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river, which commanded Harper's Ferry and Bolivar Heights, and placed in position.

his brigade was formed in rear of mine, it being too dark to understand enough of the position to make very good dispositions. Lawton's and Trimble's brigades were halted in the woods near the church, and between ten and eleven o'clock at night, were ordered to relieve some brigades of General Hood's division which had been engaged during the evening. These two brigades were posted in the positions occupied by General Hood's brigade, Trimble's brigade, under Colonel Walker, being on the right, next to General D. H. Hill's division, and Lawton's brigade on the left of it. In this position they lay on their arms during the night, with occasional skirmishing in

The rest of the batteries belonging to the division were placed in position on the crest of School-House Hill, on each side of the road. At dawn, the brigades were advanced to the front of the woods, and the batteries, including Brown's and Dement's, opened fire, which was kept up until the enemy surrendered. Our artillery fire was but feebly responded to. Lawton's brigade, under the command of Colonel Douglas, was moved by flank, under cover, to the bottom, on the right of the turnpike between School-House Hill and Bolivar Heights, for the purpose of supporting General A. P. Hill's contemplated ad-front between the pickets. vance from the right; but the white flag was displayed in a short time, and no further movement was made by this brigade or the rest of the division.

BATTLE OF SHARPSBURG.

Late in the afternoon of the fifteenth, (the day of the surrender,) General Lawton received an order to move the division on the road to Boteler's Ford, below Shepherdstown, and he immediately put his own and Trimble's brigade in motion, and gave me an order to follow with Hays's and my own brigades as soon as they could be supplied with rations, which had to be obtained from Harper's Ferry. This detained me until after night, when I followed General Lawton, and found him in camp about four miles from the ford. The division moved at dawn next morning, crossing the Potomac at Boteler's Ford and proceeding on the road to Sharpsburg, and was halted and stacked arms in a wood on the left of the road about a mile from Sharpsburg. It remained in this position for several hours, and late in the afternoon, General Lawton was ordered to move the division to the right to cover a bridge over the Antietam. This movement was commenced, but was soon countermanded, and he was directed to follow Jackson's division to the left. Following this division, we moved through fields to the left of Sharpsburg until we reached the turnpike from Sharpsburg toward Hagerstown, and then turned to the left on that road until we reached a wood in which there was a Dunkard Church.

Jackson's division having been placed in position, General Jackson in person directed me to place my brigade on the left of his division, then commanded by Brigadier-General Jones, so as to prevent its being flanked, and to communicate with General Jones. It was then getting dark, some of our troops were engaged in front, and the shells from the enemy's guns were flying tolerably thick, and it was some time before I could ascertain where General. Jones was. I found him, however, finally, not far from where I was; and having ascertained that General Starke's brigade was on his left, I moved to the left of that, and placed my brigade in line along a road on which General Starke's left rested. In a short time Brigadier-General Hays, who had joined his brigade the day before, reported to me, and

Shortly after dawn, next morning, Hays's brigade was ordered, by General Lawton, to move to the position at which his own and Trimble's brigades were in line, and was posted in the open field in rear of Lawton's brigade. At the same time Hays was ordered to make his movement. General Jackson, in person, ordered me to move my brigade to the left, along a route which he pointed out, to support some pieces of artillery which Major-General Stuart had in position to the left of our line. I immediately commenced this movement, and was thus separated from the rest of the division, and cannot, therefore, speak of its subsequent operations from my own observation, but gather the following facts from the reports of brigade commanders:

