pel the enemy to retire to the shelter of the woods, where he was held in check until the close of the action.

On being relieved, the brigade, together with the division, were after dark ordered to follow Sykes' division on the Centreville road as far as Cub Run, where it bivouacked for the night.

The next day (31st) the brigade marched to Centreville, when, after a short time spent in procuring rations, it returned to Cub Run to relieve the division of General Stevens. On arriving at Cub Run there appearing a disposition on the part of the enemy to force the passage of the stream, the brigade was deployed on each side of the road on the crest of the ridge, and Ransom's battery was opened on the opposite ridge, occupied by the enemy.

The command was under arms all night, but was withdrawn on the morning of the 1st, it being ascertained the enemy had all retired during the night.

The command was marched to Centreville and thence to Fairfax Court-House, where it bivouacked for the night, and on the next day (2nd instant) marched to the woods adjoining Arlington House.

The conduct of the officers and men during these several actions was so good and commendable that it would be invidious to mention any names in particular. At the same time, the nature of the service required of them, viz, picket duty and skirmishing, have placed more prominently before me the First Rifles (Bucktails), whose coolness and steadiness under fire, when led by their commander, Colonel Hugh W. McNeil, attracted my attention, and deserves, in my judgment, particular notice.

To my staff-consisting of Captain E. C. Baird, assistant adjutant-general, and Lieutenant W. N. Watmough, aide-de-camp-I am indebted for indefatigable efforts to execute my orders, a labor rendered the more arduous by the constant movements of the brigade. Lieutenant Watmough, I regret to say, was so exhausted by previous service as to have to be relived on the 30th.

Accompanying this report you will find a list of casualties amounting in all to 185 killed, wounded, and missing. Among them are the names of several valuable officers. Captain H. Clay Beatty, Third Regiment, wounded on the 30th, and since died of his wounds, will be mourned by all who knew him. Lieutenant Colonel R. M. Henderson, Seventh Regiment; Captain J. W. Shoemaker, Fourth Regiment, and Captain J. G. Henry, Eighth Regiment; Lieutenants Wetler and Sellers of the Eighth Regiment are all officers of promise, whose services in their respective commands will be missed.

I also inclose the official reports of the several commanders of regiments.*

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. G. MEADE,

Brigadier-General,

Captain CHARLES KINGSBURY,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

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*Not found.

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