Numbers 79. Report of Lieutenant Colonel John C. Chadwick, Ninety-second U. S. Colored Troops, of action near Moreauville.

HDQRS. NINETY-SECOND U. S. COLORED TROOPS,
Morganza, La., June 13, 1864.

GENERAL: I have the honor to report that on the 17th of May, while acting as a part of the convoy to the trains of the recent Red River expedition on their passage from Mansura to Yellow Bayou, near Simsport, this regiment was ordered out as flankers and skirmishers. Soon after entering the woods the enemy was discovered in some force, and was at once engaged. Skirmishing with them continued for an hour and a half, which resulted in their being forced back, and a safe passage to the trains guaranteed. This was the first time this regiment, as a whole, had been engaged with the enemy, and I must say that their conduct was as good as that of any new troops. There were instances of cool courage and determined bravery which would compare with the conduct on the battle-field of any veteran. Antoine Davis, acting first sergeant of Company E, was shot in the head, left breast, and groin by the same weapon, a pistol, in the hands of a rebel cavalryman, but could not be moved from his ground until the shot in the groin laid him upon the earth. he received the enemy's fire with the muzzle of the pistol resting against his left breast. I regret to be obliged to report his death in hospital at New Orleans on the night of the 22nd instant. The regiment was and is now armed with the Springfield smooth-bore musket, of very inferior and defective quality, many of them becoming useless at the first fire.

Nine of the enemy are known to have been killed. The casualties in this command are as follows, viz: Killed, 2; wounded, 4; missing, 6; total, 12.

I have the honor to be, general, your very obedient servant,

JNO. C. CHADWICK,

Lieutenant Colonel, Commanding Ninety-second U. S. Colored Infantry.

Brigadier General L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General U. S. Army.

Numbers 80. Itinerary of the Cavalry Division, Department of the Gulf, march 10-May 26.*

The First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Brigades, Second Massachusetts Battery, and Battery G, Fifth U. S. Artillery, were concentrated at Franklin, La., by the 10th instant.

March 14.-This force, Brigadier General, A. L. Lee commanding, left Franklin for Alexandria via New Iberia, Opelousas, Washington, and Cheneyville, and arrived near Alexandria on the 19th, having captured a few stragglers, but encountered no force of the enemy. At Alexandria was General A. J. Smith's infantry command.

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*From returns for March, April, and May.

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