On the morning of the 7th I sent directions to Captain Folwell to investigate the matter of suspected mining by the enemy in front of Fort Stedman. He spent one hour and twenty minutes in the listening gallery and heard and noises which might easily be imagined to proceed from miners at work. These observations he reported to Major-General Parke, and by his direction to the chief engineer. Captain Dexter reports that up to noon of the 7th the revetment of the breast-work on the left of Battery 21 and the repairs on the breast-work between Battery 20 and Fort Rice were all completed; also about two-thirds of the requisite quantity of material delivered for reverting the second line from Fort Meikel to the Norfolk railway. About noon on the 7th I sent orders for all these officers to return to camp with their commands, except Lieutenant Tuttle and twenty-five men to prosecute investigations in regard to suspecting mining, and in obedience to orders from Major-General Meade I reported to Colonel Tippin, commanding headquarters troops. During the afternoon of the same day all the pontoon trains in the field, except a train of twenty canvas boats and the train of twelve canvas boats absent with Brevet Major Van Brocklin, were, by order of Major-General Meade, returned within the defenses of City Point.

On the morning of the 9th, by your orders, I sent Brevet Major Folwell, with three companies, to stockade the gorges of all the works in front of the Sixth Corps, from Battery 24 to Fort Keene, and Brevet Major McDonald, also with three companies, to do the same in front of the Second Corps from Fort Urmston to Fort Siebert. About 2 p.m., and when the work above mentioned was but partially done, I received your orders to withdraw all my men from these works, except one non-commissioned officer at each point, to direct the details from the garrisons as to the manner of doing the work, and to report to Colonel Tippin. Before my men had reached camp I learned that Colonel Tippin had marched with his command toward Hatcher's Run, and I sent an officer to report to him. He sent me word that he had no orders for me, and requested that I should report to Major-General Humphreys, which I did. General Humphreys had no orders for me, and my men remained in camp during the night. About 3 p.m. on the 10th, I received orders from you to march my whole command and a bridge train with the reserves of the Ninth Corps to the assistance of General Warren, and to report to General Potter. I should have mentioned before that on the evening of the 6th I sent Brevet Major Van Brocklin with a bridge train and a detachment of about 300 men of my command to report to General Warren and accompany his expedition. I moved my command out of camp at 4 p.m., marched to the Jerusalem plank road, reported to General Potter on the way, and was, and was assigned a position in his column. The troops were marched all night, and at 5 o'clock the next morning we bivouacked near Freeman's Bridge, on the Nottoway River.

About 11 a.m. the head of General Warren's column reached the river on the south side, and Major Van Brocklin commenced throwing his bridge. General Potter sent me an order to report for duty to General Warren, and the latter directed that I should throw another bridge from the north side as speedily as possible. Brevet Major Folwell immediately moved his train to the river and commenced the construction of his bridge. Major Van Brocklin's bridge, consisting of eight boats in short spans of sixteen feet, was completed in one hour and three minutes, some delay having been caused by cutting down the north approach. Length of bridge, 150 feet. Major Folwell's bridge, consisting of seven boats in long spans of twenty feet, was completed in about thirty-five minutes. Length of bridge, 160 feet. As soon as the first bridge was completed the troops commenced crossing and continued to do so in compact order until the rear guard crossed about 5 p.m. During the afternoon Major Van Brocklin moved all his wagons and surplus materials to the north side to be ready for loading when his bridge should be dismantled. At 4 p.m. General Warren gave permission to remove one of the bridges, and I directed Major Folwell to remove his. In the space of thirty-five minutes this bridge was dismantled and loaded and the train moved off to the high ground. At 5.30 p.m. General Warren informed me that his troops had all crossed and the remaining bridge could be moved. I immediately sent Lieutenant Morrison with twenty men across the river to deploy as skirmishers to prevent the enemy's sharpshooters approaching the river in the dark before the bridge was removed; deployed a large force from my own command along the north bank, and the removal of the bridge commenced. The night was quite dark, but in about an hour the bridge was dismantled and loaded. Our skirmishers were withdrawn by the last boat, and the train was moved to the high ground near the Jerusalem plank road. Here the teams were unharnessed and fed and the men lay down to get to get a few hours' rest. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 12th I started on my return with my command and trains; passed all General Warren's command before they had moved out on the road, and having the way clear, we reached our old camp at 12.30 p.m. The men suffered somewhat from wet and cold feet during the night of the 10th, the mud and snow rendering it very hard marching and the night of the 11th, the cold was very severe. Brevet Majors Van Brocklin and Folwell speak highly of the manner in which their officers and men performed their duties as pontoniers, and