and a little before daylight upon the morning of the 1st of December Brigadier-General Baker came up with 860 of his brigade from North Carolina; the remainder of his command (about 1,100) reached Coosawhatchie at 9 o'clock. Lieutenant-General Hardee arrived at Grahamville Station between 8 and 9 o'clock of morning of the 1st of December.

The enemy having been beaten back on the 30th of November, and the Confederate forces having now arrived, there was, in my judgment, no longer any necessity for retaining the State troops of Georgia beyond their legal jurisdiction. I therefore asked and obtained permission to bring these exhausted troops back to their own State. They arrived here, by Lieutenant-General Hardee's order, about 10 o'clock that night.

For full particulars of the engagement near Grahamville, S. C., I refer you to the reports of subordinate commanders, which will be forwarded as soon as furnished.

G. W. SMITH,

Major-General.

Lieutenant General W. J. HARDE,

Commanding Department.

The above copy is transmitted to General J. B. Hood because most of the operations referred to were by his direction while the militia formed part of his command.

G. W. S.

[Inclosure.]

MACON, November 19, 1864.

Lieutenant General RICHARD TAYLOR,

Commanding, &c., Selma, Ala.:

GENERAL: General Beauregard has informed me by telegraph that you will take the immediate command of the forces in Georgia, and directed me to report to you by letter. My own proper command consists of one division of militia, four brigades of infantry, numbering in all 1,900 effective muskets when we left Lovejoy's. I have not yet received the return since their arrival here yesterday afternoon. Besides the militia, there was temporarily assigned to me by General Cobb one regiment and two battalions of reserve infantry, numbering about 900, some 300 reserves and local cavalry, and one battalion of Confederate artillery. The forces other than the militia proper will, I take for granted, be now placed under some other commander. The enemy moved their strongest column through McDonough, and when I was at Griffin they had passed through McDonough, and were nearer Macon than I was. When a reached Forsyth, having made fifty miles in forty-eight hours, they were reported crossing the Ocmulgee, and could, by a rapid march, reach March by the left bank of the Ocmulgee without opposition. General Cobb ordered the cars to Forsyth for the infantry, and directed me to move the whole command to this place without delay. General Wheeler was the senior officer on this theater of operations, and without giving direct orders to the infantry and artillery, strongly advised, so soon as he developed the strength of the enemy, that I should move to Macon at once. I fully concurred in opinion with both General Sherman has with him in this movement at least 35,000 effective men, and informs me that the Fourteenth Army

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