Greensborough Patriot

October 23, 1862

Page 1

 

                                      Correspondence of the Patriot

                                    From Our Army correspondent

            The following letter was written by our army correspondent immediately after the bloody battle at Sharpsburg, but owing to the irregularities of the mails, it did not reach us until yesterday.  Although somewhat behind time, yet it is none the less void of interest on that account.  While it confirms other reports heretofore received, it also records the deeds of soldiers from this section of the State, not before published.

                                           Near Shepherdstown, Va.

                                              September 19, 1862

            Messrs. Editors: Doubtful whether my letter upon our first advance into Maryland reached you, I avail myself of the present opportunity of writing you again, though I am conscious that full particulars of our bloody battle day before yesterday near Sharpsburg have ere this been received.

            D. H. Hill’s forces had engaged the enemy near Boonsville, Md., on Sunday last, while our Division (Walker’s) with others of Jackson’s corps and A. P. Hill, were menacing Harper’s Ferry, which place fell into our hands on the following morning with an immense amount of stores (commissary and ordnance) one hundred and ten pieces best artillery, together with 14,500 prisoners, Col. Miles commanding the Yankee forces being mortally wounded.  Of the particulars of the surrender of Harper’s Ferry—I have not had time to write.  Two thousand slaves and a great number of stolen horses were recovered and returned by Gen. Hill to their proper owners.  This was an unexpected blow to the Yankees, who instead of looking for an attack on that place, were calling out the militia to defend Pennsylvania from invasion.

            The great movement of our troops soon after the capture of Frederick, the apparent advance on Hagerstown, and the feigned attempt of our Division at the same time to destroy the aquaduct that waters the city of Washington drew on the Yankee army, and thus brought about the engagement of Sunday with D. H. Hill, who contended single-handed throughout the greater part of the day against overwhelming numbers, and fell back in the evening to a  point near Sharpsburg, some six or seven miles distant.  McClellen, by this time having massed his forces and advanced, we were hurried on immediately after the surrender of Harper’s Ferry, all of Jackson’s forces arriving near Sharpsburg by sundown Tuesday evening.  Heavy cannonading had been kept up throughout the day but nothing of consequence had yet taken place with small arms.

            Early on Wednesday morning, our Division took its position on the battlefield of the extreme right.  By 8 o’clock the engagement having become hot along the centre of our lines, with small arms, where the enemy was throwing in fresh troops, we were at once ordered to that part of the field, and went into action near the town of Sharpsburg, amid a perfect hailstorm of bullets, while the elements sparkled and flashed with the explosion of shells.  The roar of small arms now became terrific, as our two Brigades, Manning’s and Ransom’s, the latter consisting wholly of North Carolinians, with loud cheers, poured a most deadly fire into the ranks of the enemy, who wavered for a moment, and then retreated in disorder.  We drove them up a hill, through the woods into an open field a quarter of a mile beyond, when fresh troops pouring in to their aid, our Division fell back quietly to its original position.

            At our left, McLaw’s Division had driven them with great slaughter from which they did not recover throughout the day, and once more the woods near the centre were alive with the discharge of small arms, and again was the enemy driven back.

            Longstreet and A. P. Hill, by this time had shared an equal success on the right and darkness closed upon the scene, leaving both sides in partial possession of the late field, the pickets from each party being in shooting distance throughout the night.  Our army slept upon that part of the field it wrested from the enemy which it held to the last.

            This engagement, which I suppose will be called the battle of Sharpsburg, is undoubtedly the bloodiest of the war.  The loss on each side was heavy, being many thousands, that of the enemy exceeding ours, owing to the greater numbers he brought upon the field.  At least two thousand [one line obscured by a wrinkle in the paper] of the enemy were cut off by the timely arrival of our Division.  The Forty-eight North Carolina, (Maney’s Brigade) suffered severely and fought bravely, while the Twenty-seventh, did the same, covering itself with glory.   This regiment with the Third Arkansas charged upon a whole Brigade of Yankees and put them to fight and took a battery, not giving them time to unlimber or remove their pieces.  Col. Cook, who commands the Twenty-seventh was complimented by Gen. Lee for his gallantry and the bravery of his men, and said had the charge been supported, the day would have been far more decisive in its results.  Among the slain is Captain Adams, of Co. B, who died while bravely leading his men to the charge.

