OCTOBER 1-4, 1864.-South from Helena to Alligator Bayou, Ark.

Report of Lieutenant Alexander F. Rice, Sixtieth U. S. Colored Troops.

HEADQUARTERS BATTERY D,
Helena, Ark., October 5, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor of submitting the following report of a scout, beginning on the 1st day of and ending on the 4th day of October, 1864, which resulted as follows:

I took Hardin and Gentry with a skiff and proceeded up the river (on the mail-boat Diligence) as far as Doctor Peters', at the foot of Council Bend. Got in the skiff at 11 p. m. the same night and landed on the Arkansas shore. Proceeded to Doctor Peter's house, captured a man there by the name of W. D. Freeman. At daylight, the 2nd, crossed over to the Mississippi shore and captured William C. Tannahill (with a revolver). Said Tannahill was regularly detailed to ferry Confederate soldiers by order of General Price. Came back to the Arkansas shore and proceeded to Alligator Bayou, on the Saint Francis River, and proceeded up the river five miles, and came back to Alligator; staid all night. At daylight, the 3rd of October, we started back to Doctor Peters; arrived there at 12 m. I took a bond of $1,000 for the appearance of W. D. Freeman, at Helena within ten days, with Doctor Peters as security. At 1 o'clock starter down the river for Helena; came twenty miles, staid all night; started at 6 a. m. the 4th; came down ten miles to Berry's, in Walnut Bend, and captured B. A. Berry and H. A. D. Waddell. Berry had been a prisoner, but escaped by jumping off a boat. Waddell is a private of the First Tennessee Infantry. Arrived at Helena at 5 p. m. the 4th October, 1864.

A. F. RICE,

Lieutenant, Commanding Scout.

Captain T. C. MEATYARD, Assistant Adjutant-General.

OCTOBER 1-31, 1864-Operations in Arkansas.

SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS.*

October 3, 1864.- Skirmish near Mount Elba, Ark.

4-11, 1864.- Reconnaissance from Little Rock toward Monticello and to Mount Elba, Ark.

13-18, 1864.- Expedition from Pine Bluff to Arkansas Post, Ark.

19-23, 1864.- Reconnaissance from Little Rock to Princeton, Ark., with skirmish (23d) at Hurricane Creek.

24-27, 1864.- Scout from Pine Bluff toward Mount Elba, Ark.

25, 1864.- Skirmish near the Half-way House, between Little Rock, and Pine Bluff, Ark.

26-28, 1864.- Expedition from Little Rock to Irvin's plantation, Ark.

26-Nov. 2, 1864.-Expedition from Brownsville to Cotton Plant, Ark.

REPORTS.

Numbers 1.- Major General Frederick Steele, U. S. Army, commanding Department of Arkansas.

Numbers 2.- Itinerary of the First Brigade, Cavalry Division, Seventh Army Corps, Colonel Albert Erskine, Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry, commanding.

Numbers 3.- Colonel John F. Ritter, First Missouri Cavalry, commanding Second Brigade.

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* See also attack on steamer Resolute, October 11, p. 884; expedition from Devall's Bluff, October 16-17, p. 889; and attack on Union transport, hear Saint Charles, October 22, p. 889.

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