officers and men fatigued from being in the saddle for ten days and nights, we marched until we reached a point about five miles east of Levyville. There I ascertained, by dispatching an advance guard, charged with the duty of following immediately in the wake of the enemy, who was then retreating toward No. 4, where he had reached and was lodged, as he thought, securely in his stronghold. Early after the dawn of day, in the morning of the 13th instant, I again took up the line of march, and at 7 a. m. the picket of the enemy fired upon my advance while near the Florida Railroad, at a point near the burnt houses known as the Geiger house.

The engagement soon became general, and lasted for about three hours and a half, during which time the enemy was defeated at all points; and the entire force, numbering about 600 in all, would have been slaughtered or captured but for the fact that ammunition for my artillery and some small-arms was entirely exhausted. The enemy occupied a position decidedly superior to that of ours, and although there was a disparity of numbers, in the ratio of five to one, the valor and intrepidity and superior prowess of my command caused the enemy to be defeated. Immediately after I fell back, induced, as I have stated above, by the lack of ammunition, and likewise on account of the fact that heavy re-enforcements had reached the enemy from Cedar Keys, he left the field of battle precipitately, leaving a portion of the dead and much plunder upon the field. With the loss of five men wounded, none mortally, we drove the enemy to Cedar Keys, killing, wounding, and capturing about seventy of his number, recapturing all of the cattle, horses, wagons, &c., which they had stolen in their thieving expedition from the citizens in the vicinity of his line of march, all of which has been returned to their proper owners. I desire to make special mention of the gallant and good conduct displayed by Lieut. T. J. Bruton, commanding artillery, and the men of his command. Their conduct upon the field, under the most trying circumstances, was all that I could have desired. Sergeant Cox, of Company H, Second Florida Cavalry (acting adjutant), was conspicuous for his gallantry, and is entitled to the highest commendation for the efficient services rendered by him. Indeed, the entire command, both officers and men, behaved in such a manner as to entitle them to the thanks of their commanding officer and the plaudits of their countrymen. I have the honor, major, to be, your obedient servant,

J. J. DICKISON,

Captain, Commanding South Florida Forces.

Maj. H. C. GOLDTHWAITE,

Asst. Adjt. Gen., Hdqrs. District of Florida, Tallahassee.

FEBRUARY 15-16, 1865.-Scout from Nashville, on the Nolensville Pike, Tenn.

Report of Capt. Robert H. Clinton, Tenth Tennessee Infantry.

NASHVILLE, TENN., February 17, 1865. MAJOR: I have the honor to report that, in obedience to orders received from Major-General Rousseau, on the 15th of February, at 11 a. m., I proceeded with a force of thirty men (Captain Poston's com

pany, Fourteenth Tennessee Cavalry), on the Nolensville pike, in search of certain guerrillas who were committing depredations on and in the vicinity of that road. Some ten miles from town I received information from citizens coming into market that there were three bushwhackers at the next toll-gate, which was fourteen miles from the city. Having heard while out on a scout a few days previous that they were in the habit of resorting to this toll-gate, and knowing the impossibility of reaching it without being seen at some distance, I used the expedient of pressing two country wagons, dismounting eight men, and placing four in each wagon, I getting into the foremost one; then pulling the covers close down so as to entirely conceal the men, I ordered the foremost wagon to drive up to the gate as though he was going to pay toll. I had previously given orders to the men not to fire unless they were fired upon or unless they could not halt any one who would run away from the house. As soon as the wagon halted two men came to the door and I sprang up. One of the men in a very rough manner asked me, "What do you want here?" I asked him who he was. In reply he told me that I could not come into the house, and immediately ran into the house, slamming the door after him. I jumped out of the wagon and ran to the door, forcing it open and calling to him to halt and not run or he would be shot, but before I could force the door and get through the house he had made his way out into the back yard and was running off through the corn-field. The men halted him several times, but he paid no attention to them. By the time I reached the back yard the men fired on him, and, I am sorry to say, killed him. I do not think, taking all the circumstances into consideration, that the command can be blamed for his death, for the innocent are brave as a lion, but the guilty flee from their shadow. Be that as it may, his death was a circumstance to be regretted, and no one regrets it more than I do, and an article published in this morning's Dispatch, stating that his life was threatened by one of the men, is entirely false and without foundation, as is, in fact, the whole article published by that paper in regard to the scout and its proceedings.

