Inclosed herewith I hand you return of casualties.* I will forward as soon as possible the report of such officers and men as deserve special mention.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBT. H. G. MINTY,

Colonel, Commanding.

Captain W. B. CURTIS,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Second Cavalry Division.

Numbers 68. Report of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Klein, Third Indiana Cavalry.

HDQRS. THIRD BATTALION THIRD INDIANA CAVALRY, Six miles from Winchester, Tenn., July 7, 1863.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations of my command since leaving Murfreesborough, on the 24th of June:

Nothing of interest occurred until the 27th, when our forces advanced on Shelbyville, when the first determined opposition was found 4 miles from that place. When the artillery was opened upon us, Colonel Mintry ordered my command to proceed to the left, with orders, if we met the enemy, to charge them, saying he would send us a guide to show us where to go. The guide never came. We proceeded through thick woods, dense undergrowth, and tangled vines to the left, until we reached the enemy's abatis and rifle-pits, where no horseman could go forward, and, the firing having ceased, we knew not our exact position. I sent for orders, and, on receiving them, turned to the right, to a point where I could cross the abatis and pits. Here the roads cut through the woods led to the left, which following, we reached the Fairfield and Bellbuckle pike, 2 1\2 miles from the city. We moved down this smartly to the point, when a citizen told us it turned to the Murfreesborough pike. We then left it, and, passing fields, orchards, and woods, reached the outskirts of town nearly a half mile from the Murfreesborough road. We started on a run for the city, and passed through the last alley on the east of the pike, reaching the railroad several hundred yards from the depot. Part of my men crossing the railroad beyond the engine-house, and the remainder passing under the trestle-work, we found the enemy in line on road leading from depot station to Steele & Holt's Mill. My men coming up rather scattered, the enemy commenced firing and advancing, until my men got somewhat formed, when, firing a volley, we drew saber and charged into their ranks. They fled in disorder near a half mile toward the mail, where, the commons narrowing into a lane, they must fight or be run down. They fought from here to the mill desperately, using saber and clubbing muskets and pistols. The fight was hand-to-hand for 300 yards, when both parties plunged into the river. Even here we used the trusty saber with effect. We killed 3 men, wounded some 125 with saber, and captured 1 lieutenant-colonel, 1 captain, one of General Wheeler's staff, adjutant Fifty-first Alabama and adjutant Eighth Confederate, both badly wounded with saber, and some 6 company officers and 70 enlisted men. Our loss was 1 man drowned and 3 wounded; some others of my men were unhorsed by blows from clubbed muskets, but not seriously injured. My officers

---------------

*Embodied in revised statement, p. 423.

---------------