Numbers 152. Report of Colonel Oliver Edwards, Thirty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry, commanding Third Brigade.

HDQRS. THIRD Brigadier, FIRST DIV., SIXTH ARMY CORPS,
August 31, 1864.

SIR: In conformity with Special Orders, Numbers 174, headquarters Sixth Army Corps, August 20, 1864, I have the honor to report as follows:

FIRST EPOCH.

On the 4th of May, 1864, this brigade, composed of the Fifth Wisconsin, Sixth Maine, Forty-ninth, and One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, numbering 1,919 muskets, commanded by Brigadier General D. A. Russell, left its camp near Welford's Ford, Culpeper County, Va., marched to the Rapidan, crossed that stream at Germanna Ford, and bivouacked that night, on the plank road, about 1 1/2 miles to the east of that river. At 6 o'clock on the morning of the 5th the command again moved, and before 1 o'clock, having advanced for upward of 2 miles through dense woods in line of battle, became hotly engaged with the enemy. The engagement continued with severity for more than an hour, and the fighting did not entirely cease until long after night-fall. Before the command commenced to advance, Major Totten, with five companies of the Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, was detached and ordered to deploy as skirmishers on the extreme right of the line. At this point, while the rest of the command was hotly engaged in the front, this officer, by a maneuver skillfully executed by two of his officers, Captains White and Hilton, succeeded in capturing about 300 of the enemy, together with a stand of colors belonging to the Twenty-fifth Virginia. On the 6th the command laid under a severe fire from the enemy's sharpshooters all day, and working parties having thrown up entrenchments as far as the center of the line, were, when they reached that point and became exposed to the view of the enemy, driven from the works by their artillery, advantageously posted on a neighboring knoll. Just at sundown the right of the brigade was vigorously attacked, but the attack was handsomely repulsed. On the night of the 6th the position held for the past two days was abandoned, and on the 7th a new line was taken up, this command being in reserve. No record of the loss suffered by the brigade can at present by found, and can only be ascertained by a reference to the reports of regimental commanders.

SECOND EPOCH.

On the evening of the 7th the brigade, with the rest of the corps, moved by the plank road and turnpike, via Charlestown and Piney Church, to the neighborhood of Spotsylvania Court-House. The march, after some delay during the night, continued briskly after daylight, and at 10 o'clock on the 8th the command came in front of the enemy in the vicinity of the last-mentioned place. In the evening the command was ordered to charge the enemy in their front, and troops were massed in its rear for that purpose. The movement was ordered to commence on the left, and the right of the line was