that Lieutenant-Colonel Hopkins, with the effective force at this command, could not, under the existing circumstances, have made a successful defense of the batteries; and, further, from the evidence the court is of the opinion that the evacuation of the batteries was positively necessary for the safety of the men under his command, as an attempt to have held it against the greatly [superior] land force of the enemy wound have inevitably resulted in the complete reduction of the batteries and the capture of the command. We therefore consider Lieutenant-Colonel Hopkins wholly justifiable int he course he pursued in abandoning the batteries on the Saint John's.

WILLIAM D. MITCHELL,

Lieutenant Colonel, Commanding Twenty-ninth Georgia, President of the Court.

OCTOBER 18, 1862.-Affair at Kirk's Bluff, S. C.

HDQRS. U. S. FORCES ON THE SAVANNAH RIVER,
Fort Pulaski, Ga., October 19, 1862.

COLONEL: I have the honor to state, for the information of the general commanding, that in compliance with his instructions I yesterday went up May River with steamer Planter, having on board one company Forty-eighth New York State Volunteers, Lieutenant Elfwing, and a detachment of the Third Rhode Island Artillery, Captain Gould, to Crowell's plantation, for the purpose of meeting the scout who had been sent up to New Bridge. Owing to the head wind and adverse tide, and the fact that the steamer did not reach the fort the night before until long after midnight, I did not arrive at Crowell's until 2.30 p. m. After taking the scout on board we started on our return, stopping for a few moments at Bluffton to secure a boat and to learn what we could as to the recent presence of the enemy there.

We found indications that a company of cavalry had been in the two during the day. On our way down, after leaving Bluffton, while passing Kirk's Bluff, where the channel is within haled musket-range of the shore, a considerable force of the enemy, concealed in the dense thicket on the bluff, opened a musketry fire upon the Planter. The fire was instantly returned by both infantry and artillery on board the steamer, and I judge effectively also, as we fired a number of rounds of shell with one-second fuses (which exploded directly among them) and of grape and canister.

Meanwhile (as the boat, having been under full headway when the firing first commenced, had passed beyond the bluff) I directed her to be put about, and running back took a favorable position and continued shelling the enemy, who were now retreating in great confusion, gradually increasing the fuses as the distance widened, until they were entirely out of range. By this time night had come on, and as the tide was falling I returned to this post. The enemy's fire at times was very heavy, shorts striking the steamer in almost every part, and two passing through and through her. It is very remarkable, considering the advantage the enemy possessed in being in a great measure concealed and above us and the exposure of our men, that not more injury was inflicted upon us.*

It affords me pleasure to state all the troops on board the Planter, as

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*Nominal list shows 4 men wounded.

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