Shortly after, or about the time the engagement became general, Colonel W. F. Lynch, riding onto the field and participating in the engagement, was wounded by a musket-shot in the right leg below the knee, and taken from the field. Colonel Kinney's horse being shot from under him, and falling on one of his legs, disabled him temporarily, when he turned over the command of the brigade to me. The Fifty-eighth Illinois, under command of Captain Healy; the Eighty-ninth Indiana, under command of Major Samuel Henry; and the One hundred and nineteenth Illinois, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, officers and men, all behaved themselves well, and were well handled, and with great coolness, by their respective regimental commanders, after I had assumed the command of the brigade, repulsing the enemy in a desperate charge with great slaughter.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

HERVEY CRAVEN,

Lieutenant Colonel Eighty-ninth Regiment Ind. Infy. Vols., Commanding

Colonel E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.

Numbers 42. Reports of Colonel William T. Shaw, Fourteenth Iowa Infantry, commanding Second Brigade, of the capture of Fort De Russy and engagements at Pleasant Hill and Yellow Bayou, with itinerary of the brigade, March 10 - May 24.

HDQRS. SECOND Brigadier, THIRD DIV., 16TH ARMY CORPS,
Alexandria, La., March 17, 1864.

CAPTAIN: I have the honor to report that on the morning of the 14th of March, 1864, my command, consisting of the Fourteenth, Twenty-seventh, and Thirty-second Iowa and Twenty-fourth Missouri Regiments, and Third Indiana Battery, was ordered to take the advance in line of march toward Fort De Russy, 28 miles distant. We started at 6 o'clock, with the enemy's forces close in front. They fell back as we advanced, attempting to burn bridges and retard our progress. We pressed them closely, and although several bridges were fired, little damage was done to affect our progress till we reached the Bayou De Glaize, where they had burned the bridge and made a stand on the opposite bank with a force of about 600 or 800 men. I immediately ordered forward the Third Indiana battery, with a regiment of infantry, and opened fire on them, clearing the banks so as to enable me to cross my infantry unmolested in a scow which they had left uninjured, and also enable the pioneer corps to construct a bridge on which to cross the artillery and teams. I was here delayed about two hours. As soon as my artillery had crossed, i pushed rapidly forward till I arrived at the town of Marksville, 2 1/2 miles distant from the fort. Here, by order of Brigadier-General Smith, the Twenty-seventh Iowa was left to close up the rear of the army. With the rest of my command I pushed on rapidly toward the fort.