than half an hour)ensued, and I was compiled to resort to Major-General Grant to procure the order for their aid. Colonel Boomer, commanding THIRD Brigade, of Quinby's DIVISION, on receiving the command from General Grant, came gallantly up the hill; Colonel Holmes, with two small regiments, tenth Missouri and SEVENTEENTH Iowa, soon followed. The entire force sent amounted to about 2,000 men.

My DIVISION in the mean time had been compelled to yield ground before overwhelming numbers. Slowly and stubbornly they fell back, contesting with death every inch of the field they had won. Colonel Boomer and Colonel Holmes gallantly and heroically rushed with their commands into the conflict, but the enemy had massed his forces, and slowly pressed our whole line with re-enforcements backward to a point near the brow of the hill. Here a stubborn stand was made. The irregularity of our line of battle had previously prevented me from using artillery in enfilading the enemy's line, but as our forces were compelled to fall slowly back, the lines became marked and distinct, and about 2. 30 p. m. I could easily perceive, by the sound of fire-arms through the woods, the position of the respective armies. I at once ordered the First Missouri Battery, commanded by Captain Schofield, and the SIXTEENTH Ohio Battery, under First Lieutenant Murdock, to take position in an open field, beyond a slight mound on my right, in advance of, and with parallel ranges of their guns with, my lines. About the same time Captain Dillon's Wisconsin battery was put in position; two sections of the SIXTEENTH Ohio Battery on the left, the Wisconsin battery in the center, and Captain Schofield's battery on the right. Trough the rebel ranks these batteries hurled an incessant shower of shot and shell, entirely enfilading the rebel columns.

The fire was terrific for several minutes, and the cheers from our men on the brow of the hill told of the success. The enemy gave back, and our forces, under General McGinnis, colonel Slack, colonel Boomer, and Colonel Holmes, drove them again over the ground which had been hotly contested for the THIRD time during the day, five more of the eleven guns not taken down hill falling a SECOND time into our possession.

I cannot think of this bloody hill without sadness and pride. Sadness for the great loss of my true and gallant men; pride for the heroic bravery they displayed. No prouder DIVISION ever met as vastly superior foe and fought with more unflinching firmness and stubborn valor. It was, after the conflict, literally the hill of death; men, horses, cannon, and the debris of an army lay scattered in wild confusion. Hundreds of the gallant Twelfth DIVISION were cold in death or writhing in pain, and, with large numbers of Quinby's gallant boys, lay dead, dying, or wounded, intermixed with our fallen foe. Thus ended the battle of Champion's Hill at about 3 p. m., and our heroes slept upon the field with the dead and dying around them.

I never saw fighting like this. The loss of my DIVISION, on this field alone, was nearly one-THIRD of my forces engaged. Of the Twenty-NINTH Wisconsin, twenty-fourth and Twenty-eighth Iowa, in what words of praise shall I speak? Not more than six months in the service, their record will compare with the oldest and best tried regiments in the field. All honor is due to their gallant officers and men; and Colonels Gill, Byam, and Connell have my thanks for the skill with which they handled their respective commands, and for the fortitude, endurance, and bravery displayed by their gallant men.

It is useless to speak in praise of the Eleventh, twenty-fourth,