            The Forty-sixth North Carolina, of the same brigade, suffered severely, losing seventy-two killed and wounded, and was the last to leave the field.  Col. Hill, who commands this regiment, acted with the greatest coolness throughout the engagement, and though in the midst of the “flashing of the guns,” unsupported by a single regiment on either the right or the left, contended for some time with overwhelming forces of the enemy, keeping them in check, while our artillery was getting ready for action upon an adjacent ominence.  The color-bearer, Sergt. Riddle of Co. H, fell at the first fire.  Lieuts. Troy, Skeen and Stinson, of Co. G, were wounded in the first charge.  Lieut. Weir, of Co. F, was severely wounded early in the fight, being struck on the left leg just above the knee, by a spent shell, and though it pained him severely, yet he remained with his company throughout the engagement, displaying much gallantry and coolness, under circumstances which would have caused many other officers to have left the field entirely.  Capt. McKinley, of Co. A, was conspicuous for his gallant bearing on the field.  At least one detestable Yankee, a Major, gave up the ghost at his hands.

            The fight was not removed, the following day being occupied in removing the wounded and burying the dead.  At night our pickets reported the continuous rumbling of wagons and artillery from the enemy’s lines down the river, upon which, anticipating a demonstration by the enemy on the Virginia side, our forces at once prepared for re-crossing.

            Thousands of the killed and wounded were thus left upon the field unattended, as scarcely one-third of the number had been probably cared for during the day.

            Many of the enemy’s raw troops were brought into this action, it is said, and to their credit let it be known they stood fire much better than the veterans of the “army of the Potomac.”

            The prisoners who fell into our hands are far less saucy than those who have fell into our hands heretofore.  They express themselves as heartily tired of the war, and seem to lament its horrors, saying it is an unnatural warfare of brothers against brothers, but that among their people all who thus express themselves, are treated with scorn and are called cowards and traitors.

            I forgot to mention that our Brigadier, Gen. Van H. Manning, was, it is feared, mortally wounded.

            Of the suffering among the troops in the other divisions than our own, I have not had the opportunity of learning any particulars.  A part only of Pender’s Brigade, of Gen. A. P. Hill’s Division, was engaged.  I regret to state that Sergt. A. L. Lamb, of Co. I, Twenty-second Regiment, was shot while on picket duty, yesterday.  It is feared his wound will prove fatal.  Your correspondent escaped with only a slight concussion.

            We are now two miles from the Potomac, on the Virginia side, near Shepherdstown, cooking rations, and preparing for an advance in some direction.

            SUNDAY, Sept. 21—Our Division is now three miles from Martinsburg, which place is up the river seven miles from Shepherdstown, guarding against a flank movement of the enemy across the river.  Yesterday a furious artillery engagement took place near Shepherdstown, that of the enemy being on the opposite side, and our own on this side of the river.

            The enemy threw out his advance, and his troops had commenced crossing over, when A. P. Hill’s Division, which brought up the rear of our army, met them in line of battle.  They enemy was driven back with the greatest slaughter, the river being choked with the slain Yankees killed in falling back across the river.  Five hundred prisoners were captured.  None of their artillery was brought over, the river being scarcely a quarter of a mile in width.  We lost two hundred in killed on the field and one-third more wounded.  No further attempt has been made, to my knowledge, by the enemy to cross over, though heavy firing has been kept up throughout the day some miles below.

            The position of our troops is now such that should McClellen, with even his “million of troops,” get over, he would undoubtedly receive the most single defeat yet, administered to him on Virginia soil.  Longstreet and the two Hills are now at available points on the Winchester route and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.  It is enough to say, that Jackson is, nobody knows where, while Gen. Johnston is reported in the direction of Manassas with his army in good order for the field.

                                                EUSEBIUS

 

[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]