beyond Hanover Court-House, where I received a dispatch from you stating that you had yourself engaged another portion of the enemy. Guns were placed on the railroad hill formerly occupied by the Twenty-eighth Regiment as a camping ground, which prevented our retreating by the Ashland road, as we had anticipated, and forced us to take the right-hand road to Taylorsville, along which we were shelled a short distance. The cavalry pursued us beyond Colonel Wickham's farm, and were only prevented from making a charge by your throwing the regiment into a field and making it march along the fences, while Lieutenant Potts protected our rear with his Parrot gun.

We succeeded in reaching Taylorsville about sunset, and for three days we were endeavoring to join the rest of the command, and had scarcely anything to eat.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas L. Lowe and Major S. D. Lowe bore themselves well during the action and were of great assistance, often in the execution of their duties passing through the hottest fires. Major Lowe was unaccountably separated from the regiment after passing Hanover Court-House, and is still missing. Adjt. D. A. McRae and Captain Gibbon, A. C. S., also rendered me great assistance in carrying orders, and proved themselves brave men.

Both Surg. Robert Gibon and Asst. Surg. R. G. Barham allowed themselves to be taken prisoners rather than leave the wounded. Surgeon Gibbon subsequently succeeded in making his escape, the wounded having been cared for and sent, in accordance with order of a Federal officer, to a Federal hospital. We were at one time deceived by the flag of the Twenty-second Massachusetts Regiment, which in nearly white, when our firing ceased, and John A. Abernathy, our regimental hospital steward, volunteered to meet it, and was fired upon by the enemy. Though Companies D and E took most of the prisoners, yet the new Springfield rifles, repeaters, and swords, now in the possession of the regiment, show that all behaved well, and it would be invidious in me to discriminate among the company officers and men, when all acted so well their respective parts. This is the first time that the Twenty-eighth has been under fire. Their bravery has been thoroughly tested in this unequal contest; and though they have proved themselves courageous, our escape from such an overwhelming force can be but regarded as providential.

Two companies of Colonel Lee's Thirty-seventh North Carolina Volunteers, which were doing picket duty at Taliaferro's Mill, came up during the artillery firing, and were ordered to keep themselves covered in the woods beyond Dr. Kinney's residence. I have not learned the casualties in these two companies. Colonel Lee will incorporate their report in his own.

Respectfully,

JAMES H. LANE,

Colonel, Commanding Twenty-eighth Regiment North Carolina Volunteers.

Brigadier General L. O'B. BRANCH.

MAY 29, 1862.-Skirmish near Seven Pines, Va.

Report of Brigadier General Silas Casey, U. S. Army.

HEADQUARTERS CASEY'S DIVISION, Camp in advance of the Seven Pines, May 29, 1862.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to report that at daylight this morning