and by hard fighting held the enemy. Soon the extreme left was forced back. The enemy, it appeared, had brought up all of Longsteer's corps, and before the onset of these fresh troops our men, fatigued and disordered by their long advance in line of battle through the dense and almost impenetrable thicket which covers all this tract, gave ground. This division was soon in the front line, but being outflanked by the breaking of the troops on the left, were forced back with the rest. Here I received a severe wound through the shoulder and was compelled to leave the field, turning over the command of the division of Brigadier General Frank Wheaton, the senior brigade commander present, Brigadier-General Neill, with his brigade, having been detached. The report of the operations from this point to June 27 are taken from the reports of Brigadier-General Wheaton and Neill, who commanded the division during my absence, and the reports of brigade commanders. After a severe contest of some ten hours' duration our troops were forced back to their original position at the cross-roads. The division, throughout all this fighting and falling back, held well together. No a single regiment or organization was broken up. The brigade reoccupied nearly their original positions; breast-works were hastily thrown up, and preparations made to resist the enemy's farther advance. At 4 p. m. he attacked, and made the most desperate efforts to break our lines, but was handsomely repulsed, and after a struggle of half an hour withdrew, leaving the ground in front of our lines covered with the dead and wounded. Late in the evening the First and Fourth Brigades rejoined the corps, on the right of the army. Grant's (Vermont) brigade remained in position on the right of the Second Corps until the afternoon of the 7th May, when they rejoined the corps, and all the brigades of the division were agin united. In the morning of the 7th a skirmish line from the Vermont brigade was advanced, and discovered that the main force of the enemy had withdrawn. In wresting the possession of the crossing of the Orange Court-House and Brock roads from Hill's corps, when already occupied by his skirmishers, it is not claiming too much to say, that the Second Division saved the army from disastrous defeat, for that point was of vital importance to us, and its falling into the hands of the enemy would have cut our army in two, separating the Second corps from the Fifth and Sixth, and would have exposed to capture the Artillery Reserve, then moving up from Chancellorsville, on the Orange plank road. Throughout the terrible struggle that ensued, this division held the key-point of the battle-field-the plank road. Their losses, all from killed and wounded, and few or none, prisoners, show how tenaciously they fought. The reports of brigade and regimental commanders mention many acts of individual gallantry, to which attention is called. Captain Ricketts, commanding the section of artillery on this road, in the battle on the 5th, displayed great coolness and courage. The officers of my staff, Major Charles Mundee, assistant adjutant-general; Captain Hazard Stevens, acting assistant inspector-general; Lieutenant John Faxon, aide-de-camp; Lieutenant Henry R. Murray, aide-de-camp, performed their duties on the field well and gallantry. Captain Hazard Stevens received a wound on the 6th, and had his horse killed under him. Lieutenant John Faxon, aide-de-camp, was also severely wounded. My horse was killed under me on the 5th. Lieutenant Cole, pioneer officer, merits great praise. He constantly keep his pioneers close up, and once, when our troops were giving back, he placed them in the front line and did good service until the close of the battle.