The number of men engaged in action on the 25th instant, and in subsequent pursuit of the enemy, was as follows: Commissioned officers, 20; enlisted men, 267. Casualties, 11 killed and mortally wounded, 32 wounded, and 1 missing in action.*

No. 146.

Report of Captain Robert E. A. Crofton, Sixteenth U. S. Infantry, commanding Sixteenth and Nineteenth U. S. Infantry.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH U. S. INFANTRY,
Chattanooga, Tennessee, December 3, 1863.

MAJOR:I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by my command in the engagements near this place during the week ending November 29, 1863:

On Sunday, the 22nd ultimo, my command, consisting of detachment Sixteenth Infantry and First Battalion, Nineteenth Infantry, was ordered with the remainder of the brigade on grand guard duty to picket the front of the Fourteenth Army Corps, we remaining on this duty till Wednesday, the 25th, when we were ordered into line of battle, the left resting on the Rossville road. From this position we moved to the left, and having covered our front with a line of skirmishers were ordered to storm Missionary Ridge. This was accomplished with but slight loss, the officers and men behaving with their usual gallantry. Having gained the summit of the ridge we went into bivouac, where we remained till next morning at about 10 a.m., and marched in pursuit of the enemy. Arriving near the road leading to Graysville, and about 2 miles from that place, we were ordered into line of battle. Learning there was a force of the enemy moving along this road, we advanced to the road, and having discovered the enemy immediately in our front, my command opened fire upon them, when the enemy, panic stricken, threw down their arms and ran within our lines.

I then sent forward an officer and 20 men as skirmishers, who discovered the rebels had left three brass pieces of Ferguson's battery in our hands. One of these my men brought into our lines, the other two were brought in by the Eleventh Michigan Volunteers, of our brigade. In this attack I did not lose a man, as the enemy only fired a few random shots toward us. Here we took several prisoners, their number I had not time to ascertain, as they were sent immediately to the rear. We now marched to Graysville, Ga., where we bivouacked. Next morning we moved to Ringgold, where we found Major-General Hooker engaged with the enemy on Taylor's Ridge. In this action we took no part, our services not being required. Here we remained till Sunday morning, the 29th, when we returned to our camp at Chattanooga.

The officers engaged were Captain W. J. Slidell, Sixteenth Infantry; Captain C. F. Trowbridge, Sixteenth Infantry; First Lieutenant H. A. Theaker, First Lieutenant Felix H. Torbett, Sixteenth Infantry; Second Lieutenant John K. Schiffler, Sixteenth Infantry; Second Lieutenant P. J. Coenzler, Sixteenth Infantry; Second Lieutenant C. W. Hotsenpiller, Sixteenth Infantry; Captain H. S. Welton, Nineteenth Infantry;

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*But see revised statement, p.84.

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