About this time, General Floyd arrived at the Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs with a brigade of three regiments of infantry and a battalion of cavalry. He had been ordered, in the first instance, to proceed with his command to Jackson River, with a view to the relief of the retreating forces of Gen. Garnett; but, on his arrival at the Sweet Springs from Southampton, Virginia, Gen. Floyd's direction was changed by authority to the Kanawha Valley. After consultation between Generals Floyd and Wise in Greenbrier county, the former, who was the ranking officer, resumed his march westward, the latter following in a few days.

Gen. Floyd commenced to skirmish with the enemy's pickets at Tyree's, on the west side of the Sewell Mountain, driving them back to their command, five miles distant, with a loss of four killed and seven wounded. Upon his approach, the army retreated from Locust Lane to Hamilton's, near Hawk's Nest, Floyd's command advancing and occupying the camp of the Federals the next night. The Wise Legion also came up and occupied the same ground. The two commands then advanced to Dogwood Gap, where the road from Summersville intersects the turnpike from Lewisburg to Charleston. There two pieces of artillery were posted to keep open the line, and prevent a flanking movement from Cox's command via Carnifax Ferry, where there was reported to be a Federal force of several thousand. The main command then moved down to Pickett's Mills, near Hamilton's, within a few miles of the enemy's camp. At this point, information was obtained that the rear of the Confederates was threatened by Matthews' and Tyler's commands, which had occupied Carnifax Ferry (on the Gauley river), and Cross Lanes, a few miles distant therefrom. Gen. Floyd at once ordered his brigade to strike tents, and at halfpast one o'clock in the morning he took up the line of march, with the view of engaging the forces of his assailants, whose object was to cut off his trains and fall upon his rear.

Gen. Wise's command was left at Pickett's Mills to hold the turnpike, and prevent a flank movement from Hawk's Nest, where the main body of Cox's forces were stationed on New River, seven miles east of Gauley Bridge.

Floyd's brigade proceeded by a rapid march, and reached Carnifax Ferry about noon of the same day. On his arrival

there, he learned that the enemy had drawn in his commands at Cross Lanes and Carnifax Ferry, in anticipation of an attack at Hawk's Nest. Gen. Floyd proceeded at once to raise the boats which the enemy had sunk in the river at the ferry, and to construct other boats for crossing the river immediately, se as to occupy the strong positions which the enemy had held on the opposite side of the Gauley. In the short space of twentyfour hours, he had constructed a small batteau to carry some ten men, and had raised a ferry-boat capable of carrying fifty men and transporting his wagons, and had succeeded in ferrying over all of his infantry and two pieces of artillery. He then undertook to transport his cavalry, when an accident occurred which caused the loss of the ferry-boat and four men The boat capsized and was drawn over the rapids. By this accident, Gen. Floyd's command was severed, most of his cavalry and four pieces of artillery being left on the eastern side of the stream, while his infantry and a small portion of his cavalry had reached the opposite shore. The stream had been 30 swollen by recent rains as to render ferrying extremely hazardous. Gen. Floyd, from the western side, ordered the quarter-master across the river to build boats on the other side, and to convey a message to Gen. Wise informing him of the condition of the command.

In twenty-four hours, a boat was built and launched from the west side of the river, and the remainder of the artillery and cavalry and such wagons as were needful were passed over. In the mean time, Gen. Floyd was engaged in strengthening his position. His scouts were thrown out in the direction of Gauley Bridge, by way of the Summersville and Gauley turnpike, and they reported the advance of the enemy in considerable strength from Gauley, in the direction of Cross Lanes. The next evening, the enemy had advanced to Cross Lanes, within two miles of Floyd's camp. The Federal officers had heard of the casualty at the ferry, and their "Union" friends in the neighboring country had reported to them that but two hundred of the infantry and cavalry had succeeded in crossing over.

Col. Tyler, who commanded the Federals, was confident of the capture of the whole force on the western side of the river. He was sadly disappointed. Gen. Floyd had drawn up his

forces in line of battle on the evening of Sunday, August 25th, and prepared for an attack. His pickets had closely scented the enemy's position. Keeping his men in line of battle all night, at four o'clock the next morning he ordered an advance upon the enemy, whose strength was estimated at from fifteen hundred to two thousand. The order was promptly obeyed. The several Virginia regiments marched by the respective routes assigned them, and succeeded in completely surprising the Federals. Col. Tyler's line of pickets did not extend more than two or three hundred yards from his camp in the direction of Carnifax Ferry. His men were found preparing their breakfasts of green corn and fresh beef-roasting their corn by the fire and broiling their beef on sharp sticks. They were encamped in separate divisions, the rear being very near the church, in the direction of Gauley, in which building Col. Tyler had taken up his quarters. Their pickets were drawn in, and the division nearest to Floyd's forces took position behind a fence, where, for a time, they stubbornly resisted the attack. They were soon dislodged, and the whole command pushed over the hills, where they broke into the most disgraceful flight, the advance of which was conspicuously led by their colonel and field-officers. The flight was one of wild consternation, many of the enemy not only throwing away their arms, but divesting themselves of hats and coats to accelerate their flight, which was continued on an uninterrupted stretch for twelve or fifteen miles.

