engineer, Twenty-third Army Corps. I am under obligations for valuable reconnaissances. It is a matter of regret the age and failing health of this officer impaired to a certain extent his usefulness as a topographer, for which branch of science he has such a wonderful talent.

Captain C. E. McAlester, of the Twenty-third Michigan Infantry, acting as chief engineer of the Twenty-third Army Corps; Captain G. W. Gowan, of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, as assistant engineer of the Army of the Ohio, and Captain O. S. McClure, of the Fiftieth Ohio Volunteers Infantry, in command of the Engineer Battalion, rendered important assistance.

The Engineer Battalion proved almost invaluable. Its members were always ready to work day or night, and did it an intelligence which directed the labor toward a result. My thanks are due, and are freely given, to its officers and men.

The siege of Knoxville passed into history. If mistakes were made in the defense, they were covered by the cloak of success. That many were made in the attack was apparent to us all. That the rebels made a great error in besieging is as evident as it now is that to accept siege at Knoxville was a great stroke of military policy.

The results of the successful defense are, the defeat of Bragg's army and the consequent permanent establishment of our forces at Chattanooga, with tolerably secure lines of communication; the confirmation of our hold upon East Tennessee; the discomfiture of and loss of prestige by the choicest troops of the enemy's service. There is no language sufficiently strong which I can use to express my admiration for the conduct of our troops. From the beginning of the siege to the end every man did his whole duty. The cheerful looks and confident bearing which me us at every turn made it seem as though we were sure of victory from the first. It is doubtful whether any man within our lines at any time after the first

forty-eight hours the slightest fear of the result. All privations were borne, all hardships undergone with a spirit indicated, as plainly as if written on the walls, that success would attend our efforts. And is there a man of that part of the Army of the Ohio which was in Knoxville who would exchange his nineteen days of service there for any other of the achievements of his life? Was there a regiment there which will not bear Knoxville on its banner as proudly as it now bears Roanoke or New Berne, Williamsburg or Fair Oaks, Chantilly or South Mountain, Antietam or Vicksburg?

The troops of the Ninth Army Corps and the Twenty-third Army Corps were chivalric rivals where duty was to be done. Never before had an engineer officer less cause to complain of the manner in which his instructions and directions were carried out.

And here I feel it my duty to refer to the great value of the services of the contrabands. They were ever tractable and willing, and many of them came to me and volunteered to work. They did an amount of labor which was truly astonishing. Day and night they worked without a murmur. For the first week they labored regularly eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, and during the whole siege, out of nearly 200 that we had at work, only 1 asked to be relieved, and he for only one afternoon.

The question of supplies during the siege was second to none in importance. The failure of the enemy to close the Sevierville road