At light, skirmishing commenced in front of Lawton's and Trimble's brigades, in a piece of woods occupied by the enemy, and in a very short time the enemy's batteries, which were posted on the opposite side of Antietam river, so as to enfilade the line of these two brigades, opened a destructive fire. About sunrise, the enemy advanced in line, driving in our skirmishers, and advancing to the edge of the woods. About this time, batteries opened in front from the woods with shell and canister, and these brigades were thus exposed to a terrible carnage. After a short time, General Hays advanced, with his brigade, to the support of Colonel Douglas, under a terrific fire, and passed to the front. About this time, General Lawton, who had been superintending the operation, received a very severe wound, and was borne from the field. Colonel Walker, by moving two of his regiments, the Twenty-first Georgia and Twentyfirst North Carolina, and concentrating their fire, and that of the Twelfth Georgia, upon a part of the enemy's line in front of the latter, succeeded in breaking it, and as a brigade of fresh troops came up to the support of Lawton's and Hays's brigades just at this time, Walker ordered an advance; but the brigade which came up having fallen back, he was compelled to halt, and finally to fall back to his first position. His brigade (Trimble's) had suffered terribly; his own horse was killed under him, and he had himself been struck by a piece of shell. Colonel Douglas, whose brigade had been hotly engaged during the whole time, was killed, and about half the men had been killed and wounded. Hays's bri

gade, which had advanced to Colonel Douglas's support, had also suffered terribly, having more than half killed and wounded, (both of General Hays's staff officers being disabled,) and, General Hood having come up to their relief, these three brigades, which were reduced to mere fragments, their ammunition being exhausted, retired to the

rear.

for me to carry my brigade back and take command of the division.

Leaving the thirteenth Virginia regiment, numbering less than one hundred men, with General Stuart, at his request, I then moved to the rear of this wood around a cornfield, as the enemy had got into the woods to my right, and as I came near the position at which my brigade had been posted the night before, I found Colonel Grigsby and Colonel Stafford, of Jackson's division, rallying some two or three hundred men of that division at the point at which Starke's brigade had been in position the night before. A body of the enemy, perhaps only skirmishers, had got into the woods to the left, and was firing upon our men, being held in check by a scattering fire. This was the same body of woods at which the Dunkard Church, before mentioned, is located, This wood runs along the Hagerstown road for several hundred yards entirely on the left hand side as you proceed from Sharpsburg; then there is a field, the edge of which runs at right angles to the road for about two hundred yards, making thus an elbow in the woods, and then turns to the right and runs along the woods parallel to the Hagerstown road for a quarter of a mile, and the woods, again turns square to the left, and extends back about half a mile, making at this point again an elbow with the strip of woods running along the road from the church. The church it

The terrible nature of the conflict in which these brigades had been engaged, and the steadiness with which they maintained their position, is shown by the losses they sustained. They did not retire from the field until General Lawton had been wounded and borne from the field; Colonel Douglas, commanding Lawton's brigade, had been killed, and the brigade had sustained a loss of five hundred and fifty-four killed and wounded out of eleven hundred and fifty, losing five regimental commanders out of six. Hays's brigade had sustained a loss of three hundred and twenty-three out of five hundred and fifty, including every regimental commander and all of his staff; and Colonel Walker and one of his staff had been disabled, and the brigade he was commanding had sustained a loss of two hundred and twenty-eight out of less than seven hundred present, including three out of four regimental commanders. I am sorry that I am not able to do justice to the individual cases of gallantry displayed in this terrible conflict, and must content myself with calling attention to the reports self is at the end next to Sharpsburg, and near of General Hays and Colonel Walker, brigade commanders, and of Major Lowe, who succeeded to the command of Lawton's brigade after the death of Colonel Douglas, and the disabling of all the other ranking officers. In the death of Colonel Douglas, the country sustained a serious loss. He was talented, courageous, and devoted to his duty.

