evening acting assistant adjutant-general, Captain R. N. Scott, Fourth Infantry, was disabled by a severe wound in the arm whilst in the act of carrying an order to the batteries and the Fourth to withdraw, and was soon compelled to leave the field. His cool and gallant conduct throughout the day deserves especial notice.

On the 28th the Fourth Infantry was thrown out on picket in front of Grapevine Bridge, with orders to destroy it, which was successfully done, and about noon the regiment was relieved by mounted pickets and returned to Camp Lincoln. About 3 p.m. the brigade left camp and moved past Savage Station in the direction of White Oak Swamp, through which it passed that night and the next morning, when it was halted near the head of the Quarker road and placed in position for battle. This position was occupied until the morning of the 30th, when the brigade moved to Malvern Hills, near the James River. Here the brigade was divided, the Twelfth and Fourteenth occupying a position on the plain near the house, whilst the Third and Fourth were posted in a wood on the side of a hill to the right of the line and somewhat in advance, which it was considered it was most important to hold. That evening the enemy opened fire from a battery on the opposite side of the plain at the foot of the hill, and after a sharp artillery fight was obliged to retire, leaving his pieces behind him. During the fight a New York battery (said to be Captain Smith's), firing through the woods in which the Third was posted, killed, by cutting away the branches of the trees, which fell upon them, 1 officer, Lieutenant McGuire, 1 sergeant, and 1 private of that regiment.

On the 1st of July the enemy attacked the position occupied by the army in force, and about 3.30 p.m. the First Brigade was brought into action, the disposition of the regiments being regulated by the division commander. The Third and Fourth were pushed across a ravine through the woods to our right, whilst the Twelfth and Fourteenth were deployed on the plain at the foot of the hills on a line about perpendicular to the direction of their base. By this latter movement the enemy was defeated in an effort to turn our flank, and the brigade was reunited and placed in position in the extreme front by the brigadier-general commanding, which position it held until about 2 a.m., when I withdraw it a few yards to another` on the road to the house where the left lay. About that hour I received an order from the commander of the Fifth Provisional Army Corps to the effect that my brigade, with a battery of artillery and Averell's cavalry, would constitute the rear guard of the army, which was then falling back across Turkey Creek Bridge.

The brigade remained in its position until about 5 a.m., when Colonel Averell arrived on the ground and directed its further disposition. Having about 7 a.m. received the order to retire, the brigade moved off, left in front, and having crossed the bridge, was formed in a large plain-the Third, Fourth, and Twelfth in line of battle, and the Fourteenth to the left and front on the main road, covering some roads leading into White Oak Swamp, which position it maintained for some time; but no enemy appearing to oppose us, the march was resumed and continued to the camp near Harrison's Landing, about half a mile from this point. On the 3rd we changed our camp to our present position.

In summing up our operations I cannot but ask for my brigade the favorable notice of the commanding general for its patient endurance of hardship and great exposure, its energetic and prompt action on all occasions, and its marked coolness and gallantry in action. Bivouacking for eleven nights with small supply of rations, which it had seldom