our men were afforded by them a shelter which rendered our casualties surprisingly incompatible with so terrible and prolonged an engagement. On the 5th, the Seventh Ohio Volunteers were pushed forward on a reconnaissance, pursuant to instructions from corps headquarters, and advanced to Seminary Ridge and 2 miles from our position. Discovering the enemy had retired, they were ordered back, and at 1 p. m., in obedience to orders, the line of march from Gettysburg was taken up. In closing this report, I desire to express in as public a manner as possible my sense of obligation to Generals Greene and Kane and Colonel Candy, commanding the several brigades of the division; to each of these officers the service and their country owe especial thanks for the patriotic self-sacrifice with which they devoted their entire energies to the success of the contest. Hand in hand they co-operated with me for the general good, and by their cheerful promptitude and alacrity in massing together the troops of their respective commands wherever the attack of the enemy seemed most to require a united effort to oppose him, they contributed in a marked degree to the success which ultimately crowned the engagement. To Colonel G. A. Cobham, jr., I also take pleasure in officially tendering an expression of my high untiring energy in commanding the Second Brigade throughout the entire campaign until General Kane assumed command on the morning of the 2nd instant. Colonel Cobham, with his superior advocacy of discipline and his soldierly qualifications, has, during the several months he commanded the brigade, contributed greatly to the sustenance of its most excellent reputation as a high-toned organization. I desire also to acknowledge the fraternal and courteous conduct of Brigadier-General Williams, commanding Twelfth Corps, in forwarding re-enforcements to my lines when heavily pressed by the furious assault of the enemy`s columns. On several occasions during the battle, perceiving the attack of the enemy to be mainly concentrated upon my command, he freely tendered the use of fresh regiments to assist me in repulsing the attack. The conduct of the whole command, both officers and men, was such as to afford me the highest gratification. It was with feelings of pleasure and pride that I witnessed many deeds of bravery and that higher grade of true courage-self-denial under trying difficulties and hardships-throughout the entire command. Deprived of shelter and exposed to continuous rains and dampness, their only bed the hard rock of the hill they had vowed to defend; stinted for some days in their supplies, and deprived of rest day and night by the incessant attack of the fresh troops of the enemy, each man seemed to vie with his comrade in exhibiting his superior quality of bravery, which distinguishes the true soldier from the mere creature of military discipline. It is due to the officers of my staff that mention should be made of their valuable assistance to me during the engagement as well as throughout the entire campaign. The nature of their duties since the commencement of our operations had required of them the most unceasing vigilance and activity, and it gives me pleasure to testify to their unflagging zeal and devotion throughout the engagements of the 1st, 2d, and 3rd instant. From the peculiar nature of their duties, their untiring diligence and activity subjected them to severe drafts upon their physical endurance and to exposure to danger, and I