HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION,
DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,

Huntesville, Ala., May 29, 1865.

Lieutenant SAM. M. KNEELAND,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General;

SIR: I respectfully submit the following report in obedience to the order of Brigadier General R. S. Granger, commanding District of North Alabama, dated May 20, 1865, indorsed on the report of Moses D. Leeson, major Fifth Indiana Cavalry, to Captain E. T. Wells, adjutant-general Sixth Division, Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi, dated May 13, 1865, and herewith returned. The correspondence and order, copies of which are hereto appended, will show why and the authority upon which I acted. I executed the order of General Granger faithfully, and received Major Johnston, C. S. Army, with the men then under his command with "decency and in order" at the time and place fixed for that purpose. I was sober myself, as were all who had anything whatever to do with the surrender and paroling of Johnston and his men, and the statement to the contrary in the said report of Major Moses D. Leeson, is wholly untrue. Johnston and his men had been and up to the time of their surrender were in the Confederate Army, and during the whole process of their surrender and paroling conducted themselves orderly and decently. It is not true that Colonel Horner gave orders that the " pageant be moved to Huntsville to complete the surrender." Nor did he at that time in any manner interfere with my duties. As to music, the bands of the Eighteenth Michigan and the One hundred and second Ohio Volunteer Infantry having expressed a desire to be present at the surrender, I consented, directing that no demonstration whatever be made until after the surrender should be complete, and then if the temper of the parties surrendering should seem to justify if the bands should play " national and patriotic airs," and no other. This direction was strictly observed and the bands did play such pieces as the "Star Spangled Banner," "Hail Columbia," and the like while the rolls and paroles were being prepared. When ready to start for Huntsville Major Johnston remarked to me that some of his men manifested a reluctance to go to Huntsville or any other place than the one agreed upon for their surrender, and desired me to state to them what was expected of them and what they had a right to expect, and the reason for their being taken to Huntsville. This I did briefly while sitting on my horse. Major Johnston was then called upon, and in a very few remarks pledged himself and the men he had surrendered to future loyalty and fidelity to the Government of the United States. This is the substance off all the speeches that were made on the occasion. As to the statement of Major Leeson wherein he says "we moved to the vicinity of Huntsville and awaited the balance of the cavalcade," &c., these are the facts;

After the surrender at the "Through Spring on the Mountain," and while I was endeavoring to complete the rolls and necessary papers, Lieutenant-Colonel Hornes (now colonel) arrived at that place with the mounted men under his command and halted. I had discovered that it would be necessary to bring Johnston and his men to Huntsville because of the imperfect condition of some of their rolls and the total want of rolls for a number of his men, and the impossibility of completing the work at that place, and especially as it was then raining, which rendered writing in the storm impracticable. It had also been found impossible to take the teams which I had provided to bring in the surrendered arms

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