After leaving the toll-gate about one mile, we discovered a man riding up the road toward us; upon reaching the hill he saw us and immediately wheeled his horse around and galloped off. I followed in full chase, ordering the men to keep up; on rising a little knoll we discovered three guerrillas about 150 yards in advance; they wheeled their horses to the left and made for a cedar thicket, but we were too close upon them for any concealment and they were obliged to run, but they were no match for the old Fourteenth. We forced one of them in running 100 yards to abandon his horse; I called to some of the men behind me to take care of him and proceeded on after the other two, followed by the men as fast as their horses could carry them. After running about a mile and a half, one of the guerrillas' horses fell from exhaustion. I told the men to proceed on after the other and I would take care of the one that was down, but in the excitement they did not understand the order, I suppose. The one that fell rose, with his pistol in his hand, but was shot dead on the spot; the other made his escape, the horse of the dead man following him. We then returned to the main party that had been left under the command of Captain Poston. Learning that the one who had been dismounted had not been captured, I took ten men and deployed them through the thicket to search for him; in about fifty yards he was discovered by one of the men, who fired on him, wounding him in the hip; we then moved toward him,

the men wanting to kill him, but I ordered them to take him prisoner. He gave his name as Lee, but I afterward learned that his name is Williams and that he is a notorious guerrilla and horse-thief. The name of the man who was killed was Luck, and formerly, I heard, was a merchant of Nashville. The name of the one who escaped was Fost. Patterson was not of the party, as stated by the Dispatch. We then proceeded up the pike to one mile beyond Nolensville; turning to the left we camped six miles from the pike. In the morning, believing it to be a good plan to come back on the same road, we did so. At 9 o'clock we stopped for breakfast at Nolensville. As soon as the men were through and the horses had eaten some fodder, we marched down the pike to the place where we first encountered the three guerrillas the day before. At this place, finding it impossible to proceed at a fast rate with the prisoner, owing to his wound bleeding afresh, I ordered Captain Poston to take fifteen men and procure a wagon and proceed slowly to Nashville and there turn the prisoner over so that he could get medical treatment. With the other fifteen I went over the hills, taking the trail of Fost, who escaped the day before, searching every suspicious house and cedar thicket. In searching one of these thickets I found the horse that Luck rode tied to a bush and a U. S. cavalry saddle and bridle lying by him. I have turned the horse over.

In a dirt road about half a mile from the pike I received information from a lady that on that morning four bushwhackers had passed her house inquiring if there had been any "Yanks" there. One of these men was Fost; he told a negro man that he was going to leave as soon as he could get out for it was getting too hot for him. I put the negro on the horse we had captured and ordered him to guide us on the road they had taken. We were then four hours behind them. About six miles I found a man who had seen them and they threatened to take the horses he was hauling wood with. He guided us on to where they had crossed the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad about one mile above to the house of a man named Morgan. There I pressed his son to guide us to the Murfreesborough pike, half a mile from which we met a colored woman who informed us that the men we were in chase of had captured a sutler's wagon and robbed and burned it. We pressed on with all the speed the horses could make and came up to the place where they had burned the wagon two hours and a half after they had left. We took their trail, learning from two men who were building a fence close to where the wagon was burned that there were five of them. At several houses we heard that they had three mules leading. After following them six miles on the road to County they made a sudden turn to the left. Meeting a young man who informed us that they were going as he thought to a wood-yard, we followed their trail to the woodyard, getting there two hours after them. I learned there that they charged on the choppers while they were at dinner, firing on them, giving the darkies a great scare and dispersing them all over the woods. They robbed several of the negroes and some white men. I learned that they robbed Captain Stearnes. I saw one wagon they had turned over and heard that they had burned some but did not see them. I certify on honor that to the best of my belief and from the best information I could get, being only two hours behind them, that there were only five bushwhackers who made the attack on the wood-yard. Where the Dispatch got that great cock-and-bull story from abont "several hundred Confederate cavalry" making their appearance within six miles of the city on the 16th instant, I cannot tell, unless it was from

