length. The long, sad list of killed and wounded forms the truest eulogium on the conduct of the troops composing this brigade, and it is by that list I wish it to be judged.

Of the 10 field officers of the regiment, 3 were killed and 2 wounded. Seven horses were shot under the regimental, field, and staff officers. Of my orderlies, Private Pease, Company B,

Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteers, had his horse shot under him while carrying my orders. Private Knox, same company, also had his horse shot under him, and while endeavoring to procure another horse for me was wounded by a grapeshot and again by a Minie ball, and Corporal Hart, Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteers, was stunned and disabled by a cannon ball.

I deem it my duty to call the special attention of the general commanding the Fourteenth Army Corps to Col. John W. S. Alexander, Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, and Col. Hans C. Heg, Fifteenth Wisconsin Volunteers. While every field officer under my command did his duty faithfully, Colones Alexander and Heg, in my opinion, proved themselves the bravest of the brave. Had such my as these been in command of some of our brigades, we should have been spared the shame of witnessing the rout of our troops and the disgraceful panic, encouraged, at least, by the example and advice of officers high in command.

Lieut. Col. D. H. Gilmer, commanding Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteers, was always at his post and attending to his duty. MajorIsaac M. Kirby One hundred and first Ohio Volunteers, took command of the regiment after the fall of the brave Colonels Stem and Wooster, and conducted it to the rear, reduced to about 100 men.

Capt. W. A. Hotchkiss, commanding Second Minnesota Battery, and all his officers and men, deserve credit for their gallantry in the fight, and energy in preventing the loss of the battery.

Among the staff officers of this army who made themselves useful in rallying the scattered men, Dr. L.f. Russell, Second Minnesota Battery; Lieut. S. M. Jones, Fifty-ninth Illinois Volunteers; Captain Thruston, aide-de-camp to Major-General McCook, and Captain Wilins, Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, came especially under my observation.

On the night of December 31 this brigade was ordered to take up position near the Nashville pike, 4 miles from Murfreesborough.

January 1, 1863, slight skirmishing with the enemy continued during the day, in which we killed several, capturing 13 prisoners and paroling 11 others, wounded.

At 3.30 p.m. January 2, while hard fighting was progressing on our left, I received orders from General Rosecrans to report to him in person. He directed me to take my command to the left, form in two lines, and, should I find our forces repulsed by the enemy, to allow our men to pass through my lines, and, on the approach of the enemy, give a whoop and a yell, and got at 'em. With a brigade which, in three days' hard fighting, had been reduced from 2,000 to 700 and greatly discouraged, I felt serious apprehension that I would not be able to fulfill the expectations of the general, and, to prepare him for such a result, I informed him of the condition of my brigade. He said "Tell them they must do it for us and for the country." I told him I would do my best. My men fell into ranks with the utmost alacrity and marched to the scene of the conflict, a great portion of the way on the double-quick, crossing Stone's River at a ford. All apprehensions that I h ad previously entertained now vanished. I felt confident that they would not only charge the enemy, but would repulse them. Before reaching the ground designated, however, I learned that the enemy had already been