No. 18. Report of Captain Charles E. Clarke, Sixth Michigan Infantry.
BATON ROUGE, LA., August 7, 1862.

I have the honor to make to you the following report in regard to the participacy of the Sixth Regiment Michigan Volunteer Infantry in the action before Baton Rouge on the morning of the 5th instant:

The camp of the regiment was at the junction of the Clay Cut and Jenkins' roads, on the extreme right of the line. A section of Brown's battery was in position on the former road a little in advance, and supported by Companies A, B, and F, under the command of the veteran Captain John Corden, of Company F, acting lieutenant-colonel. At the commencement of the action Companies I, H, G, and K, under my command, assisted by Acting Major Captain Bassett, were ordered by General Williams to go to the support of the Twenty-first Indiana, which was then in position in front of the Magnolia Cemetery. Soon after taking this position we were assailed by a furious fire of the enemy, who found cover under a fence a little in advance and to the right of the road leading by the south side of the cemetery. Their fire was briskly returned by the men under my command, an, as the boards of the fence offered but slight resistance to our rifle balls, the attacking party was severely punished and soon retired. I then received an order to support Nims' battery, which position I occupied during the remainder of the engagement. The part of the regiment left with Captain Corden repelled an attack of a far superior force, driving the enemy, taking 20 prisoners, 50 stand of arms, and one rebel flag of the Fourth Louisiana, and most nobly discharged the duty to which they had been assigned. . . .

CHAS. E. CLARKE,
Captain and Actg. Col. of the Sixth Regt. Mich. Vols.
OR V15, Ser. 21 pp. 67/8