On the 13th the Nineteenth Wisconsin was assigned to my command, and on the day following the Ninth Vermont also reported to me.

On the 15th my line of defense was extended to Battery Onondaga, at the mouth of Jericho Creek. It may suffice here to remark that all points of the defenses have been constantly strengthened each day since the commencement of the siege, all soldiers, including pickets, being required to labor day and night on the intrenchments.

On Tuesday, the 14th, the enemy having, from a battery nearly opposite the small-pox hospital, engaged and damaged the naval forces on the river, I was ordered to reconnoiter positions for counter batteries and superintended their construction. Under the supervision of the general commanding division I constructed Batteries Kimball and Morris, the Tenth and Thirteenth New Hampshire and Eighth Connecticut bivouacking near at hand as supports.

Early on the morning of the 15th these batteries, consisting of two 20-pounder Parrotts, two 3-inch rifled guns, and three 10-pounder Parrotts, being detachments from the Second and Fourth Wisconsin and Morris' Independent Batteries, opened fire, and by 10 o'clock the rebels ceased to reply.

On the 17th the Ninth Vermont Volunteers proceed to Fort Connecticut. Meantime the military road from Suffolk to Fort Stevens had been completed by the Twenty-fifth New Jersey Volunteers, five companies of which regiment were in camp at Broer's Creek.

On April 18 General Harland superseded me in command of the troops on the Jericho, and I was assigned to duty on the 19th on the line of the Nansemond, making my headquarters at Fort Connecticut.

On the evening of the 19th the rebel battery of five guns at Hill's Point was captured by detachments from the Eighth Connecticut and the Eighty-ninth New York. The following is an account of the capture of the Hill's Point Battery on the Nansemond River:

Shortly before sunset the gunboats on the river and the four rifled guns at and near Battery Stevens (two 20-pounder Parrotts, Captain Morris, and two 3-inch ordnance guns, Captain Vallee) opened a terrific fire upon the rebel battery. Meantime detachments from the Eighty-ninth New York, Lieutenant-Colonel England, and the Eighth Connecticut, Colonel Ward, embarked on the gunboat Stepping Stones, Lieutenant Lamson, at a point about a mile above the battery. Protected by the artillery fire the gunboat boldly steamed down the river and ran close to the shore, about 200 yards above the rebel work - the shore at the point being on abrupt bluff. Immediately the troops disembarked, wading to their waists in water, ascend the bluff, and with loud cheers charged on the rear of the fort. Meantime the gunboat's crew had landed four boat howitzers, placed them in position, and opened on the fort. The enemy, taken completely by surprise, were able to discharge but two or three volleys of musketry and one gun, when our troops entered the work and captured the entire party, consisting of 7 officers and 130 men, with five brass guns and a large supply of ammunition.

I was now directed by Brigadier-General Getty to assume command of the post and put it in a state of defense during the night. The force at my disposal for this purpose consisted of detachments of the Eighth Connecticut, Eighty-ninth New York, Tenth New Hampshire, and Ninth Vermont, in all about 700 men. The soldiers, although fatigued and fasting, worked with a most commendable zeal to intrench themselves, as we fully expected an attack in the morning.

To the two detachments first names especial credit is due. The had been under arms nearly all day, had most gallantry captured the