severely wounded, Private Samuel S. Wyles, Company A, musketshot in hand.

Respectfully submitted.

CARTER VAN VLECK,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Regiment.

[Brigadier General JOHN BEATTY.]

Numbers 153.

Report of Colonel Daniel McCook, Fifty-second Ohio Infantry, commanding Third Brigade, including march to the relief of Knoxville.

HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, SECOND DIVISION,
North Chickamauga Creek, Tennessee, December 20, 1863.

SIR: I have the honor to report the part taken by the Third Brigade, Second Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, in the battle of Chattanooga, the pursuit of the rebels, and the subsequent march to the relief of General Burnside:

On the 17th of November, being ordered to report to General Thomas in person, I was informed of the plan to land below the mouth of South Chickamauga, and that my camp had been selected as the point to launch the pontoons and embark the men, North Chickamauga Creek offering peculiar facilities for the secret accomplishment of the enterprise.

In order that the pontoons could be transported under cover of the woods and out of rebel sight, it became necessary to cut a new road to North Chickamauga for a distance of 3 miles. To keep the expedition secret it was necessary to arrest all the citizens. By a stratagem I arrested all the citizens simultaneously upon the morning of the 18th, assigning a reason therefor that I had been bushwhacked. Upon the same day, assisted by Dr. M. M. Hooton, my brigade surgeon, I surveyed and opened the new road. On that day the pontoons began to arrive; strong guards were placed around them to keep even our own soldiers away. Captain Kennedy, Company F, Eighty-fifth Illinois, was put in charge of the launching party. He so expeditiously conducted matters that he launched a boat every three minutes. I call the attention of the department commander to the services of this meritorious officer in launching the boats and commanding the leading section of the flotilla in the expedition. By the morning of the 20th, everything was prepared, but the expedition was postponed on account of the non-arrival of part of General Sherman's column.

Tuesday morning, November 24, was the day selected for the enterprise. On Monday night, it being reported to me that the enemy were planting guns upon the opposite side of the river, I deployed the One hundred and tenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers along the bank upon the north side, with orders, if the enemy opened upon the flotilla, to silence their guns at all hazards. The landing was effected without opposition or even knowledge of the enemy.

About 3 p. m. on the 24th, my brigade crossed with the Second Division upon the pontoon bridge below the South Chickamauga and went into position. At dark its position was changed farther to the front, under the supervision of General Davis.

November 25, at sunrise, the brigade was moved forward almost to the foot of Mission Ridge, where it lay all day, occasionally enlivened by a few artillery shots, which fell harmlessly into the valley.