section (two guns) of the Fifth New York Battery to the skirmish line, and firing a few well-directed rounds of canister and case-shot soon drove the enemy's sharpshooters from the wood in a ravine near the railroad, and then shelled the enemy's works, driving them from their works in front of the First Division. About 4.30 p. m. one section of D, First Rhode Island, took position on the left of Lieutenant Grant's section and shelled the enemy's guns on our immediate front. About 11 a. m. Captain Miner, Seventeenth Indiana Battery, in compliance with instructions, took position with his battery in the earth-works in the rear of the town, and at intervals during the afternoon shelled the enemy with good effect. This closed the operations incident to the battles of Winchester and Strasburg. For reports of casualties* and ammunition expended by the batteries mentioned above, please see inclosures.

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

E. D. TAFT,

Captain and Chief of Artillery.

Major D. S. WALKER,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Nineteenth Army Corps.

No. 81. Report of Brigadier General William Dwight, commanding First Division, of operations September 19-23.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, NINETEENTH CORPS,
Harrisonburg, Va., September -, 1864.

SIR: In obedience to instructions from the headquarters Detachment Nineteenth Army Corps, I have the honor to forward the following report of the part taken by this division in the battles of the 19th and 22nd of September, near Winchester and at Fisher's Hill, Va.:

In compliance with orders the division moved from its camp near Berryville, Va., at 2 a. m. of the 19th. It was directed to follow the Second Division of this corps, but one brigade of that division not having moved at the hour directed, this division was ordered by the brevet major-general commanding the corps to move without reference to that division on the Berryville and Winchester pike to its crossing of Opequon Creek. The division marched int he direction ordered for some distance, when the road was found to be filled with other troops, both infantry and cavalry, and by direction of the brevet major-general commanding the corps the division was halted to take its place in the line of march. It again moved forward a short distance, when it was again halted by command of the brevet major-general commanding the corps, and remained halted until something after 7 a. m. At about this hour, or soon after it, and order came from the brevet major-general commanding the corps for the division to move forward rapidly on the right of the pike, while the Second Division moved on the left. A moment later an aide-de-camp of the major-general commanding the army delivered a direct order for the division to move forward and cross Opequon Creek as rapidly as possible, without reference to other troops. The division moved directly to the Opequon, across it, through the wooded defile beyond the stream, without any delay beyond that occasioned by a crowded road. It debouched beyond the defile upon

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*Embodied it tables, pp. 115, 123.

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