labors and to lighten the responsibilities which my official position imposed on me. I can only again recommend them, as well as those officers I have particularly mentioned in my report of specific battles, of the attention and consideration of those whose duty and business it is to point out the worthy and the meritorious when the jewels are made up and the rewards of merit distributed.

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

JAMES WOOD, JR.,

Colonel, Commanding Third Brigade, Third Division, 20th Corps.

Captain ROBERT E. BEECHER,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Third Division.

Numbers 269.

Reports of Colonel Samuel Ross, Twentieth Connecticut Infantry, of operations May 10-19.

HDQRS. TWENTIETH CONNECTICUT VOL. INFANTRY, Near Cassville, Ga., May 22, 1864.

LIEUTENANT: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the troops under my command to take possession of and hold the trail known as Boyd's Trail, between Buzzard Roost and Dug Gap, on the morning of the 10th instant, in pursuant to instructions from Major-General Hooker to Major-General Butterfield, dated May 9, 1864, 11.30 p. m., and through Colonel Coburn, communicated to me at 1.15 a. m., May 10, 1864, "the commanded of the Military Division of the Mississippi being under the impression that the enemy will try to break into the valley."

My command was composed of the Twentieth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Buckingham commanding, and the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, Colonel Gilbert commanding; in all about 950 men. Marching silently and cautiously in the dark about four miles, the command reached Boyd's Trail about 4 a. m. I immediately organized a double line of skirmishers, under the command of Major Griffin, of the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, composed of details from both regiments and advanced upon the enemy's picket-line and reserve. From citizens I learned that the trail was held by two rebel Virginia regiments, without artillery. Captain Ezra D. Dickerman had charge of the skirmishers of the Twentieth Connecticut Infantry and Lieutenant Charles W. Fonda, those from the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry. The advance was so rapid and vigorous that the enemy's picket reserve barely escaped capture. By 8 a. m. the enemy were driven from the trail to the top of the mountain, and we held full control of the trail. I then established a picket-line in a circular form, from the rocky face of the mountain on one side of the trail, around and across it to the same on the other side. I next established the main body on a hog-back hill, commanding the main road where the trail connects with it and much of the trail, and fortified my position undisturbed by the enemy, save occasional shots from sharpshooters from the top of Rocky Face, until noon on the 11th instant, when I relieved by the Thirty-third New Jersey Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel