the day and the following night, and on the 31st returned to my camp in the reserve, my men having been absent from their tents for five days and nights.

I have the satisfaction of reporting that Captain Terrill's light battery (H, Fifth U. S. Artillery) was the nearest battery to the enemy's intrenchments placed in position before Corinth, and that my skirmishers were nearer to the enemy's works than any Union troops up to the date of the occupation of the town.

I desire to return my thanks to Brigadier-General Rousseau, commanding Fourth Brigade; Brigadier General R. W. Johnson, commanding Sixth Brigade, and to Colonel F. S. Stumbaugh, commanding Fifth Brigade, for the prompt and intelligent manner in which they obeyed my orders and seconded all my efforts to insure success.

All officers and men throughout the almost continuous skirmish of two days which preceded the evacuation of Corinth remained constantly at their posts, promptly and cheerfully performing all duties assigned them, and proving themselves worthy the laurels they won at Shiloh.

I am, colonel, respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. McD. McCOOK,

Brigadier-General of Vols., Comdg. Second Division.

Colonel J. B. FRY,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff.

No. 4 Report of Brigadier General William Nelson, U. S. Army, commanding Fourth Division, of operations from May 2 to June 11.

HDQRS. FOURTH DIVISION, ARMY OF THE OHIO,
Before Corinth, May 31, 1862.

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that at 4 a. m. of the 30th an escaped rebel came into my camp and stated that the rebel army were evacuating the lines of Corinth; that their infantry pickets had been withdrawn about 10 o'clock the night previous and had been replaced by cavalry. I immediately ordered a general advance of my line of skirmishers to verify the statement, and at the same time ordered the Seventeenth Kentucky Regiment, which held the bridge, to advance also, sending the Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteers to take their place. At 5.30 the advance was halted, by orders from headquarters. At 6.30 it was resumed, the skirmishers of the Seventeenth Kentucky Volunteers entering the line of the enemy. At 7 the Tenth Brigade entered the enemy's works with Mendenhall's battery, and I dispatched and aide to inform General Buell that I was in Corinth. We took 103 prisoners; found the town on fire, but were deterred from any serious attempt to extinguish the flames by the frequent explosion of shell; found artillery and musket ammunition in close proximity to the fire, which I ordered to be moved.

The line of skirmishers passed far beyond the town, and I opened on the rising ground in advance, where some of the enemy were in sight,