precautions commander of advance guard; also Captain Reiching, of the Twenty-eighth, on the first day, and Captain West, of the Thirty-fourth, as commanders of the rear guard.

The detachment remained one hour on the ground till the arrival of General Cox, when the different companies joined their regiments.

L. VON BLESSINGH,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Thirty-seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteers, Commanding Detachment.

Colonel AUGUSTUS MOOR, Commanding Second Prov. Brigade.

Numbers 6. Report of Brigadier General Henry Heth, C. S. Army.

HEADQUARTERS NEW RIVER, May 19,
Via Dublin, Va., may 20, 1862.

By the co-operation of General Marshall, Cox has been driven from this section of the country, losing many prisoners, his entire camp and garrison equipage, baggage, &c. He will be pursued.

H. HETH,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

General R. E. LEE, Commander-in-Chief.

Numbers 7. Report of Brigadier General Humphrey Marshall, C. S. Army.

CAMP NEAR JEFFERSONVILLE, VA.,

May 22, 1862.

GENERAL: In my last letter I advised you that the opportune return of Brigadier-General Heth with his force to Dublin Depot rendered it unnecessary for me to proceed in that direction; but I ventured to suggest to that officer that a lateral movement be me, cutting the line of the enemy's communication at Princeton, might assist him materially in clearing the country of the column which was endeavoring to penetrate to the railroad. General Heth approving the idea, I moved my whole force at once via Salville toward this place, arriving here on the 12th instant.

I took the responsibility of ordering to the field some skeleton companies just recruited and intended to form part of a new regiment authorized by an order of the Secretary of War of April 9, issued to Major McMahon, formerly General Floyd's aide-de-camp. This corps, composed of seven companies, so called, did not number more than 400 men, and none of them were trained at all. Under my order thy elected a lieutenant-colonel for the time only to lead them on this expedition. I also took the responsibility of placing in their hands the old muskets turned in to General Dimmock by Colonel Frigg, which i found at Abingdon.

I left Abingdon with a force composed of the Fifty-fourth Virginia (600 men), the Twenty-ninth Virginia (420 men, four companies, wholly recruits, three raised by me this spring and one by Lieutenant march), the Fifth Kentucky (500 men), Dunn's battalion of recruits (400 men), and Bradley's Mounted Kentucky Rifles (about 275 men), making an

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