wounded, and missing. The enemy's repulse was decisive. The army was put in motion for Shreveport, via Pleasant Hill and Mansfield, April 6. General Lee, with the cavalry division, led the advance, followed by a detachment of two divisions of the Thirteenth Corps, under General Ransom; First Division, Nineteenth Corps, under General Emory, and a brigade of colored troops under command of Colonel Dickey, the whole under the immediate command of Major-General Franklin. The detachments of the Sixteenth Army Corps, under command of Brigadier General A. J. Smith, followed on the 7th, and a division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, under Brigadier General T. Kilby Smith, accompanying Admiral Porter on the river as a guard for the transports. The fleet was directed to Loggy Bayou, opposite Springfield, where it was expected communications would be established with the land forces at Sabine Cross-Roads, a distance of 54 miles by land from Grand Ecore, and 100 miles by water.

I remained with a portion of my staff to superintend the departure of the river and land forces from Grand Ecore until the morning of the 7th and then rode rapidly forward, reaching the head of the column at Pleasant Hill the same evening, where the main body encamped. General Smith's command was at the rear of the column on the march, but passed the negro brigade on the route to Pleasant Hill. A very heavy rain fell all day on the 7th, which greatly impeded the movement of the rear of the column, making the road almost impassable for troops, trains, or artillery. The storm did not reach the head of the column. In passing the troops from Natchitoches to Pleasant Hill I endeavored as much as possible to accelerate their movements. The enemy offered no opposition to their march on the 6th. On the 7th, the advance drove a small force to Pleasant Hill, and from there to Wilson's farm, 3 miles beyond, where a sharp fight occurred with the enemy posted in a very strong position, from which they were driven with serious loss and pursued to Saint Patrick's Bayou, near Carroll's Mill, about 9 miles from Pleasant Hill, where our forces bivouacked for the night. We sustained in this action a loss of 14 men killed, 39 wounded, and 9 missing. We captured many prisoners and the enemy sustained severe losses in killed and wounded. During the action General Lee sent to General Franklin for re-enforcements, and a brigade of infantry was sent forward, but the firing having ceased it was withdrawn. The officers and men fought with great spirit in this affair. At daybreak on the 8th, General Lee, to whose support a brigade of the Thirteenth Corps, under Colonel Landram, had been sent by my order, advanced upon the enemy, drove him from his position on the opposite side of Saint Patrick's Bayou, and pursued him to Sabine Cross-Roads, about 3 miles from Mansfield. The advance was steady but slow, and the resistance of the enemy stubborn. He was only driven from his defensive positions on the road by artillery. At noon on the 8th, another brigade of the Thirteenth Corps arrived at the cross-roads under Brigadier-General Ransom to relieve the First Brigade.

The infantry moved from Pleasant Hill at daybreak on the 8th, the head of the column halting at Saint Patrick's Bayou in order that the rear might come up. I passed General Franklin's headquarters at 10 a. m., giving directions to close up the column as speedily as possible, and rode forward to ascertain the condition of affairs at the front, where I arrived between 1 and 2 o'clock. General Ransom arrived nearly at the same time, with the Second Brigade, Thirteenth Corps, which was under his command in the action at the