[CHAP. XXXV.

for 3 1/2 miles. His instructions having been complied with, he returned to his camp at Cowan. Sheridan's division remained at Cowan until the 10th instant, when he was ordered to make a reconnaissance toward Bridgeport and Jasper. He is now performing that duty, some of his troops being in the vicinity of those places to-day, the 12th.

From the 24th of June until the taking of Manchester and Cowan, on the 3rd of July, the Twentieth Corps marched, bivouacked, and fought in almost incessant rain, and if afford me the greatest pleasure to report to the general commanding the gallant Army of the Cumberland that I have not heard a word of murmur or complaint in this corps from the highest officer down to the youthful drummer. Officers and soldiers vied with each other in the performance of their duties, and I have yet to hear of a single straggler.

The Thirty-ninth Regiment Indiana Volunteers (mounted infantry) was the only mounted force that marched with my command. They led the advance, watched the flanks, skirmished on the 24th and 25th of June at Liberty Gap, did all the patrolling and vedette duty, kept up communication with the forces on my right; four companies charged the enemy at Tullahoma, Winchester, and at the ford of Boiling Fork of Elk River, and accompanied Colonel Watkins on his reconnaissance on the 4th of July.

Colonel T. J. Harrison, Lieutenant-Colonel Jones, and Major Evans, of this regiment, are recommended for promotion. My thanks are due to the officers and men of this regiment.

Major General P. H. Sheridan, Brigadier Gens. R. W. Johnson and Jeff. C. Davis, division commanders, are entitled to my warmest thanks for the energy and zeal displayed in every action and movement. They did everything that gallant and accomplished officers could do. They are recommended to my superiors and my country.

The actions at Liberty Gap, on the 24th and 25th of June, among the momentous events occurring on the flanks of the great Army of the Union, can be classified only as skirmishes, yet I never witnessed more gallantry and heroism in officers and soldiers than was displayed on the 24th and reported to me of the action on the 25th. Colonel Watkins, of the Sixth Kentucky, and Lieutenant-Colonel Watts, Second Kentucky Cavalry, are favorably spoken of by General Sheridan. My staff officers all did their duty well. My thanks are due to Captain B. D. Williams, aide-de-camp, and Captain A. C. McClurg, Eighty-eighth Illinois, ordnance officer.

My corps has been well supplied with rations, due to the efficiency of Lieutenant Colonel G. W. Burton, commissary of subsistence, Twentieth Corps, and his assistants, the division commissaries. Lieutenant-Colonel Boyd was ever efficient in forwarded his transportation trains.

Dr. [Jabez] Perkins, of this corps, has always kept his department in a most efficient condition. The medical officers and chaplains of Johnson's and Davis' divisions displayed skill and energy, and were unceasing in their efforts in caring for the wounded.

Reports of division, brigade, and (in Johnson's division) regimental commanders are respectfully forwarded; also the list of casualties of this command.* For particular mention of officers and men, I refer you to the inclosed reports.

During these operations this corps captured 293 prisoners, stragglers, and deserters. I cannot state what loss was inflicted upon the enemy in killed and wounded. Seventy-five dead rebels were left inside our lines at Liberty Gap. From their own accounts their loss was far greater than ours.

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*See revised statement, p. 421.

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