the fertile brain of the editor, which, I fear, is ever full of, to him, pleasing visions of rebel cavalry hovering around. I can safely certify on honor that there was not the least foundation for the report. We chased the gang to within half a mile of Stone's River. Having lost some time in getting the correct trail from the wood-yard and being three hours behind them at this point, and our horses being completely tired down, having done all I could do for the present, I thought it best to return to Nashville. In conclusion I can confidently assert that there are no guerrillas at the present time, or any other force on or between the Nolensville and Murfreesborough pikes, but how long they will remain away it is impossible for me to say.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. H. CLINTON,

Major POLK,

Captain, Tenth Tennessee Infantry.

Assistant Adjutant-General, District of Tennessee.

FEBRUARY 16, 1865.-Skirmish near Gurley's Tank, Ala.

Report of Lieut. Willson Dailey, Seventy-third Indiana Infantry.

GURLEY'S TANK, ALA., February 16, 1865.

SIR: I have the honor to report the repulse of fifty men of Russell's Fourth Alabama Cavalry, under command of a captain, by a foraging party of twenty men (twelve from my command and eight from Lieutenant Arnold's detachment of pioneers), under command of Sergt. Daniel Hensley, who was sent to the plantation of one Peebe, three miles and a half from this point, on the Brownsborough road. On their return, when about one mile and a half from this point; they were attacked by fifty men of Russell's Fourth Alabama Cavalry, under command of Captain Britton and Lieutenant Olds. The detachment kept up a running fight until they gained the cover of the wood, where, after a stubborn fight of a few minutes, [they] repulsed the enemy and brought off the teams in safety, without any loss on our side except the following ordnance, two Enfield rifles and equipments, which were taken from two prisoners, who afterward escaped and came in. The casualties on the part of the enemy were 1 man (Jack Hickman, Fourth Alabama Cavalry) killed and 1 man (Allen Grant, Fourth Alabama Cavalry) wounded; 3 more are supposed wounded. Peebe was recognized by one of the escaped prisoners as one of the attacking party. I should like to have the privilege of destroying his plantation.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Col. WILLIAM P. LYON,

WILLSON DAILEY, Second Lieutenant, Commanding.

Commanding Railroad Defenses.

FEBRUARY 16, 1865.—Attacks upon the garrisons of Athens and Sweet Water, Tenn.

REPORTS.

No. 1.-General Robert E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding Army of Northern Virginia. No. 2.-Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn, C. S. Army.

No. 1.

Report of General Robert E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding Army of Northern Virginia.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,

February 24, 1865.

General Echols reports that detachments of Vaughn's cavalry struck the railroad beyond Knoxville at Sweet Water and Athens, capturing the garrison at both places. Sixty men of Second Ohio Regiment, with horses and equipments, were taken.

Hon. J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,

R. E. LEE.

Secretary of War.

No. 2.

Reports of Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn, C. S. Army.

BRISTOL, February 20, 1865.

A small force from my command struck the railroad at Athens, west of Knoxville, capturing the garrison, which has caused two regiments to be sent below from this force above Knoxville.

Maj. J. STODDARD JOHNSTON.

J. C. VAUGHN,
Brigadier-General.

BRISTOL, February 23, 1865.

Captain Maston, with seventy-five men from my brigade, captured the garrison at Sweet Water, forty-five miles below Knoxville, sixty mounted men, horses, and equipments of Second Ohio Regiment. J. C. VAUGHN, Brigadier General.

Major JOHNSTON.

FEBRUARY 17-18, 1865.-Expedition from Eastport to Iuka, Miss. Report of Col. Robert R. Stewart, Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, commanding Fifth Division, Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi.

HEADQUARTERS FIFTH DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS, MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Eastport, Miss., February 18, 1865. GENERAL: I have the honor to report to you that I learned that about fifteen or twenty rebels were in the habit of going into Iuka every evening and remaining there until morning. I ordered a sufficient party to proceed to that town last night, reaching Iuka after dark,