The commander of the Federals, Col. Tyler, was an Ohio man, and was familiar with the topography of the country he had come to invade, having visited it for years in the character of a fur-dealer. On his advent in the Kanawha Valley as the commander of an invading regiment, the coarse jest was n.ade in some of the Northern papers that he would "drive a snug business" in rebel skins. The joke was turned against him by the Virginia soldiers at Cross Lanes, when they captured all the baggage of the Federal command, including the colonel's shirts, who had thus narrowly escaped with his own skin. As the flying enemy dashed on, the colonel led the retreat at a considerable distance ahead of it. One of his staff, a major, in leaping a fence got his horse astride it, and had to leave him there, trusting to the fleetness of his own heels for safety.

In the affair at Cross Lanes, the enemy's loss in killed wounded, and prisoners was about two hundred. That on our side in killed and wounded did not exceed a dozen men.

Gen. Floyd proceeded to strengthen his position on the Gauley. Having succeeded in throwing his forces between Cox and Rosecrans, he set to work to bring up ten days' supplies in advance, intending to throw a portion of his command into the Kanawha Valley below Cox, with a view of cutting off his retreat. Having secured supplies sufficient to justify an advance movement, Gen. Floyd was about this time apprised of the approach of Rosecrans, by way of Suttonsville, with a large force for the relief of Cox. On the evening previous to the contemplated advance of the Confederates against Cox, about three o'clock of the 10th of September, Rosecrans, by a rapid march of sixteen miles, threw his entire force of ten regiments and several heavy batteries of artillery about Floyd's intrenchments, and commenced a vigorous attack.

The successful resistance of this attack of the enemy, in the neighborhood of Carnifax Ferry, was one of the most remarkable incidents of the campaign in Western Virginia. The force of Gen. Floyd's command was 1,740 men, and from three o'clock in the afternoon until nightfall, it sustained, with unwavering determination and the most brilliant success, an assault from an enemy between eight and nine thousand strong, made with small-arms, grape, and round-shot, from howitzers and rifled cannon.

Upon the close of the contest for the night, Gen. Floyd de termined at once to cross the Gauley river, and take position upon the left bank-Gen. Wise having failed to reinforce him, and it being only a question of time when he would be compelled to yield to the superiority of numbers. The retreat across the river was accomplished by aid of a hastily constructed bridge of logs, about four feet wide, without the loss of a gun, or any accident whatever. In a continued firing upon as, by cannon and small-arms, for nearly four hours, only twenty of our men had been wounded and none killed. We had repulsed the enemy in five distinct and successive assaults, and had held him in complete check until the river was placed between him and the little army he had come in the insolent confidence of overwhelming numbers to destroy. The loss fo

the enemy had been considerable, Col. Lytle, of Cincinnati, and a number of other Federal officers, having fallen in their attempts to rally their men to a successful charge. The whole loss of the enemy cannot be stated here; it was very serious, by the admission of the Cincinnati Commercial, and other Federal newspapers; it, unquestionably, must have amounted to several hundred in killed and wounded. Gen. Floyd was wounded by a musket-shot in the arm. His flag, which was flying at head-quarters, and his tent were riddled with balls.

At the time that information had reached Gen. Floyd of the advance of the enemy towards his position, he had dispatched orders to Gen. Wise for reinforcements, which he failed to procure. In his official report of the action, Gen. Floyd wrote to the War Department at Richmond: "I am very confident that I could have beaten the enemy and marched directly to the Valley of the Kanawha, if the reinforcements from Gen. Wise's column had come up when ordered, and the regiments from North Carolina and Georgia could have reached me before the close of the second day's conflict. I cannot express the regret which I feel at the necessity, over which I had no control which required that I should recross the river. I am confident that if I could have commanded the services of five thousand men, instead of eighteen hundred, which I had, I could have opened the road directly into the Valley of the Kanawha." Referring to the correspondence between himself and Gen. Wise, in which the latter had declined to send forward reinforcements, Gen. Floyd indicated to the government the urgent necessity of shaping the command in the Valley of the Kanawha, so as to insure in the future that unity of action, upon which alone can rest any hope of success in mili tary matters.

While Gen. Floyd was at Carnifax Ferry, Gen. Wise marched down to Big Creek, in Fayette county, where the enemy were in considerable force, fortified his position, and offered them battle. He hoped to obtain a position upon the flank of the enemy, and with that view, sent Col. Anderson and his regiment by an obscure county road, but did not succeed in his object. Meanwhile, with two regiments of infantry and a battery of artillery, Gen. Wise remained within a quarter of a mile of the enemy. A sharp skirmish took place, the enemy opening