men;captured 18 men and 15 horses. What shall I do with prisoners?

They are the meanest of Ferguson's guerrillas. Would it not be well to them shot?

E. H. HOBSON,

Brigadier-General.

Captain Semple,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Louisville.

DECEMBER 6, 1863.-Affair near Fayetteville, Tennessee

Report of Brig. Gen. Joseph F. Knipe U. S. Army,commanding First Brigade, First Division, Twelfth Army Corps.

DECHERD, Tennessee,

December 9, 1863.

COLONEL: I have the honor to submit the following report:The detail furnished from this post,in obedience to orders from headquarters Army of the Cumberland,as guard to working party taking up railroad iron on Fayetteville railroad, was attacked on the 6th instant,in the neigh borhood of Fayetteville,and 1 man wounded and 4 taken prisoners. A small bridge Salem was destroyed on the night of the 6th instant. I have sent forward hands to rebuild this structure;will have it completed by this time, I think. I apprehend some difficulty in the removal of these rails with the force employed.

I have just learned that the contractor uses the troops furnished as guard to secure contrabands in the neighborhood to do the work,and that while so employed the 4 men were captured by a party calling themselves First Tennessee Batalion. The men captured have returned to this post with inclosed parole paper. I have returned the men to duty,regarding the parole as of no account.

O would respectfully suggest that the company of mounted infantry under command of Captain Brixey,stationed at Tracy City,could be advantageously used on this work.and would ask permission to so use them.

JOS. F. KNIPE,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Post.

Lieutenant Colonel H. C. RODGERS,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Twelfth Corps.

DECEMBER 10, 1863.-Scout from Memphis, Tennessee

Report of Captain Lucius B. Skinner, Sixth Illinois Cavalry.

HDQRS. THIRD BATT., SIXTH ILLINOIS CAVALRY,
Memphis, Tennessee, December 10, 1863.

Captain: In pursuance with orders from General Grierson,received this morning, I sent Lieutenant Cover,of Company M, with 25 men, out east of the city to Mrs. Governor Jones',where they learned that 2 guerrillas had been in that neigh borhood, and between there and White's Station, for several days. About 1 1/2 miles east of Buntyn

Station, found 2 men just getting on their horses after cutting