DECEMBER 13, 1861.-Engagement at Camp Alleghany, W. Va.

Report of Brigadier General Robert H. Milroy, U. S. Army.

HDQRS. SECOND BRIGADE, CHEAT MOUNTAIN DIVISION,
Huttonsville, Va., December --, 1861.

SIR: In accordance with duty, I respectfully submit the following report of the operations of some troops under my command against the rebel camp at Alleghany Summit on the 13th instant:

My command consisted of the following detachments: 700 of the Ninth Indiana Regiment, under Colonel Moody; 400 of the Twenty-fifth Ohio Regiment, under Colonel Jones; 250 of the Second Virginia, under Major Owens; 300 of the Thirteenth Indiana, under Major Dobbs; 130 of the Thirty-second Ohio, under Captain Hamilton, 30 of Captain Bracken's cavalry, under command of Captain Bracken, and 75 of Captain Rigby's artillery, who went along without arms, expecting to take possession of the enemy's guns when captured. Scouting parties of the enemy had been frequently of late at and in vicinity of their old camp, Bartow, at Greenbrier, and skirmishes had taken place repeatedly between them and scouting parties sent out from the Ninth Indian Regiment, stationed at Cheat Mountain summit. Two companies of the Ninth Indiana Regiment were out on the morning of the 12th instant to go on to Camp Bartow, with orders to hold it till our forces arrived there in the evening; but when within about two miles of Bartow their advanced guard, consisting of fourteen men, was fired on by a party of about sixty rebels in ambush, and two of the advance guard, Jonah G. Porter, of Company G, and Charles Rhoades, of the regimental band, were killed and - wounded, - but the rebels fled rapidly over the mountain on the approach of the companies. The whole of the force left Cheat Mountain summit on the afternoon of the 12th instant, and arrived at Camp Bartow soon after dark, and stopped there a few hours for rest and refreshment. The intention was to take the enemy's camp by surprise by attacking them simultaneously at daybreak on their left flank, where their artillery was stationed, and on their right and rear. For this purpose I divided my forces at Camp Bartow into two bodies, and sent the detachments of the Ninth Indiana and Second Virginia, under Colonel Moody, around by the Greenbank road, nearly twelve miles, to the point of attack on the enemy's left, while the detachments from the Twenty-fifth Ohio, Thirteenth Indiana, Thirty-second Ohio Volunteers, and Bracken's cavalry went up under my immediate command along the Stauton pike to the place of attack on the right and rear. When about two miles from the enemy's camp my advanced guard was fired upon by the pickets of the enemy, by which Corpl. Levi S. Stewart, of the Twenty-fifth Ohio Regiment, Company E, was killed.

We posted on to a point one mile from the enemy's camp, when my column debouched to the left from the pike to attain the intended position on the right and rear of the enemy, which had to be reached by passing up a steep mountain side and over the top. I ordered Colonel Jones to take command of the whole forces here (except the reserves, composed of Bracken's cavalry and a company of the Thirteenth Indiana) and to advance to the required position, and there await, without making any attack, till he heard the attack on the other side of the mountain camp, to be made by Colonel Moody; but upon coming to the mountain, Company A, of the Thirteenth Indiana, being in advance, and the direction of it at this point being taken by Lieutenant I. B. McDonald, aide-de-camp to General Reynolds, they soon came