dawn. At 10 p.m. the artillery of the enemy took up its march, followed by his other troops, the rear getting under way at 4 o'clock a.m.

On the morning of the 20th a patrol was sent through the town of London. On returning they brought some 25 prisoners, reporting the enemy 6 miles from that place.

On the 22nd the command in obedience to orders marched back to Camp Wild Cat, carrying with it 75 prisoners.

In summing up this advance it appears that in eight days the brigade engaged in six skirmishes, killing some 20 of the enemy, wounding many more, and capturing, including many sick, between 500 and 600 prisoners. Our own was 1 killed and 5 or 6 wounded.

The conduct of the entire brigade could not have been better. Lieutenant Colonel Suman, of the Ninth Indiana Volunteers, deserves the warm thanks of his commander. I was an eye-witness to all that occurred on the entire march. The course of the road over which we passed after leaving Mount Vernon was through narrow gorges, occasionally debouching into narrow valleys, and of such a character as to render our movements necessarily cautious and affording opportunities for an energetic foe to have stopped our progress at almost any point. It is doubtful if the rear of the army proper was ever reached, but merely a light force of from 1,500 to 3,000 held back against our advance to feel our progress. It always yielded when closely pressed.

It is proper to add that during the entire campaign, although destitute of many of the comforts even of life on the march, without tents, often with an insufficiency of food, through inclemencies of weather, and marches of almost unprecedented length, I have never heard a murmur, and have now to report a good condition of health never before known in the brigade and a state of thorough discipline of which the command has reason to be proud.

My staff, as follows: Captain R. L. Kimberly, Forty-first Ohio, acting assistant adjutant-general; Captain H. W. Johnson, Forty-first Ohio, acting assistant quartermaster; Captain James McCleery, Forty-first Ohio, assistant inspector-general; Dr. M. G. Sherman, Ninth Indiana, brigade surgeon; Lieutenant C. D. Gaylord, Forty-first Ohio, aide-de-camp; Lieutenant William M. Beebe, Forty-first Ohio, aide-de-camp, permitted no opportunity to escape of renewing the constant evidence since being in the service of brigade headquarters of ability, efficiency, and a desire to do their duty properly. They, with my entire command, have my warmest thanks.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. B. HAZEN,

Colonel, Commanding Nineteenth Brigade.

Captain H. ATKINSON, A. A. G., Fourth Division.

Numbers 2.

Reports of Brigadier General William Sooy Smith, U. S. Army, commanding Fourth Division, of skirmishes about Camp Wild Cat, October 17.

ROCKCASTLE RIVER, October 17, 1862-9 a.m.

SIR: I have pressed a reconnaissance nearly up to Camp Wild Cat this morning. The enemy has passed on, leaving the road badly blockaded in his rear. There is no forage whatever in this neighborhood