bold, and may cut the road in that vicinity before freight is removed from Resaca.

S. B. MOE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

[39.]

CHIEF QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,

Nashville, Tenn., November 14, 1864.

Major General M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General, U. S. Army:

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the report of the medical department with the Quartermaster's Forces sent from this depot to aid in defense of Johnsonville.* The total casualties were three killed, and it is beyond doubt that the men behaved well. Much credit is due Asst. Surg. Thomas J. Karber for his good conduct in rescuing the two gun-boat men under a heavy artillery fire.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. L. DONALDSON,

Bvt. Brigadier General, Chief Quartermaster, Dept. of the Cumberland.

[Inclosure.]

Nashville, TENN., November 10, 1864.

Colonel J. C. PETERSON,

Second Regiment Quartermaster's Forces, Commanding Detachment:

SIR: I have the honor respectfully to submit the following report of the medical department of the expedition to Johnsonville: The forces under command of Colonel Peterson, of the Second Regiment, were embarked safely at 1 a. m. November 3, and reached Johsonville at 12 m. of the same day, without notable occurrence. The command was immediately quartered in the large Government store-house on the levee, directly south of the terminus of the railroad. The men were soon engaged in the construction of a line of breast-works about the town, at which arduous duty they labored with marked spirit and alarciryt, each seeming to viewwiht the other in efficiency. From 1 to 5.30 p. m. of the 4th instant the entire command was under a terrific fire from the batteries of the enemy, stationed upon the opposite bank of the river. Again, on Saturday, the 5th instant, the enemy's batteries opened a very rapid fire a about 8 a. m., which wascontinued for about half an hour. During all t his time the enemy's sharpshooters were very active ont he left bank of the river, the command being for the most part out of range. the entire list of casualties to t he command, as far as I could learn, consisted of three killed by the enemy's shells. The men manifested throughout the entire engagement the greatest fortitude, sick call being little less than a formality, the men falling ut of the line to receive attention and immediately resuming their places. Three men only were relieved from duty in consequence of sickness during the engagement, and that, too, against their inclination. The weather was most decidedly unfavorable to t he health of the command, it being very we and the roads very heavy and the mud deep. I should be recreant to duty were I to fail to make here a special mention of the heroic bravery manifested by Surg. Thomas J. Karber, of the Second Regiment, in the rescue of two gun-boat men who were left by their companions at the water's edge under a terrific cross-fire from the enemy's batteries. The were taken

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*See also Meigs' report, p. 119.

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