from this regiment returned to camp on the 19th of December and reported to General McCall that the enemy would be at Dranesville on the following day, with a strong foraging party and a wagon train, for the purpose of carrying away all the forage and grain in the country in front of the camp of the Reserves. General McCall was unwilling to allow the country from which he drew large supplies of forage, to be plundered by the enemy; he at once determined to dispute the right to the property between the lines of the hostile armies, and accordingly ordered his division to be ready to march on the morning of the 20th. The Third brigade, commanded by General Ord, whose turn it was on the roster for armed service, was ordered to move out the Dranesville road at daylight. The First brigade, commanded by General Reynolds, was ordered to march at eight o'clock; and the Second brigade, commanded by General Meade, was held in reserve, with orders to be in readiness to follow if required to reinforce the brigades in front. The Thirteenth regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, was temporarily assigned to the Third brigade, to act as skirmishers. A detachment of cavalry commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Higgins, and Easton's battery, consisting of two twenty-four-pound howitzers and two twelve-pounders, was ordered to accompany the brigade. In his instructions to General Ord, General McCall said: "The object of the expedition is two-fold. In the first place, to drive back the enemy's pickets, which have advanced within four or five miles of our lines, and have carried off two good Union men and threatened others; and secondly, to procure a supply or forage." The forage train was placed in charge of Captain Hall, who was instructed to "procure forage at Gunnell's or some other rank secessionist's farm." At six o'clock in the morning, the air cold and a thin frost covering the ground, the men were in position and ready to march. The Bucktails were placed in the advance of the infantry, and were preceded by the cavalry scouts thrown forward to discover the position of the enemy's pickets. Each regiment threw out two companies of flankers on each side of the column to scour the woods and prevent a surprise. The march of the command was as regular and as prompt as that of a body of veterans. At Difficult creek there was an alarm given by some of the scouting parties, and the brigade was ordered to halt. General Ord, upon investigation, found no enemy in the immediate vicinity and ordered the men to refresh themselves with a lunch from their knapsacks. The march was then continued until the head of the column reached Dranesville soon after eleven o'clock. While waiting in Dranesville for the regiments in the rear to come up, General Ord posted the cavalry and artillery, supported by the Ninth regiment, commanded by Colonel Jackson, and a portion of Kane's Rifle regiment, so as to cover the approaches to the village. The presence of the enemy's mounted men on the slopes behind a wooded hollow south of the road, and also the appearance of a broad mass of smoke in the direction of Centreville, convinced General Ord of the presence of the enemy. To meet an attack from the Centreville road, the brigade was faced southward and Lieutenant-Colonel Kane was sent with his regiment to occupy the woods in the rear, on which it was believed the оссиру enemy had a considerable force. The Tenth regiment Colonel McCalmont, followed by the Sixth, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Penrose, and the Twelfth, commanded by Colonel Taggart, which formed the rear guard, closed up promptly. While this disposition of the troops was being made on the right and front to meet the enemy, Colonel Taggart's flankers discovered the enemy on the south side of the Leesburg pike, and reported that, from a hill, a large force of rebel troops was seen moving northward on the Centreville road. On other portions of the line, the flanking companies came in contact with the enemy's scouts, and it was evident that a considerable body of rebel troops was |