Reports of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, U.S. Army, commanding First Division.
The commanders of brigades--Brig. Gens. T. F. Meagher, Caldwell, and Zook--performed their duties faithfully and well. Col. J. R. Brooke, commanding Fourth Brigade, was of great assistance to me by his promptness and efficiency. Col. N. A. Miles, Sixty-first New York Volunteers, had great opportunity for distinction, and availed himself thereof, performing brilliant services. Col. E. E. Cross, Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers, performed distinguished services.
The artillery was generally detached from my command. However, Pettit's battery (B, First New York Artillery) and one-half of Thomas' (C, Fourth U.S. Artillery), under the command of First Lieut. William O'Donohue, until he was mortally wounded, and subsequently under command of Second Lieut. Edward Field, performed excellent service while under my command.
The following of my staff officers were active in carrying orders on the field, and performed their duties faithfully and well, behaving with great gallantry: Maj. John Hancock, assistant adjutant-general; Maj. G. W. Scott, Sixty-first New York Volunteers, acting assistant inspector-general; Capt. H. H. Bingham, One hundred and fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, judge-advocate of the division; First Lieuts. W. G. Mitchell, J. B. Parker, and W. D. H. Miller, aides-de- camp; First Lieut. James M. Rorty, ordnance officer, and First Lieut. W. P. Wilson, One hundred and forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, commissary of musters.
Lieutenant Mitchell, in carrying a message to General Geary's troops at a critical period of the battle, with a view of saving time, rode in front of a battery of nine guns, a few yards from the muzzles, running the gauntlet of the fire in order to save a considerable detour; and Lieutenant Parker personally and alone took prisoners 2 of the enemy in front of our picket-line, and brought them in with him.
Capt. C. H. Hoyt, chief assistant quartermaster; Capt. A. C. Voris, commissary of subsistence, and Maj. R. C. Stiles, surgeon in chief of the division, were actively employed in the operations of their respective departments.
First Lieut. George C. Anderson, Fifty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, in charge of the division ambulance corps, together with his assistants, performed their duty faithfully. The ambulances and stretcher-carriers were employed on the field under fire, and the duties of the department were executed as I have not seen them done before during the war. Several of the stretcher-carriers were killed or wounded, and a few made prisoners by the enemy.
The following of my orderlies were much exposed, and deserve mention for their good conduct during the action: Sergt. Owen McKenzie, Corpl. Thomas Watson, Privates James Wells, Alvin Stearns (wounded), John Gollinger, and Donald O'Rourke (horse killed), all of Company K, Sixth New York Cavalry, and Privates Andrew Boudreau and Henry McEnro, of Company D, Sixth New York Cavalry.
On the 15th instant, I transmitted to your headquarters a nominal and tabular statement of the losses of the division, amounting in the aggregate to 1,122.
I transmit also a sketch of the positions occupied by the division in the neighborhood of the Chancellor house.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WINF'D S. HANCOCK,
Major-General, Commanding Division.
Captain POTTER,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
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