from near Stewart's Creek was doubly
hard on empty stomachs; at last, on the evening of the 2d, some bacon,
flour and coffee were received and helped to tide the command over the
worst; though the men were hungry, they were in the best possible spirits.
When on the 2d the brigade advanced by the right of companies double quick
to the front, one man, seeing a solid shot rolling along very leisurely,
put his foot out to stop it; the opposing forces did not overcome each
other, and, the shot being stronger, the man found himself nicely tripped
and rolling along with the ball, much to his surprise, and, not being
injured, to the merriment of his comrades. The Battalion Quartermasters,
with the teamsters, servants, cooks and sick, defended their trains
against the charges of rebel cavalry repeatedly, repulsing the enemy every
time, and saving and preserving their trains. Of the three rebel brigades
of Jackson, Preston and Adams, General Bragg, the commander of their army,
says: "How gallantly they moved to their work, and how much they suffered
in the determined effort to accomplish it, will best appear from the
reports of subordinate commanders, and the statement of losses therewith."
This shows some of the work done by the Regular Brigade, and later by its
battery repulsing the determined charge of these troops on to the left of
the line of battle. General Thomas, when asked why he sent the brigade
into the cedars, a regular holocaust, replied that it became a necessity
to do so.

The casualties in the brigade were fearful, and almost all were suffered
at noon of, and all occurred on, the 31st of December.

The following statement is taken from official sources, and shows the
casualties in the brigade in detail:

Key: CO = Commissioned Officers. Btn. = Battalion
EM = Enlisted Men. Inf. = Infantry

NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER
ENGAGED. KILLED. WOUNDED. CAPTURED.
CO EM CO EM CO EM CO EM
Field and Staff of Brigade 4
1st Btn., 15th U. S. Inf. 16 304 2 10 3 74 -- 17
1st " 16th " 15 293 -- 16 7 127 -- 16
1st " 19th " 10 198 1 6 -- 55 -- 7
1st " 18th " 16 273 1 27 6 109 -- 2
2d " 18th " 16 298 1 30 5 98 -- 5
B