J. Irvine, July 20, 1861

GENERAL:

In reply to your order of the 19th instant, requiring me to report the steps taken by me to intercept the retreat of the rebels from Laurel Hill, I have the honor to report that in obedience to your order I occupied and fortified the junction of the Buffalo turnpike with the Northwest road, together with the Cheat Bridge. Subsequent reconnaissances indicated the occupation of a point farther to the eastward on the Northwestern road, and upon the suggestion of Colonel Whittlesey, and your approval, I occupied the junction of the Saint George turnpike with the Northwestern with two companies, which by the reconnaissances then made was supposed to be the extreme eastern point of access to the Northwestern road from the vicinity of Laurel Hill. ~

On the information received from you I advanced with the remainder of my regiment (in all seyen companies) and one gun to West Union on Friday night, the 11th of July, arriving shortly after midnight, where I was joined by Colonel Depuy, of the Eighth Ohio, with his six companies. On Saturday, the 12th, Colonel Depuy and myself made reconnaissances of the roads in the vicinity, but failed to get the correct information sought. It was not until near midnight of the 12th that I learned that the road entering the Northwest pike at Red House was not a branch of the Saint George pike. I immediately dispatched mounted scouts to Horseshoe Run road (the one entering at Red House), and they brought me information of the passage of the enemy at about 64 o’clock of the 15th. I immediately put my command in motion, and marched eastward on the Northwest pike to Red House, where I learned the enemy had left at 5 o’clock a. m. I followed, crossing

Backbone Mountain, and halted to rest my men two miles west of North Branch Bridge, where I was overtaken by you. My command had already marched fourteen miles, most of them without breakfast. I had but few rations to send forward, if I had transportation, but I had not a single wagon to carry anything. At the consultation then held, a full statement being made by the respective commanding officers of their condition and of yours, in regard to want of transportation, it was determined to abandon the pursuit, in which opinion there was a unanimous concurrence, with, I believe, a single exception amongst over twenty officers.

At that time the enemy were at Stony River Bridge, which they subsequently destroyed before even fresh troops could have reached them from where we then were. Subsequent operations being conducted under your own eye, I suppose are not called for in this hasty report, made under circumstances forbidding accuracy of date and detail.

your obedient servant, —