of his left another line of battle in support of the first. Both these lines were in advance of the Georgetown road. The enemy's line of skirmishers covered the front of this first lien and stretched far beyond it to the left. Having been ordered to attack this force, I had the division skirmishers, under Captain Keller, of Evans' brigade, deployed, and directed one brigade (Evans'), under the protection of a dense woodland about 700 yards in front of the enemy's left, to move by the right flank and form so as to overlap the enemy's left. The two brigades (Hays' and Stafford's), united under the command of Brigadier-General York, were ordered to form on the left of Brigadier-General Evans, and Terry's brigade to move in support of the left of my line.

These dispositions having been made, I ordered the command to advance in echelon by brigades from the right. The troops emerged from the woods 700 yards in front of the enemy's left under heavy fire from infantry and artillery, an had advanced but a short distance when, on account of the wounding of one brigade commander (Evans), to whom explicit instructions had been given as to the movement of his (the leading) brigade, and the killing of several regimental commanders, and the difficulty of advancing in line through a field covered with wheat-shocks and intersected by fences, the perfect alignment of this brigade was necessarily to some extent broken. However, this temporary confusion did not retard its advance, which, as I had anticipated, forced the enemy to change his front under fire.

At this point the Louisiana brigades, under the command of Brigadier-General York, became engaged, and the two brigades (Evans' and York's) moved forward with much spirit, driving back the enemy's first line in confusion upon his second. After a brief halt at the fence from which this first line had been driven I ordered a charge on the second line, which was equally successful.

At this point I discovered a third line, which overlapped both my flanks, and which was posted still more strongly in the deep cuts along the Georgetown road and behind the crest of the hill near the Monocacy bridge, and at once ordered Brigadier-General Terry, who as yet had not been engaged, to attack vigorously that portion of the enemy's line nearest the river, and from which my troops were receiving a severe flank fire. This brigade advanced with great spirit and in excellent order, driving the enemy from his position on a portion of the line. He still held most stubbornly his strong position in front of the other two brigades and upon my right. He also advanced at the same time two fresh lines of troops to retake the position from which he had been driven by Terry's brigade. These were repulsed with heavy loss and in great confusion.

Having suffered severe loss in driving back two lines, either of which I believe equal in length to my command, and having discovered the third line longer than either of the others and protected by the cuts in the road, and in order to avoid the great loss it would require to drive the enemy from his position by a direct front attack, I dispatched two staff officers in succession to ask for a brigade to use upon the enemy's flank. Ascertaining, however, that a considerable length of time must elapse before the se could reach me, I at once ordered Brigadier-General Terry to change front with his brigade to the right and attack the enemy's right. This movement,