on which had marched the evening previous. My line was scarcely formed when I was ordered by Lieutenant-General Pemberton to advance and occupy the ground on which Brigadier-General Green, of General Bowen's DIVISION, had formed his brigade, which was in my front and to the left. Informing you of the order, I advanced from the covered position I held, and formed, as ordered, on a commanding eminence in the middle of a field, and over which the enemy must advance. The position was a very strong one and tenable. My line had not been entirely rectified when I received orders to fall back with my brigade some half a mile and beyond the junction of the military road with the road leading to Raymond by Mrs. Ellison's my right to rest on the road and extending to the right of General Bowen's DIVISION. I was here joined by the Thirty-FIFTH Alabama Regiment, which had been ordered to fall back before the enemy. I formed the line as directed, which enabled me to hold one regiment in reserve. This position was in the midst of a dense timber, opening on a grove around the residence of Mr. Ratliff. Mu artillery was placed in position on the right and left of the road by Captain [A. A.]Bursley, chief of artillery of DIVISION, and was detached from my command during the day. I here received a request from General Bowen so to alter my line by moving to the left as to unite with his right, as he had moved to the left to join General Stevenson's right. Informing you of the request, I was ordered to comply therewith, which I did, extending my line some 600 yards, and throwing forward into line the regiment I had intended to hold in reserve.

In about twenty minutes I received information from General Bowen that he had advanced half a mile to the left and front, followed by an order from General Pemberton to throw my line forward, so as to rest on the right of General Bowen's position. Transmitting the order to you for information, I promptly complied with the same, my new position being about 100 yards in rear of my first one, on a line with the skirmishers of the First and SECOND Brigades, my own skirmishers (whom I had placed under command of Lieutenant-Colonel [J. W.] Rogers, of the NINTH Arkansas)being some 500 yards in advance.

I here remained until about 3 p. m., when, from the heave firing in the direction of the left, it was evident that the enemy had massed his forces and was throwing them on the left wing of the army. About that time I was informed that General Bowen's DIVISION had been moved still farther to the left, and I was ordered by you to proceed without delay to the left of General Bowen's DIVISION. I placed my brigade at once in motion by the left flank and at the double-quick. My command double-quicked the distance (about 2 miles) under a scorching sun, through corn and rye fields, in about half an hour, when I arrived about the rear of the right wing of General Bowen's DIVISION, which was falling back in disorder before av overpowering force of the enemy. I was ordered by General Pemberton to hold the road immediately in rear of General [S. D.]Lee's brigade, at a point about half a mile from the negro cabins.

Across this road our men were hastening in wild disorder and in consternation before a very heavy fire of the enemy. I immediately entered the road, and was advancing on it in column when my front(the left)was brought under a most galling fire from the enemy's sharpshooters, and their line, some 200 yards distant, posed in a heavy thicket of timber and undergrowth, unexposed to view. I found that the enemy held possession of the road, and that I must retake it in order to comply with the command of General Pemberton. It would have been a wanton