No. 189. Report of Major George L. Andrews, Seventeenth U. S. Infantry, commanding Second Brigade.

HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, Camp on Potomac Creek, Va., December 18, 1862.

CAPTAIN: This brigade, under my command, left camp on the morning of the 11th instant, and marched near Falmouth, Va., and bivouacked. About 4 p.m. on the 13th instant, the march was resumed, and, crossing the Rappahannock River on the upper bridge, the brigade passed through Fredericksburg, Va., and were placed in position on the south side of the city and on the east side of Hanover street. This was about 5.15 o'clock, and under a brisk fire of musketry, and, in taking up the position, some 8 or 10 men were shot. About 11 p.m., in obedience to orders, I advanced the brigade about a third of a mile, and relieved a part of the advance guard of the army. The position proved to be the most trying of any I have ever known troops to assume, and eventually put to the severest test the nerve and endurance of the oldest, and most courageous of our officers and men. Our line was now about 80 yards in front of a stone wall, behind which the enemy were posted in great numbers, while the slope occupied by my command was so slight as to compel the men to remain flat on their faces from the earliest dawn of day until darkness again veiled them from sight. To move even was sure to draw the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters, who were posted in the adjunct houses and in tree-tops, and whose fire we were unable to return. Thus the troops remained for twelve long hours, unable to eat, drink, or attend to the calls of nature, for so relentless were the enemy that not even a wounded man or our stretcher-carriers were exempted from their their fire.

At 11 p.m. on the 14th instant, I withdrew the command, and, marching them back into the city, we bivouacked in the streets during the night. In the morning I was relieved of the command by Major C. S. Lovell, Tenth Infantry.

For the part enacted by each battalion composing the brigade, I beg leave to refer you to the reports of the battalion commanders, hereto appended, and in which will be found the details of the casualties as follows:

Battalion First and Second Infantry, commanded by Captain Salem S. Marsh, Second Infantry.-Enlisted men wounded, 20;missing, 3. Total, 23.

Battalion Sixth Infantry, commanding by Captain Levi C. Bootes.-Killed, 5 enlisted man; wounded, 1 officer and 21 enlisted men; missing, 1 enlisted man. Total, 1 officer and 27 enlisted men.

Battalion Seventh Infantry, commanded by Captain D. P. Hancock.-Killed, 2 enlisted men; wounded, 26 enlisted men; missing, 9 enlisted men; deserted, 1 officer. Total, 1 officer and 37 enlisted men.

Battalion Tenth Infantry,commanded by Captain H. E. Maynadier.-Enlisted men killed, 1; wounded,4. Total.5.

Battalion Eleventh Infantry, commanded by Captain Charles S. Russell.-Killed, 1 enlisted man; wounded, 2 officers and 18 enlisted men. Total, 2 officers and 19 enlisted men.

Battalion Seventeenth and Nineteenth Infantry, commanded by Captain J. P. Wales, Seventeenth Infantry.-Killed, 1 officer and 2 enlisted men; wounded, 22 enlisted men. Total, 1 officer and 24 enlisted men.

Recapitulation.-Killed, 1 officer and 11 enlisted men; total, 12. Wounded, 3 officers and 111 enlisted men; total, 114. Missing, 13 enlisted men. Deserted, 1 officer. Aggregate,140.*

Respectfully submitted.

GEORGE L. ANDREWS,

Major Seventeenth Infantry, Commanding.

Captain GEORGE RYAN,