the Potomac, above the city. The battalion should be commanded by a field officer, carry three days' rations and forty rounds of ammunition, and march at once.

Respectfully,

J. H. TAYLOR,

Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF WASHINGTON, 22ND ARMY CORPS,
Washington, D. C. September 22, 1864.

Colonel H. M. LAZELLE,

Commanding Cavalry Brigade:

COLONEL: The major-general commanding directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 21st instant reporting the result of your scout to Rapidan bridge. Whilst a portion of your command behaved handsomely, it appears that a number of the enlisted men, if not influenced by the example of, at least not checked or rallied by, certain commissioned officer, behaved shamefully. It is desired that the names of these officers be forwarded to these headquarters.

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

J. H. TAYLOR,

Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY BRIGADE,
Near Fort Buffalo, Va., September 22, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel J. H. TAYLOR,

Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: I have the honor to report all quiet here since last evening. I herewith inclose an extract* from the report of Colonel Gansevoort, Thirteenth New York Cavalry, referring to a fight between Mosby and a small party detached from his main column on the last scout of the regiment. Not much confidence was placed in the report at the time of its receipt, but I now consider it certain that mosby was really wounded in this fight in the groin and cheek, and I deem it just that the Thirteenth Regiment should have the credit attached to the affair. Private Henry Smith, of Company H, Thirteenth New York Cavalry, is the man who wounded him. It was a bold deed and Smith deserves credit for it. On the receipt of the communication from the assistant provost-marshal, Military Department of Washington, with your indorsement, a party of fifty men was sent to Centerville to find the house of Doctor Ewell. On arriving there is wa ascertained that doctor Ewell's residence is about four miles and a half from Aldie, on the east side of Bull run Mountains, and not near Centerville, as stated; and the officer in command not considering it prudent to proceed as far as this with the number of men he had with him, returned this morning. In sending a party to Aldier on this errand it would not be safe to send one numbering less than 200 men, and it has been deemed better for the party to go under cover of night. The report that Mosby is a Doctor Ewell's is not confirmed by citizens about here. All agree is stating that he has been taken to Lynchburg for treatment. This was also ascertained from persons living near Rapidan Station, who reported

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*Extract not found; but see Gansevoort's full report, Part I, p. 616.

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10 R R-VOL XLIII, PT II