the road. The wood is about four hundred yards through where it runs along the road, and back of it is a plantation road running by a house and a barn, and through the long elbow in the woods on the left. The field between the woods and the Hagerstown road forms a plateau nearly level, and in higher ground than the woods, which slopes down abruptly from the edge of the plateau. This After receiving the order from General Jackson wood is full of ledges of limestone and small to go to the support of General Stuart, as before ridges affording excellent cover for troops. A porstated, I proceeded to do so, moving my brigade tion of the enemy, as before stated, had got into through a piece of wood a little back from the the farther end of this wood, where the field is left of our line, and then through some fields; between it and the road, and as I came up, Colbut, as I was passing through these fields, I dis-onels Grigsby and Stafford commenced to advance covered some of the enemy's skirmishers moving around our left, and I sent some from my own brigade to hold them in check until I had passed. I found General Stuart about a mile from the position I had moved from, with several pieces of artillery in position on a hill, and engaged with some of the enemy's guns. At his suggestion, I formed my line in rear of this hill, and remained here for about an hour, when General Stuart, having discovered a body of the enemy's troops mak-protected by the rise in the ground. A considering their way gradually between us and the left of our main line, determined to shift his position to an eminence nearer our line and a little to the rear. He gave the instructions accordingly, and I moved back, taking a route in rear of the one by which I had moved out, and, by General Stuart's direction, my brigade was moved into the skirt of woods through which I had marched in going out. Just as I was getting into line, General Stuart informed me that General Lawton had been wounded, and that General Jackson had sent

upon this body, and I immediately formed my brigade in line and advanced along in their rear, the enemy giving way as the advance was made. I halted my brigade on a ridge in this wood, and Colonels Grigsby and Stafford, at my suggestion, formed their men on my left. My line, when thus formed, was perpendicular to the Hagerstown road, and the right rested near the edge of the plateau above mentioned, but was concealed and

able body of the enemy's troops was seen in the fields in my front, as thus presented, which was evidently endeavoring to make a movement on our flank and rear. I directed Colonel Smith, of the Forty-ninth Virginia regiment, to take command of the brigade, and to resist the enemy at all hazards, and then rode in the direction of the position at which the rest of the brigade had been engaged, for the purpose of taking command of them and ascertaining their condition. I ascertained that these brigades had fallen back some

distance to the rear for the purpose of reorgan-on my right move into the woods in the direction izing, and that they were probably not in a con- of the church. I looked to the rear for the reëndition to go into the fight again. I despatched forcements, and could not see them coming. I was Major J. P. Wilson, a volunteer Aid, who had thus cut off from the main body of our army on been with General Lawton, to find out where the the right, and a column was moving against me brigades were, and to order them up. While look- from the left. There was no time to be lost, and ing for these brigades, I observed that our troops I immediately ordered my brigade to move by who were engaged on this part of the line were the right flank parallel to the enemy, and directed giving way before the enemy; and as soon as I Colonel Grigsby, who commanded the body of had despatched Major Wilson, I rode to find Gen- troops he and Colonel Stafford had rallied, to eral Jackson, and having done so, informed him move his command back in line, so as to present of the condition of the division, and also that our front to the enemy, who were coming up on the troops were giving way, and that the enemy was flank. I moved back along the rear of the woods, advancing on the flank on which I had formed my until I caught up with the enemy, who had the brigade. He said that he would send for reën- start of me. I was, however, concealed from his forcements, and directed me to keep the enemy view, and it was evident that my presence where in check until they arrived. I then returned to I was was not suspected. Passing from behind my brigade, and resumed command of it. I soon a ridge that concaled my brigade from the enemy, found that the enemy was moving up in consider- we came in full view of his flankers, which, howable force toward the woods in which I was, and ever, were made aware of my presence by a fire I sent Major Hale, my A. A. A. General, to let which I directed the leading regiment to pour General Jackson know that the danger was im- into them. They immediately ran into the main · minent; and he soon returned with the assurance body, which halted, and I continued to move by that the reenforcements should be sent imme- the flank until my whole force was disclosed. diately. Just as Major Hale returned, a battery Just at this time, I observed the promised reënopened at the corner of the woods on the Hagers-forcements coming up toward the woods at the town road, where the field spoken of joins the woods. This was not more than two hundred yards from my right flank, and was somewhat in rear of it. When this battery opened I took it for granted that it was one of ours; but Major Hale's attention was called to it by a soldier who happened to be standing upon the edge of the plateau, and discovered that it was one of the enemy's batteries. I was immediately informed of the fact by Major Hale; but I doubted it until I rode to the edge of the woods, and saw, beyond all dispute, that it was the enemy's battery, and was firing in the direction of the road toward Sharpsburg, and that it was supported by a very heavy column of infantry, which was also within two hundred yards of my right flank. This made me aware of the fact that our troops, which I had seen giving way, had fallen back, leaving the enemy entire possession of the field in front. It must be borne in mind that the direction of my line was perpendicular to the Hagerstown road, so that, had the enemy seen it, his battery could have raked my flank and rear. Fortunately, my troops were concealed from his view. My condition, however, was exceedingly critical, as another column was advancing in my front, and had reached the woods in which I was. I saw the vast importance of maintaining my ground, for had the enemy got possession of this woods, the heights immediately in rear, which commanded the rear of our whole line, would have fallen into his hands. I determined to wait for the reenforcements promised by General Jackson, hoping that they would arrive in time to meet the column on my right. I, however, threw my right flank back quietly under cover of the woods, so as not to have my rear exposed in the event of being discovered. I kept an anxious eye on the column on my right, as well as on the one moving up in my front, and very soon I saw the column VOL. IX.-Doc. 40

