position. It had very little support and was entirely exposed to the enemy, who were coming upon it with a charge. The artillery was stationed at the west end of the bridge, and my object in rushing my men over there was to save it. Consequently, when I saw the enemy coming upon it, I ordered my men to fire and charge, which they did with a hearty good will.

I will venture to say there was never a braver charge made by a handful of men than was made by the few men I had with me against the overwhelming odds; the enemy could not stand it; they gave way, but soon rallied again and came pressing down on us from both flank and the front. Still my men stood by the artillery, resolved to die by it rather than see it captured. The artillery itself had all this time been dealing out grape and canister to them by mouthfuls. The artillerymen of the Sixth deserve great credit for the way they fought there. The contest over the battery lasted nearly an hour, and was sometimes almost hand to hand; in fact, some of our men were knocked over by the butts of the enemy's guns. The bridge had during this time become cleared, and the artillerymen ran their pieces back across the river, and what men I had there followed them. All our regiment, except what got across the river, were deployed on the right. I immediately, after recrossing, ordered them to the left to try and secure the led horses of the Sixth, which were still across the river. They succeeded in securing part of them; many of these were already killed or captured. About this time the Second Iowa Cavalry came up and engaged in the action.

Colonel Hatch had come up soon after the action commenced, but was severely wounded soon after his arrival.

Our line was now formed on the east side of the river, and pressed down to the river. The enemy gave way and fell back. About this time Morgan's brigade of infantry came up and crossed the bridge. I ordered our brigade of cavalry "to horse," and the cavalry, with the howitzers, followed them. The infantry drew up in line about half a mile from the bridge, but our brigade passed on after the retreating rebels. About 3 miles from Moscow we found the enemy had taken the Mount Pleasant road. I ordered the Seventh Illinois Cavalry to reconnoiter that road for a mile or two, and then rejoined the column, which moved on toward Collierville, where we were instructed by Colonel Hatch to go that night. The regiment had gone but a short distance when I heard sharp skirmishing in that direction, and ordered the Second Iowa to move to their support, which they did. But the Seventh Illinois routed and was pursuing what proved to be a strong rear guard of the enemy left on the road. I immediately ordered both regiments to their places in the column, and proceeded to Collierville, where we arrived about 10 o'clock at night.

I would mention G Company, of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, as displaying great courage and determination in the contest over the artillery at the bridge, where a few of them defended and held their position against an odd tenfold. Captain Stiles, of said company, was severely wounded there, and 1 of his men killed and 6 wounded.

Our casualties in the fight were 1 man killed and 10 wounded, including Captain Stiles, above mentioned.

GEO. W. TRAFTON,

Lieutenant-Colonel Seventh Illinois Cavalry.

Colonel PRINCE, Seventh Illinois Cavalry.