Jarvis,and part of the Eighty-sixth Indiana Lieutenant-Colonel Dick was formed near the road, the Forty-fourth being placed on duty else-where,and ordered to move up the road to meet the force that had followed from the field, which was represented advancing. Going in advance of the force, I found the Fifty-ninth Ohio, under Lieutenant-Colonel Howard and Major Frambes, hotly contesting the cedar ridge and hard pressed, their left flank being exposed encouraging the men to hold on, and they should have help immediately. The force following me was hurried up. The remnant of the Thirteenth Ohio, though sadly repressed by the death of the gallant and loved Colonel Hawkins, shot dead on the field, answered the command to go forward with a cheer, and got into line on the left, opening fire just as a regiment on the right of the Fifty-ninth marched to the rear, leaving my right flank again exposed, which the enemy were not slow to perceive, and began taking advantage of. Sorely annoyed, I crossed the road and asked the officer in command, whom I do not know, what it meant. He said he had been ordered back, but on my representations he immediately marched his regiment up again, delivering a heavy fire as he reached the crest of the ridge. I then ordered the whole line to charge, which was gallantly done with a cheer, the enemy being driven from the crest of the ridge down the southern slope and back across the field.

One of the skirmishers William Brown, of Company B, Fifty-ninth Ohio, met me on the edge of the ridge, marching back through the line at he head of 28 prisoners, besides 2 officers (lieutenants) he had captured in a sink-hole. Many other prisoners were captured by the Second Brigade amounting to 60,as near as can be ascertained.

After the enemy was repulsed as stated, there was no more fighting on this day by the left wing, General Van Cleve turning over the command of the division to me, he having been wounded, Colonel Beatty being on duty elsewhere.

January 1, crossed with the brigade over the river, where the Second Brigade was placed on the left of the First, in an open field in rear of a belt of timber on a ridge, the Forty-fourth Indiana and Thirteenth Ohio in the front line, with the Thirty-fifth and Seventy-ninth Indiana on their right, the Fifty-ninth Ohio and Eighty-sixth Indiana in reserve. This arrangement left an open space on the left. On the front line, between it and a road running through a lane beyond the road, was an open field unoccupied by troops, except a line of skirmishers from Colonel Grose's command. In the rear, toward Stone's River, was a cornfield, and behind the fence was a Kentucky regiment, with their right resting on the lane. This left a gap between my left and their right of about 500 yards; thus the forces rested during the day, with sharp skirmishing in our front.

January 2, the skirmishing commenced early and was brisk throughout the day, until about 3 o'clock,when the indications of an attack in front became so threatening, a battery having been planted in the woods on my left flank,that I ordered my reserve into the front line, deflecting the Eighty-sixth Indiana back, and placing them behind the fence across the lane to sweep the open field in front of the Kentucky regiment. Company A,of the Fifty-ninth Regiment,under Sergeant Carr, was placed on the left of the Eighty-sixth, connecting the two forces, which gave them a cross-fire over the open field in front.

About 4 p.m. Colonel Beatty, commanding the division, came over and was shown the disposition of the brigade, which he approved, suggesting,in case we were compelled to fall back, we should do so through