farther end. I ordered the brigade to face to the front and open fire, which was done in handsome style, and responded to by the enemy. I did not intend to advance to the front, as I observed some of the troops which had come up to reenforce me preparing to advance into the woods, from the direction of my right flank, and was afraid of exposing my brigade to their fire, and that the two movements would throw us into confusion, as they would have been at right angles; moreover, the other column was advancing on my flank, held in check, however, by Colonels Grigsby and Stafford, with their men, and by the Thirty-firstVirginia regiment, which was on my left. The enemy in front, however, commenced giving way, and the brigade, which I have always found difficult to restrain, commenced pursuing, driving the enemy in front entirely out of the woods. Notwithstanding my efforts to stop the men, they advanced until my left flank and rear became exposed to a fire from the column on the left, which had advanced past my former position. I also discovered another body of the enemy moving across the plateau on my left flank in doublequick time to the same position, and I succeeded in arresting my command, and ordered it to retire, so that I might change front and advance upon this force. Just as I re-formed my line, Semmes's, Anderson's, and a part of Barksdale's brigades, of McLaws's division, came up, and the whole, including Grigsby's command, advanced upon this body of the enemy, driving it with great slaughter entirely from and beyond the woods, and leaving us in possession of my former position. As soon as this was accomplished, I caused the regiments of the brigade to be re-formed and placed in position as before. I take great pleasure in bearing testimony to the gallant conduct of Semmes's, Anderson's, and Barksdale's commands, whose timely arrival was of so much service to me.

my left, in the same line, and, during the morning, Captain Feagins, with about two hundred men of Trimble's brigade, reported to me, and was posted in my rear. Only Johnson's and D'Aquin's batteries accompanied the division across the Potomac, the former being attached to Trimble's brigade and the latter to Hays's brigade. They were both engaged on the seventeenth, and suffered to some extent; but I am unable to give an account of their operations, as Johnson's battery was soon after detached from the division, and has since been amalgamated with another battery in some other command, and Captain D'Aquin was killed at Fredericksburg.

I can also bear testimony to the gallant deport- of his brigade, reported to me, and was placed on ment of Colonels Grigsby and Stafford, and the men under their command. Major-General Stuart, with the pieces of artillery under his charge, contributed largely to the repulse of the enemy, and pursued them for some distance with his artillery and the Thirteenth Virginia regiment, under the command of Captain Winston. The conduct of my own brigade was all that I could have desired, and I feel that it would be invidious to mention individual acts of courage where all behaved so well. My Acting Assistant AdjutantGeneral, Major Hale, and my Aid, Lieutenant Early, were very active in bearing my orders under fire, and were of great service to me. The loss in my brigade in this affair, and under the shelling to which it was exposed while supporting General Stuart early in the morning, was eighteen killed and one hundred and sixty-six wounded. Colonel William Smith, of the Forty-ninth Virginia, and Lieutenant-Colonel Gibson, of the same regiment, were both seriously wounded, the former receiv ing three wounds, but remaining on the field in command of his regiment until after the close of the fight.

The other batteries, which had been detained at Harper's Ferry, were brought over the river on the eighteenth by my orders.

