I remained in Fort Stedman after the main body of the division had left it; watching and admiring the gallant fight the skirmish line was making, and until there was no one in the fort except an occasional Confederate passing through.

Suddenly I heard a shout, and looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a body of Federal infantry coming over the wall of the fort on the opposite side. A few jumps on a double-quick put the wall of the fort between the enemy and myself, and then with a few other belated stragglers I found myself crossing the stormswept space between us and our works. At first I made progress at a tolerably lively gait, but I wore heavy cavalry boots, the ground was thawing under the warm rays of the sun, and great cakes of mud stuck to my boots; my speed slackened into a slow trot, then into a slow walk, and it seemed as if I were an hour making that seventy-five yards.

Not only the artillery now, but the enemy's infantry had remanned the front wall of Fort Stedman, and the deadly minie balls were whistling and hurling as thick as hail.

Every time I lifted my foot with its heavy weight of mud and boot, I thought my last step was taken. Out of the ten or a dozen men who started across that field with me, I saw at least half of them fall, and I do not believe more than one or two got over safely.

When I reached our works and clambered up to the top, I was so exhausted that I rolled down among the men, and one of them expressed surprise at seeing me by remarking: "Here is General Walker; I thought he was killed!"

In this affair the Confederates lost heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners. Nearly all my gallant skirmish line was captured, for when they fell back to Fort Stedman they found it occupied by the enemy, and there was no alternative left them but to surrender as prisoners of war.

There are many minor incidents and details of this bold attack, which I would like to weave into this narrative, but it has already grown too long.

The reader may ask what was the object of this rash sally, this seemingly hopeless attack on overwhelming numbers, strongly entrenched and supplied with every appliance known to modern warfare? I can answer the question. The situation of the Confederate Army around Richmond and Petersburg was fast becoming desperate, and unless something could be done, and done quickly, the fall

of Richmond was inevitable; and desperate diseases require desperate remedies. General Gordon conceived the bold and hazardous plan of surprising the enemy, piercing their lines in front of Hare's Hill, cutting off the troops between Fort Stedman and the Appomattox river, and by thus getting in their rear, to compel them to cross over to the left bank of that river or be captured. Thus having opened the way to City Point, the Confederate cavalry, which had been brought up and held in readiness to act, was to dash upon City Point, capture General Grant, destroy the immense supplies stored there for the use of the army, and make a raid around the rear of the Federal army. If the way was opened for the cavalry, the enemy in their line between Fort Stedman and the extreme left was to be assailed at various points by the Confederate troops in front of them. General Gordon was to attack them on the exposed right, flank and rear, with the hope of compelling them to abandon the siege of Petersburg and withdraw to the north side of James river.

The conception was worthy of Stonewall Jackson and reflects the highest credit on General Gordon, and, if his force had been sufficient to carry the enemy's second line, would have proved a grand

success.

This was the last charge made by Confederate soldiers on an entrenched position of the enemy, and while the results expected were not realized, it showed that the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia still had plenty of fight in them and could be relied on to do all that mortal men could do.

After the failure of Gordon's movement we all felt that our cause was hopeless, and within ten days thereafter we marched out of the earthworks we had held so long against such overwhelming odds, and a few days after laid down our arms at Appomattox.

The storming of Fort Stedman was a mere episode in the siege of Petersburg and is scarcely mentioned in history, or only spoken of in official reports as an unsuccessful attempt to carry the Federal lines near Fort Stedman, which was repulsed with great loss.'

It was, in fact, one of the boldest movements made during the war; and for coolness and gallantry on the part of the soldiers engaged in it was not surpassed by any affair of the war between the States.

Very truly yours,

JAMES A. WALKER.

On the 25th day of March, 1865, from the Appomattox around to Fort Howard, which was on the Federal lines at a point about due south from the Customhouse in Petersburg, these lines were occupied by the troops of the 9th Corps, then commanded by General John G. Parke. In his report of the operations of his command on that day, he says:

"The line held by this corps extended from the Appomattox on the right, with pickets stretching some three miles down the river, to Fort Howard on the left, a distance of about seven miles. The line was occupied by the First Division, Brevet Major-General O. B. Wilcox, commanding, extending from the Appomattox to Fort Meikel, and the Second Division, Brevet Major-General R. B. Potter, commanding, extending from Fort Meikel to Fort Howard. The Third Division, Brigadier-General J. F. Hartranft, commanding, was held in reserve, its right regiment being posted near the Dunn House Battery, and its left regiment between Forts Hays and Howard. The entrenchment held by Wilcox's Division and the First Brigade of Potter's, were very nearly placed when the positions were originally gained by our troops, under fire, and in so close proximity to the enemy that the work was necessarily very effective. This was especially the case with Fort Stedman, where our line crossed the Prince George Courthouse road. This is a small work without bastions, with Battery No. 10 immediately adjoining, the battery open in the rear, and the ground in the rear of the fort nearly as high as its parapet. The opposing lines are here about 150 yards apart, the picket lines about fifty yards. This portion of the line was held by the Third Brigade. First Division, Brevet Brigadier-General M. B. McLaughlen, commanding.

