Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 10.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

Repeated reports from the cavalry on our left that the enemy was moving heavy columns of infantry to turn General Johnson's left, at last caused him, about 1 P. M., to evacuate the works already gained. These reports reached me also, and I sent Captain Brown, of my staff, with a party of cavalry to the left, to investigate them, who found them to be without foundation, and General Johnson finally took up a position about three hundred yards in rear of the works he had abandoned, which he held under a sharp fire of artillery and exposed to the enemy's sharpshooters until dark.

At midnight my corps fell back, as ordered, to the range of hills west of the town taken by us on Wednesday, where we remained until and during the fourth, unmolested.

The behavior of my troops throughout this campaign was beyond praise, whether the point considered be their alacrity and willing endurance of the long marches, their orderly and exemplary conduct in the enemy's country, their bearing in action, or their patient endurance of hunger, fatigue and exposure during our retreat. The lists of killed and wounded, as well as the results gained, will show the desperate character of the fighting.

In the infantry, Daniel's brigade of Rodes's division, and in the artillery, Andrews's battalion of Johnson's division, suffered most loss. The Second North Carolina battalion of Daniel's brigade loss two hundred out of two hundred and forty men, killed and wounded, without yielding an inch of ground at any time.