I would respectfully refer you to the reports of regimental commanders and to Colonel J. g. Vail, who assumed command of the brigade after it entered the works and he was notified of my being wounded.

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

A. O. MILLER,

Colonel Seventy-second Indiana Volunteers, Commanding Brigade.

Captain T. W. SCOTT,

Actg. Asst. Adjt. General, Second Div., Cavalry Corps,

Military Division of the Mississippi.

Numbers 19. Report of Colonel Jacob G. Vail, Seventeenth Indiana (Mounted) Infantry, commanding First Brigade, of operations April 2.

HDQRS. FIRST Brigadier, SECOND DIV., CAVALRY CORPS, MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Selma, Ala., April 7, 1865.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by this brigade after I assumed command of it on the evening of the 2nd instant:

On being notified that Colonel Miller was wounded and desired me to take command of the brigade, I turned over the command of my own regiment to Lieutenant Colonel Frank White, and found the other two regiments (the Ninety-eighth and One hundred and twenty-third Illinois Volunteers) near the left flank of the inner line of works, which run east and west. With the Second Brigade we moved along the line of these works sunder a heavy cross-fire of artillery and musketry from the works along the line, and the depot in front of town, until we reached the Plantersville road, where I formed a line facing the town. I placed Lieutenant-Colonel Kitchell with his regiment, the Ninety-eighth Illinois Volunteers, along the line of fence in front of the niter sheds and to the left of the railroad depot, with orders to hold his ground until I could get into line to advance upon the town. I formed the One hundred and twenty-third Illinois Volunteers across the Plantersville road and a portion of the Second Brigade that was with it on the left. The Fourth Division coming up at this time, several shots were exchanged between us, when I rode out of the works to ascertain who they were, and met General Upon's column. Colonel Minty coming up, I was ordered to remain in position on the [sic] of the Ninety-eighth Illinois Volunteers. I went into camp at 12 o'clock at night. The Seventeenth Indiana Volunteers had been operating along the line below the town, and entered it about the same time with General Upon. As they were not under my personal direction during the latter part of the engagement, I would respectfully refer you to the report of Lieutenant-Colonel White for particulars of their operations.* My thanks are due all the officers and men for their gallantry. Lieutenant-Colonel Kitchell, commanding the Ninety-eighth Illinois Volunteers, and Captains Wiley, Woods, and Delong, One hundred and twenty-third Illinois Volunteers, are deserving of special mention for their promptness and acts of bravery. Captain Wiley, with a squad of

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*See p. 456.

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29 R R-VOL XLIX, PT I