, closely followed by the Rebels, until
checked by the First Michigan and a squadron of the Eighth
New York. The Second brigade having come up, it was quickly
thrown into position, and, after a fight of two hours and
thirty minutes, routed the enemy at all points and drove him
toward the river.

When within a short distance of the bridge, General Buford's
command came up and took the advance. We lost twenty-nine
killed, thirty-six wounded, and forty missing. We found upon
the field one hundred and twenty-five dead Rebels, and
brought away upward of fifty wounded. A large number of the
enemy's wounded were left upon the field in charge of their
own surgeons. We captured two guns, three battle-flags, and
upward of fifteen hundred prisoners.

To General Custer and his brigade, Lieutenant Pennington and
his battery, and one squadron of the Eighth New York
Cavalry, of General Buford's command, all praise is due.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. KILPATRICK, _Brigadier-General_.

In his official report of operations from the twenty-eighth of June,
when he assumed command of the Third division, Kilpatrick says: "In this
campaign my command has captured forty-five hundred prisoners, nine
guns, and eleven battle-flags." Never before, in the history of warfare,
has it been permitted to any man commanding a division to include, in a
report of about forty-five days' operations, such magnificent results.

As the last foot of the invaders disappeared from the soil where they
had never been successful, our gallant boys built their bivouac fires
and rested themselves and their weary animals near the scene of their
recent victory.

The telegraph lines, which had so often been burdened with news of
disaster, now sang with joyful intelligence from all departments of our
vast armies. Gettysburg was soon followed by Vicksburg, then Port
Hudson, the names being emblazoned upon many a glowing transparency, to
the honor of the heroes who had planned, and the braves who had fought,
so successfully and well. The news was welcomed with salutes of
artillery and bonfires in most of the Northern cities and villages,
while the whole mass of our people was jubilant and rejoicing.

On the fifteenth the President issued a proclamation of Thanksgiving, in
which he recognized the hand of God in our victories, and called upon
t