G. S. B.

[From the Baltimore, Md., Sun, September 16-October 18, 1903.]

THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM OR SHARPSBURG.

Reminiscences of Jackson's Old Division by Captain James M. Garnett and Alexander Hunter, with Comments by Alex. Robert Chisholm.

Numbers Against General Lee—An Estimate that He Had but 35,000 or 36,000 in the Conflict-Hungry Men Fought Bravely.

The approaching anniversary of the battle of Sharpsburg, or Antietam creek, recalls vividly to mind the incidents of that battle. It may be remembered by old soldiers that Jackson's Corps, consisting of his own division, commanded by General J. R. Jones; Ewell's Division, commanded by General A. R. Lawton, and A. P. Hill's Division, commanded by General A. P. Hill, had been detached to capture Harper's Ferry, whose garrison consisted of 11,000 men under Colonel D. S. Miles.

Jackson was assisted by General J. G. Walker's Division, which occupied Loudon Heights, and General McLaws' Division, which occupied Maryland Heights. There was some delay on the part of these troops in getting into position, but all was ready by the afternoon of September 14. Jackson moved forward, his command extending from the Shenandoah to the Potomac, in the following order from right to left, A. P. Hill, Lawton and Jones.

The attack began early on the morning of Monday, the 15th, and after brisk firing for an hour or more the white flag was displayed, and the place, being completely surrounded, was surrendered by General Julius White, who had returned from Winchester and joined Colonel Miles a few days before, Colonel Miles having been killed by one of the last shots and General White having succeeded to the command.

BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN.

Meantime General McClellan, having come into possession of a copy of General Lee's order of march, found at or near General D. H. Hill's headquarters at Frederick, on September 13 (the responsibility for the loss of which has not been settled to this day), had pressed forward much more rapidly than usual and brought on (Sun

day, September 14) the battle of South Mountain, or Boonsboro, fought by General Lee to protect his trains and to enable General Jackson to rejoin him.

The Federals carried the passes of South Mountain at Crampton's and Turner's Gaps, and General Lee drew up his army on the west side of Antietam creek, north and south of the village of Sharpsburg, and in easy communication with General Jackson by Boteler's ford, on the Potomac, near Shepherdstown.

As soon as the necessary arrangements for the surrender of Harper's Ferry could be made on the 15th, General Jackson, leaving General A. P. Hill at Harper's Ferry to complete these arrangements, marched that afternoon for Shepherdstown with his own corps (Jones' and Lawton's Divisions) and Walker's Division, and crossed the Potomac at Boteler's ford on the morning of the 16th. McLaws' Division, with which R. H. Anderson's was serving, did not reach Sharpsburg until the morning of the 17th, and A. P. Hill's Division, with the exception of one brigade left at Harper's Ferry, not until the afternoon of the 17th, after a march of seventeen miles, but just in time to save the day against Burnside's attack.

General McClellan had placed his army in position on the east side of Antietam creek by the night of September 15, and his failure to attack on the 16th, when General Lee's army was still divided, was fatal to his success.

This article must be limited to the operations of Jackson's old division (J. R. Jones') on the extreme left, as the writer was a staff officer of the "Stonewall Brigade" (Winder's), commanded by Colonel Andrew J. Grigsby, of the 27th Virginia Regiment, and later in the day of the division, as Colonel Grigsby succeeded to the command of the division after the stunning of General Jones by a shell and the death of General Starke, commanding the Louisiana brigade.

TAKING POST NEAR SHARPSBURG.

After crossing the Potomac at Boteler's ford, on the afternoon of September 16, Tuesday, this division was marched to the extreme left, through Sharpsburg and the woods around the Dunkard Church on the Hagerstown turnpike, and took position in an open field to the left of the turnpike and in front of these woods; that is, the "Stonewall" Brigade, or First Brigade, as it was also known, commanded by Colonel Grigsby, in the open field, right resting on the Hagerstown turnpike, the Second Brigade (Jones') prolonging the