RECROSSING

THE POTOMAC. AFFAIRS AT BOTELER'S FORD AND SHEPHERDSTOWN, AND MARCH TO BUNKER HILL.

Having received the order from General Jackson after night, on the eighteenth, to move back Shortly after the repulse of the enemy, Colonel as soon as my pickets were relieved by General Hodges, in command of Armistead's brigade, re- Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry, which was between ten ported to me, and I placed it in line in the posi- and eleven o'clock, I moved the division back, tion occupied by my brigade, and placed the latter carrying along Armistead's brigade, and 1 be in line on the edge of the plateau which has been lieve this was the last division to more. It mentioned, and parallel to the Hagerstown road, recrossed the Potomac at Boteler's Ford shortly but under cover. Immediately after his repulse, after sunrise on the morning of the nineteenth, the enemy commenced shelling the woods where and was formed in line of battle on the heights we were, and kept it up for some time, doing, on the Virginia side, under the direction of Genhowever, no damage. Major-General McLaws eral Longstreet. After remaining in position brought up two brigades some time afterward, for two or three hours, the enemy having in placing one (Kershaw's) on the left of Armistead's, the mean time opened an artillery_fire from on the same line, and the other (Barksdale's) on the opposite side of the Potomac, I was ormy right. In this position we remained during dered to move toward Martinsburg, and to leave the rest of the day, the ensuing night, and all day Lawton's brigade, then increased to about four Thursday, the eighteenth. The enemy made no hundred men, and under command of Colonel further attack, but there were several demonstra- Lamar, of the Sixty-first Georgia regiment, in tions, as if another advance was intended, and position on the height just below Boteler's Ford. there were at least three lines of battle formed on I accordingly moved in the direction indicated, the opposite side of the Hagerstown road, near until I was ordered to encamp, for the night, near the woods, with a heavy line of skirmishers ex- a school-house, five or six miles from Shepherdstending nearly up to the road. I deem it proper town. On the afternoon of the nineteenth, the to state that all the killed and wounded of my enemy commenced crossing a small force at Boown brigade were inside of my lines, as I estab-teler's Ford, and Lawton's brigade gave way, lished them after the fight, and that the killed and wounded of the enemy on this part of the field were also within the same lines. All my killed were buried, and all my wounded were carried to the hospital in the rear, though, by some mismanagement on the part of the surgeons or quartermasters, of which I was not aware until too late, some ten or fifteen of my wounded were left in a hospital on the Maryland side of the riv- Next morning I was ordered to move back to er when we recrossed. Late in the afternoon of the vicinity of Boteler's Ford, with the three brithe seventeenth, I went to the rear to look after gades which were with me. On arriving there, the other brigades of the division, and found Ma- by orders from General Jackson, these brigades jor Lowe, with about one hundred men of Law- were placed in line of battle in rear of General ton's brigade, which he had collected together, A. P. Hill's division, in the woods, on the right and which I had moved up to where my brigade and left of the road leading to the ford; my own was, and posted on the right of it. Early next and Hays's brigades being placed on the right, morning, General Hays, with about ninety men and Trimble's brigade on the left. In this posi

abandoning its position. This brigade was very much reduced, having suffered terribly on the seventeenth, and a considerable number of the men, being just returned from the hospitals, were without arms, and, without knowing the particu lars of the affair, I am satisfied its conduct on this occasion was owing to the mismanagement of the officer in command of it.

tion they remained until late in the afternoon, while General Hill's division was engaged in front, being in range of the enemy's shells, by one of which Captain Feagin, in command of the Fifteenth Alabama regiment, was seriously wounded, he being the only regimental commander of that brigade who had not been killed or wounded at Sharpsburg.

the operations of the First division (Jackson's) from the time the army moved from Crenshaw's farm, near Orange Court-House, to the twentyninth ultimo, when, by the advice of the surgeon, I left the army for this place.

On the morning of the twentieth, I left Crenshaw's farm, following the division of MajorGeneral Ewell, which marched in rear of that of Major-General A. P. Hill, and, after crossing the Rapidan River at Somerville Ford, bivouacked at Stevensburg, in Culpeper County, for the night.

