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Numbers 18. Report of Brigadier General Isaac F. Quinby, U. S. Army, commanding Seventh DIVISION, SEVENTEENTH Army Corps, including operations April 20-May 20. HDQRS. SEVENTH DIVISION, SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS,Rear of Vicksburg, MISS. ,May 26,1863. COLONEL: Herewith I have the honor to transmit the reports of the several battery, regimental, and brigade commanders of this DIVISION of the operations in which their respective commands have participated since they left Milliken's Bend, La. , on and after the 20th ultimo, up to and including the 20th instant, when the whole of the DIVISION had reached its position in rear of Vicksburg. On the return of the DIVISION from the Yazoo Pass expedition, the state of my health, in the opinion of the surgeons, rendered a change of climate necessary, and the major-general commanding the corps granted me a leave of absence for twenty days. I was unable to rejoin my command until the morning of the 16th Instant , just as it was about to perform its part in the battle of Champion's Hill. It was deemed inexpedient to relieve Brigadier-General Crocker, then commanding, and assign me to the command of the DIVISION at the moment it was engaging the enemy. Besides, my still feeble condition, and the exhaustion consequent upon a ride of 16 miles before the ground was gained, incapacitated me for the command. I remained on the field, however, until the battle was ours. The SECOND Brigade, Colonel Holmes, tenth Missouri Infantry, commanding, was ordered to remain on the field to assist in bringing off and caring for the wounded, collecting abandoned arms and other property, and burying the dead. The First Brigade, colonel Sanborn, fourth Minnesota Infantry, and the THIRD Brigade, colonel Boomer, twenty-sixth Missouri Infantry, commanding, moved forward on the road toward Vicksburg , and encamped for the night on Baker's Creek. The following morning I resumed the command of the DIVISION, and pushed forward, with the First and THIRD Brigades and my artillery, to a point on the Big Black, about 3 miles above the railroad bridge. During the night the First Brigade, under the direction of an engineer officer of the corps, threw a floating bridge, in front of its position over the Big Black, and at 9 a. m. on the 18th, the troops began to cross by it. The passage of troops, artillery , and the wagon train occupied nearly the whole day. The First Brigade and TWELFTH Wisconsin Battery were left as a guard for the bridge, while the THIRD Brigade, with the Sixth Wisconsin and Eleventh Ohio Batteries, and Company M, first Missouri Light Artillery, moved on toward Vicksburg, reaching its rear on the morning of the 19th, and were placed in position against the enemy's works, the THIRD Brigade on the left of Major General Logan's DIVISION. On the 20th instant, the First and SECOND Brigades, with the TWELFTH Wisconsin Battery, crossed the Big Black, destroyed the bridge, and on the afternoon of that day were also assigned to their positions about Vicksburg. I cannot conclude this brief sketch of the operations of this DIVISION without bearing testimony to the coolness and unmurmuring, patient endurance of privations and hardships of both officers and men, and will add that I am proud to command a body of troops whose numbers have been so greatly reduced in this brilliant campaign, but who are still strong enough to add to their already imperishable reputation. I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, I. F. QUINBY, Lieutenant Colonel W. T. CLARK, |