battle may be considered as closing here. More than half of the whole loss of this brigade, in my opinion, occurred in this conflict. Without attempting to enumerate the loss in men, it is known that in killed and wounded the Forty-fourth lost here its major, 8 officers, and its color-bearer; the Seventeenth lost its colonel, adjutant, and 12 company officers; the Twenty-fifth lost its colonel and 6 company officers; the Twenty-third loss 2 officers; the Thirty-seventh lost its colonel and lieutenant-colonel. One of my staff was also wounded by a shell. The command of the Seventeenth devolved on Lieut. Col. W. W. Floyd, and that of the Twenty-fifth on Lieut. Col. Samuel Davis, after the colonels of these regiments were wounded, which was early in this fight. Colonel [A. S.] Marks, of the Seventeenth Regiment, advanced within sight of the battery, afterward taken by his regiment, and exclaimed, "Boys! do you see that battery? It is ours, is it not?" It was, however, taken after he was wounded.

After clearing the woods, the Seventeenth Regiment was fired on by the enemy stationed in and about the cotton-gin, about 70 yards in front of a large Federal hospital. One piece of artillery was observed just on the left of the hospital and a battery of four guns about 300 yards to its right. This battery was playing on the woods occupied by the right of the brigade, and an undulation in the ground served to conceal from it the movements of the Seventeenth Regiment, while that regiment passed some 50 yards to its rear and about 150 yards from its right. The fire of the enemy in and about the cotton-gin was returned by the Seventeenth Regiment, killing and wounding several of the enemy, and the conflict was kept up on both sides until the regiment had passed the hospital, seven companies passing to the right of the hospital and three to the left. The enemy was now observed forming at a distance of several hundred yards in front. The battery on the right moved off about this time, leaving behind one piece of artillery. When our troops approached the hospital, a second flag was raised, and a man came out with another, a white flag, which he waved with much energy. A large number of prisoners had been passed in the woods, with whom our men were prohibited from leaving the field, and a number were captured with the hospital. The Seventeenth also captured here two wagons, well loaded with ammunition for small-arms, and the cannon on the left of the hospital. It will be observed that the lane which separated my right from my left wing, and along each side of which my men moved, passed immediately by this Federal hospital. The line of march to this hospital for my brigade was shorter than that for any brigade or regiment on my left. The Fifth Confederate Regiment, commanded by Col. J. A. Smith, of Brig. Gen. L. [E.] Polk's brigade, was the first command to reach the hospital after the Seventeenth Regiment Tennessee Volunteers. The officers of the Seventeenth Tennessee Regiment are very confident that this regiment was the first to reach and pass the hospital. Lieutenant-Colonel Floyd remarks that "At the time I ordered the charge into the woods in front of the hospital, I was at least 70 yards in advance of any other troops on my left; that we passed through the woods very rapidly, and certainly had less space to pass over in getting there than any troops on our left." There may be but little importance attached to the taking of this hospital, and but little honor won in reaching this position first, but as it has been made a subject of some conflict in opinion between honorable men, honestly differing in their opinion, it is but proper that the facts in the case should be determined. The only interest which the undersigned can have in the matter arises from an honest wish to have justice done to those who have a right to expect it at his hands, while