Numbers 244. Reports of Brigadier General Thomas M. Harris, U. S. Army, commanding Third Brigade.

HDQRS. 3rd Brigadier, INDEPENDENT DIV., 24TH ARMY CORPS,
In the Field, April 10, 1865.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by my command, consisting of the Tenth, Eleventh, and Fifteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiments, in the operations of the 2nd instant on Hatcher's Run and in front of Petersburg:

Under order of the general commanding the Independent Division, I assaulted the works of the enemy, at about 7 o'clock in the morning, at the point where his lines begin to refuse on the north bank of Hatcher's Run, striking them at the fort which defends the angle and from that to the run, a distance of about 300 yards, and carried them successfully without loss on my part, capturing 2 guns, 3 battle-flags, 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, and 28 men, the greater portion of the defending force making good their retreat whilst my men were struggling through a very dense difficult slashing in front of these works, and those who remained surrendering as soon as my men entered the works.

The One hundred and twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Kellogg, serving temporarily under my command, having the shortest line in the advance upon the fort, succeeded in securing two of the flags, and is entitled to a large share of the honors of the occasion. We were here met by a staff officer belonging to the Sixth Corps, who came galloping up about the time my men had obtained full possession of the fort. That corps, having broken through the enemy's works some three miles on our right, and taking him on the flank, had put him to confusion, meeting my command at that point. My command was reformed within twenty minutes, the One hundred and twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry remaining behind in the captured works. I advanced at once within the enemy's works toward their left, preceded by the First Division, Twenty-fourth Corps, General Foster, a portion of the Sixth Corps also forming as we advanced and marching in a parallel column on our left, meeting with no opposition until within about a mile of the outer chain of forts on the south side of the town of Petersburg, where the enemy had disposed his forces to resist our farther progress. At this point I received an order from Major-General Gibbon direct to support General Foster, who had formed in line of battle a little in advance of me, nd at once formed my command into a supporting line a short distance in his rear. I my I then joined General Foster is reconnoitering the enemy's position in order to be informed as to my surroundings and to receive his suggestions as to the manner in which I could most effectually carry General Gibbon's orders into effect.

At General Foster's suggestion I moved my command by the flank to his left, and here encountering a sharp fire from the enemy's skirmishers and sharpshooters, as well as experiencing a good deal of annoyance from his shells from a battery that almost enfiladed my column from the left, I changed direction by the right flank and advanced in line a short distance, where I gained cover in a shallow ravine, and here halted and rested my command, now considerably fatigued by a long and rapid march. Shortly after gaining this cover General Foster moved his division first by the left and by the