Numbers 92. Reports of Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby, C. S. Army, commanding division.

HEADQUARTERS SHELBY'S DIVISION,
December -, 1864.

COLONEL: The following report contains a full account of my operations north of White River, which I now have the honor of laying before you:*

On August 4 I picked fifty men and sent them under Lieutenant Burch, of Smith's regiment, to Devall's Bluff. They went boldly on their mission, captured and killed about 50 Federals on the west side of the river, hailed the lookouts at the Bluff, passed themselves off for friends and tried to decoy a boat over, but could not succeed, and finally they fired half a dozen rounds into the gun-boats, quarters, and steamers at the Bluff, and got away without losing a man, the iron-clads at the wharf and the heavy batteries on the hill sweeping the western shore with a tornado of shot and shell.

The next day Captain Williams, with a scouting party, met a larger force of the enemy, attacked and routed them, killing and wounding 27, and bringing 10 prisoners to camp. Re-enforcing Colonel Dobbin with Colonel Gordon's regiment, I ordered him to make a foray upon the Federal plantations around Helena, and harry then with fire and sword. He started immediately, but met a large body of Federals at Big Creek bridge, with two pieces of artillery and one regiment of negroes. Dobbin attacked them at first sight and fought them hard for three hours. The enemy gained the cover of some old fortifications of logs and trees, and made a stubborn resistance. Dobbin and Gordon still pressed on, drove them from their shelter, and in confusion toward Helena, capturing and killing great numbers, besides taking 2 caissons, 3 wagons, many guns and pistols. Gordon, in the retreat of the enemy, came upon Major Carmichael with 300 cavalry, sent out to re-enforce the Federals, charged him in column of fours straight down the road, scattered his command in every direction, and narrowly missed the notorious Carmichael-a house burner, robber, and murderer of the first water. This disastrous battle inflicted upon the enemy the loss of 2 field officers, 7 line officers, and 200 soldiers killed and wounded. The retreating foe was followed up to the corporation limits of Helena, falling and surrendering by the wayside from sheer exhaustion. The next day they pounced down upon the plantations and turned loose upon them 1,000 rough and hungry horsemen. Then began a scene almost unparalleled in the history of the war. Cotton-gins and cotton, hay, corn, and oats, reaping machines and threshing machines, negro cabins and soldiers' quarters, were burned, torn down, and destroyed. Yankee schoolmasters and schoolmarms were taken from their little flocks of gaping Africans and taught the secrets of rebel raiding; negro soldiers were shot amid the blazing rafters of their dwellings, and 300 horses and mules, much clothing and supplies, and 200 negroes brought safely off. Lieutenant-Colonel Erwin, sent to the plantations above Memphis, was also successful in destroying much Federal property, but being attacked and partly surprised, lost several good officers and men.

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*For portions of report here omitted, see Vol. XXXIV, Part I, p. 936, and p. 28, ante. The following extract relates to operations already covered by special reports of August 9,13 and 30, for which see pp. 191, 229, and 286, respectively.

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