Late in the afternoon, I was ordered to move back, and on the way received orders to continue to move on, following Jackson's division, which preceded me, and did so until I was halted, about twelve o'clock at night, near the Opequon. We Next morning I was ordered to move the diremained at this position until the twenty-fourth, vision to the front, and, after passing the divisand then moved across the Opequon, and camped ions of General Jackson's corps, near Brandy on the Williamsport turnpike, six or seven miles Station, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, from Martinsburg. On the next day my camp I was pushed forward toward Cunningham's Ford, was moved to a place near the Tuscarora, about on the Rappahannock. three miles from Martinsburg, and on the twentyseventh we moved to Bunker Hill.

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ACTION AT CUNNINGHAM'S FORD, AUGUST 21ST.

This embraces the whole of the operations of this division during the period designated in the On approaching this ford, I discovered the enorder of the Lieutenant-General commanding this emy on the opposite bank, (in what force I could corps, as far as I am able to give them, and I am not tell,) their infantry holding the edge of a sorry that I am not able to do more justice to cornfield and a skirt of woods which approached Lawton's, Trimble's, and Hays's brigades in this the river bank, and the brows of the hills overreport; but my difficulties in making it have al-looking the ford. I could not discover their batready been explained, and it is owing to them, teries, but supposed they would soon be exhib and not to any design on my part, that the re-ited. I halted the troops under cover of the port as to these brigades is not so complete as it is in regard to my own.

woods, and ordered to the front, under charge of Major L. Shumaker, my chief of artillery, the long-range guns of Brockenbrough's, Wooding's, Poague's, and Carpenter's batteries.

I submit herewith lists of killed, wounded, and missing, from which it will appear that, in the period embraced, this division has lost in killed, five These pieces, having been placed in position, hundred and sixty-five; in wounded, two thousand soon developed the position of the enemy's battwo hundred and eighty-four, and missing, seven-teries, and, after a short resistance, silenced their ty; making an aggregate of two thousand nine guns, blowing up one of their caissons, and dishundred and nineteen, showing the severity of persing, in confusion, their infantry. the conflicts in which it has been engaged. Its loss at Sharpsburg alone was one hundred and ninety-nine killed, one thousand one hundred and fifteen wounded, and thirty-eight missing, being an aggregate loss of one thousand three hundred and fifty-two out of less than three thousand five hundred, with which it went into that action.

I hope I may be excused for referring to the record shown by my own brigade, which has never been broken or compelled to fall back, or left one of its dead to be buried by the enemy, but has invariably driven the enemy when opposed to him, and slept upon the ground on which it has fought in every action, with the solitary exception of the affair at Bristoe Station, when it retired under orders, covering the withdrawal of the other troops.

Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,
J. A. EARLY,
Brigadier-General, commanding Division.

By direction of the Major-General, the infantry was kept back, while a cavalry force was pushed over the ford to reconnoitre.

This force, under Major-General Stuart, (reenforced by a section of Brockenbrough's and Wooding's batteries,) remained over the river some two hours, capturing a number of prisoners and many arms, which had been abandoned in their haste to escape the severity of our shelling.

Some time after, the enemy was discovered moving large masses up the river from below us. Here, the cavalry having retired, his batteries were again placed in position near the ford, and a large party of skirmishers thrown out to the river bank, above and below the ford. I at once detailed a sufficient force of sharpshooters from the Third brigade to hold the river bank, between whom and the enemy an animated skirmish was kept up during the rest of the day.

Toward night the enemy reënforced his skirmishers with a brigade of infantry, when I diREPORT OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL W. B. TAL-rected Major Shumaker to open upon them with

IAFERRO, COMMANDING DIVISION.

RICHMOND, September 16, 1862.

To Major E. F. Paxton, A. A. A. General :

his pieces, which, although it drew upon our artillerists a heavy fire, which was continued as long as it was light enough to distinguish objects, MAJOR: For the information of the Major- had the effect of driving them back in confusion. General commanding, I have the honor to report | Our batteries then replied to those of the enemy

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