HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, TENTH ARMY CORPS,
In the Field, near Curtis', Va., May 21, 1864.

COLONEL: I have the honor to report the operations of my command on the 20th instant:

In the morning the enemy attacked with overwhelming force the picket-line in front of General Ames' division and in my front, the weight of the attack being upon General Ames, whose outposts, with a portion of mine, were driven from their rifle-pits, of which possession was taken by the enemy. During the attack and the efforts of General Ames to reinstate his line on its old ground, that portion of the artillery under my command which is stationed in Redoubt Numbers 3 opened heavily and effective upon the enemy. My pickets consisted of the Forty-eighth and One hundred and forty-second New York, of Turner's division. I soon re-enforced them by the Sixth Connecticut, and shortly before 2 o'clock, in obedience to the instructions of Major-General Gillmore, I directed Colonel J. B. Howell, of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanding the First Brigade of my division, to advance with his command, drive the enemy back, and retake our pits. This, after a very spirited contest, he most gallantly accomplished, and re-established our line, except upon its extreme left, where it was necessarily somewhat refused to connect with General Ames' new line, I refer to Colonel Howell's report, which is inclosed, for the details of his movements.* I desire to bring to the notice of the major-general commanding the skill and good conduct which Colonel Howell displayed in this affair: Skill and conduct, however, which alone was to be expected from an officer of such capacity, chivalrous character, and entire devotion to duty.

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

ALF. H. TERRY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Lieutenant Colonel E. W. SMITH,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Tenth Army Corps.

[36.]

HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, TENTH ARMY CORPS,
In the Field, near Curtis', Va., June 14, 1864.

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that on the 2nd instant the enemy made an attack on our picket-line, and for a time achieved a partial success. Our pickets consisted of the Eleventh Maine, on the right, the Thirty-ninth Illinois, in the center, the Seventh Connecticut, on the left. Two principal attacks were made, one on the extreme left, the other on the right of Seventh Connecticut and left of the Thirty-ninth Illinois, while all along the line the enemy's skirmishers, supported in many places by a line, captured some prisoners, and threatened to advance on the redoubt in front of Battery Numbers 6, but our pickets, re-enforced from the garrison of the redoubt, consisting of Captain Pride's company, of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, and a detachment of Spear's cavalry, dismounted, drove them back with loss, both of killed, wounded, and prisoners, and re-established our line. The right of the Seventh Connecticut and left of the Thirty-ninth Illinois rested in the woods in front of the then unfinished redoubt in front of Battery Numbers 3. The line at this point was baldy located, presenting

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* See p. 1237.

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