potter, occupied the line from the Holston River to Second Creek, and General Hartranft's part of the line between First and Second Creeks. Chapin's brigade extended from Second Creek over Temperance Hill to near Bell's house, and the brigades of Colonels Hoskins and Casement extended from this point to the river. The interior line was occupied by some regiments of loyal Tennesseeans lately recruited.

The positions on the south side of the river were occupied by Shackelford's cavalry and Cameron's brigade, of Hascall's division; Reilly's brigade was held in reserve, and used frequently during the siege to re-enforce the lines on both sides of the river.

Our force at this time in Knoxville was about 12,000 effective men, exclusive of the new recruits of loyal Tennesseans. The enemy was estimated at 20,000 to 23,000, including cavalry.

I beg to refer to the full and able report of my chief engineer for a complete record of the positions of the different batteries. The line was rapidly brought into a defensible condition; many of the citizens and persons who had been driven in by the enemy volunteered to work in the trenches and did good service, while those who were not inclined, from disloyalty, to volunteer, were pressed into the service. The negroes were particularly efficient in their labors during the siege.

The beef cattle, hogs, &c., belonging to the commissary department, and many that belonged to the citizens, were driven into the city by the employees of Colonel Goodrich, chief commissary, where they were slaughtered and salted down. Orders were at once issued