[CHAP. XXXII.

tions to this general rule arose from a faulty manner of driving the paper well into the wood. The Bormann fuses worked to my satisfaction. There were no sights used with my guns; the effects of each shot served to determine the direction of the next. My aim always low, the effect of my shots good. I had an opportunity to examine some practice made at our cavalry by mistake, and again on the evening of December 30, during a little affair with the enemy; everything was satisfactory. I have no means of determining accurately the number of rounds fired from my battery, as my boxes were frequently replenished, though I think I would be within bounds in bounds in saying 70 rounds to the gun.

My loss in material was 1 caisson; the number of horses killed and disabled, 15. My loss in men was severe; 34 men in my company bear the marks of the enemy's missiles upon their persons. Of this number however, 17 only unfitted for duty; the remainder continued at their posts. One of the 17 is missing, and supposed dead; seen to fall while advancing to position on the evening of January 2. None killed on the field, though 5 are thought to be mortally wounded.

Very respectfully,

FELIX H. ROBERTSON,

Captain, Commanding Battery.

Captain J. R. B. BURTWELL,

Chief of Artillery, Withers' Division.

Numbers 221. Report of Brigadier General J. Patton Anderson, C. S. Army, commanding Walthall's brigade.

HDQRS. WALTHALL'S BRIGADE, WITHERS' DIVISION,
POLK'S CORPS, ARMY OF TENNESSEE,

Shelbyville, Tenn., January 26, 1863.

MAJOR: On the evening of December 27, I received an order from corps headquarters to turn over the command of the brigade recently assigned to me to Colonel Manigault, my next in rank, and to assume command of Walthall's brigade, that officer being absent on sick leave. The several brigades of Withers' division had been previously ordered to have three days' cooked rations in their haversacks, and to hold themselves in readiness for action at a moment's notice.

About midnight of the 27th and 28th, orders were received to move out at an early hour on the morning of the 28th, so as to have a line of battle formed by 9 a.m. At daylight, however, corps, division, and brigade commanders were to assemble at a point designated on the Nashville pike, for the purpose of reconnoitering the ground on which the line was to be formed. On assembling at the rendezvous, the fog proved to be so thick as to prevent, in a great measure, a thoroughly satisfactory reconnaissance. The line, however, was determined upon, and the major-general commanding the division designated the positions of the several brigades. They were immediately marched out from their encampments, and drawn up in line of battle at right angles with the Nashville pike, and about 1,000 yards in front of the point where the pike crosses Stone's River, Brigadier-General Chalmers' right resting upon the pike very near the point where the railroad intersects it, and his left reaching up a slope in an open field, and resting about the crest