The killed and wounded of the enemy at this point outnumbered our loss very seriously. We captured squad after squad of prisoners continuously through and past the town.

The Second Brigade, when formed into line on the morning of the 30th, showed the following strength: Fifteenth and Thirteenth Arkansas, 390; Fifth Tennessee,295; Forty-eighth Tennessee,312; Second Tennessee,300.

In concluding this report I must speak in the highest terms of the gallant conduct of the officers and men of my command. They stood unflinchingly before the galling fire of a superior force, and no troops battling for the defense of our noblest cause could have acquitted themselves more nobly. While I make no invidious distinction between the actions of officers and men under my command, I feel it obligatory to mention the gallantry of Lieutenant-Colonel Polignac, who, in the last fight before Richmond, seized the colors of the Fifth Tennessee, bearing them triumphantly through the thickest of the fight and encouraged the men to withstand a terrible fire.

My thanks are due Captain James F. Lanford, assistant adjutant-general, for the assistance rendered me on the field by his unwavering coolness and courage.

Respectfully,

BENJ. J. HILL,

Colonel, Commanding Second Brigadier, Fourth Div., Army of Kentucky.

Brigadier General PRESTON SMITH,

Commanding Fourth Division, Army of Kentucky.

P. S.-The conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Murray, who commanded the sharpshooters on Friday nigh and assisted at the guns of the battery of Saturday, was highly creditable to him as a brave and gallant officer.

I herewith append a list of the killed and wounded of the brigade during the series of fights on Saturday.*

AUGUST 31, 1862.-Skirmish at Stevenson, Ala.

Report of Major General Samuel Jones, C. S. Army.

HEADQUARTERS CONFEDERATE STATES FORCES, Chattanooga, Tenn., September 1, 1862.

COLONEL: When I ordered the Twenty-fifth Tennessee Regiment, which was stationed near Shell Mound, to come to this place to proceed to Sparta, agreeably to instructions conveyed to me in your letter of the 30th instant [ultimo], I was not aware that it formed a part of the force sent to attack the enemy at Stevenson. I received last night a telegram from Lieutenant-Colonel Maury, dated at Stevenson, informing me that after a few hours' fighting the enemy was driven from Stevenson and the place occupied by our troops, the Twenty-fifth Tennessee being a part of them. I have directed Brigadier-General Maxey to keep that regiment only so long as it may be necessary to enable him to secure all property that may have been captured, and then to comply with the order sending it to Sparta.

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*See p.936.

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