of his officers and men has received my unqualified approbation, and deserves the notice and thanks of the Government.*

* * * * * * *

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. W. LORING,

Major-General, Commanding.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General.

Numbers 2. Report of Brigadier General A. G. Jenkins, C. S. Army, commanding expedition.

HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY BRIGADE,
Camp on Kanawha, W. Va., September 19, 1862.

COLONEL: This command, consisting at that time of seven companies of the Eighth Virginia Cavalry, under Colonel [J. M.] Corns, and five other mounted companies under Captain [W. R.] Preston, left the Salt Sulphur Springs, in Monroe County, Virginia, on the 22nd ultimo, for an expedition into the northwestern part of the State, and thence to fall in rear of the enemy, who held the month of Gauley and Fayetteville, by striking the Kanawha Valley. Learning on the first day's march of a condition of things which made it desirable to send a small force by the opposite route to come in on the south side of the Kanawha River, I sent Captain [W. E.] Hernadon with his company for that purpose. I was also compelled to leave Captain [E. E.] Bouldin and his company for want of proper ammunition for his arms. My whole force amounted at this time to something over 500 men. In the course of the next few days we passed by easy marches through the Great Sewell settlement of Greenbrier County, the Little Sewell settlement of Pocahontas County, thence by the Big Spring, and over the Valley Mountain down the headwaters of Tygart's Valley River. I was at this same under the impression that the enemy had but 450 men at Beverly and intended to attack him at that point, but hearing a rumor on the evening before the day I expected to make the attack that General Kelley had reached there with 1,500 men, I determined, if possible, to ascertain its correctness. For this purpose we used every effort to capture some of the enemy's scouts as we approached Huttonsville, and when within 5 or 6 miles of the latter place we succeeded in doing so. I regret to say that in the capture of these scouts Mr. Charles Tompkins, acting as aide, received a wound in the arm. He is, however, rapidly recovering from its effects. Of the enemy's scouting party of 6 we captured 2 and killed 1, the latter being one of the two brothers named Gibson, and notorious through all that section for the persecution of their loyal neighbors, guiding the Yankees through the country and inciting them to deeds of violence. We endeavored to take him alive, but he refused to surrender and resisted to the last. From the two prisoners (whom I examined apart) I learned that General Kelley was certainly at Beverly, and with some 1,500 men. Another prisoner whom we took during the day confirmed their state-

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*Portion omitted relates to campaign September 6-16 in the Kanawha Valley, and will be found printed in Series I, Vol. XIX, Part I, pp. 1068-1975.

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