Numbers 2. Report of Brigadier General Henry E. Davies, jr., U. S. Army, commanding First Brigade.

HDQRS. FIRST BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS,
Camp at Stevensburg, Va., November 18, 1863.

CAPTAIN: In reply to the communication of General Custer, just received, requesting a report as to the attack made on the Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry this a. m., I have the honor to submit the following statement, the result of a personal examination of the ground, the officers engaged, and of citizens in the vicinity:

Captain Kingsland, commanding the Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, had at his disposal but 150 men. His camp was at the cross-roads leading to Ely's and Germanna Fords. One-fourth of his command was posted on the road to Ely's Ford, and he kept up a communication with the force posted at Germanna Ford.

Last evening I received instructions from General Custer to detail from this command an escort to accompany Lieutenant Whittaker and another officer in a reconnaissance to be made this morning at daylight to Ely's Ford. In pursuance of this an order was sent Captain Kingsland to furnish Lieutenant Whittaker with 60 men for that purpose. Captain Kingsland had also been previously instructed at daylight this morning to move his main reserve camp nearer to Stevensburg, leaving 50 men at the position he was holding.

Lieutenant Whittaker reached the headquarters of the regiment before daylight, and reveille was sounded and the whole command aroused. Lieutenant Whittaker and an orderly from my headquarters who accompanied him both concur in saying that the horses in the camp were all saddled and bridled. sixty men were detailed to accompany him, and, as I now learn, his instructions had been changed after I had seen him, and he was directed, instead of going directly to Ely's Ford, to go by way of Germanna Ford. The rest of the command were getting breakfast and preparing to move, when shots were heard in their front, and the men were mounted and formed in front of the camp. the few that were left in camp were ready, when their whole outpost was driven in upon them, mixed and struggling with a dense column of rebel cavalry. I learned that the enemy in a column approached the vedette on the Ely's Ford road, who for a moment hesitated to fire, all of the men in front being dressed in our overcoats. Then, seeing a large force, he discharged his carbine, when the enemy rushed forward at the gallop, following him closely, and in their charge swept away the reserve on the road. They kept on right down to Captain Kingsland's camp, and fell upon the little force he had there, and, after a short encounter, drove them back. They retreated along the road toward Stevensburg about 2 miles, when the advance squadron of a regiment I had sent out met them, and they immediately turned and retraced their steps. The enemy did not pursue them in force much beyond the camp, but took a position there and sent on a small force, which was checked, as I have mentioned.

The party in charge of Lieutenant Whittaker, which I have mentioned, had proceeded nearly 2 miles on the road to Germanna Ford, when they heard the firing and countermarched. On nearing the camp of the regiment they encountered what all concur in stating