of this regiment, stationed at Courtland, Ala., together with such facts connected with their capture as I have been able to gather.

In the outset allow me to state that within a few days after the arrival of our division at Tuscumbia I was ordered to send one company to Courtland, Ala., 23 miles east of Tuscumbia. Company A, Captain Henry G. Davidson, was detailed for that service. Shortly thereafter, in compliance with orders from division headquarters, I sent Company H, Captain B. R. Pendleton, to re-enforce Captain Davidson, the two companies being placed by me under the command of the latter, who was the senior captain. A small force of cavalry from the First Ohio was stationed at the same point.

On the same day that Captain Pendleton left for Courtland the remainder of my regiment left for Eastport, Miss., where it continued on detached service until the 24th ultimo, when it left Eastport to rejoin the brigade.

The first reliable information received by me in regard to the affair at Courtland was when en route from Florence, Ala., to Pulaski, Tenn., when most of the men from Companies A and H joined the regiment. Being separated from my brigade and division commanders, I deemed it my duty to telegraph to Major-General Buell the substance of that information. At that time I also received a brief communication from Captain Davidson, which was written from Moulton, Ala., while a prisoner in the hands of the rebels. It was written, as I learn from my men, hurriedly, a few moments before they separated from him.

He writes that on the morning of July 25, about 8 o'clock, he was attacked by a large force of Confederate cavalry, under Brigadier-General Armstrong, believed to number 800. Seeing the enemy coming, he formed Companies A and H in line behind the railroad embankment and near the bridge, intending to give the enemy battle, and determined to guard that which he was sent there to do as long as he could possibly do so.

The position which he selected was so advantageous for defense against a force coming from an opposite direction that the presence of his men behind the embankment was not observed by the enemy until they came quite close to him. He fired two volleys into their ranks as they charged, which killed and wounded a number of the rebels, and also killed the horse of the rebel general. Seeing the enemy, with their greatly superior force, was flanking him and getting into his rear, Captain Davidson passed with his command by the left flank across the creek, running the bridge, and took position in some gullies. About this time he observed a considerable force of cavalry coming from the direction of Courtland, and what appeared to be infantry (but which proved to be cavalry dismounted) in a corn field supporting the cavalry. Captain Davidson ordered bayonets to be fixed, intending to charge through them, get into the corn field, and from there into the woods near by, but finding himself surrounded, with no possible chance of escape, he surrendered his command.

He writes that his men behaved splendidly, obeying every command with promptitude and alacrity and fighting gallantly until the last moment. He says further that Captain Pendleton, Company H, Lieutenant Reynolds, Company A, and Lieutenants Barry and Shively, Company H, are worthy of all praise for the brave and gallant manner in which they managed their troops.

The loss on our side was as follows: William Farmer, Company H, killed; James Rogers, Company A, wounded severely in thigh; Mattis