A Soldier's Equipment.
Washing His Clothes.
How He Ate and Slept.
March Through Frederick.
Middletown.
Hagerstown.
A Soldier in Active Service in the Field.
What He Possesses.
Indications of Southern Sympathy.
The Return from Hagerstown.
Battle of Boonsboro and Casualties.
Retreat to Sharpsburg and Battle.
Thirteen Days in Maryland.
Back in Virginia.
A Musket, cartridge box with forty rounds of cartridges, cloth
haversack, blanket and canteen made up the Confederate soldier's
equipment. No man was allowed a change of clothing, nor could he have
carried it. A gray cap, jacket, trousers and colored shirt--calico
mostly--made up a private's wardrobe. When a clean shirt became
necessary, we took off the soiled one, went to the water, usually
without soap, gave it a little rubbing, and if the sun was shining,
hung the shirt on a bush to dry, while the wearer sought the shade to
give the shirt a chance. The method of carrying our few assets was to
roll them in a blanket, tying each end of the roll, which was then
swung over the shoulder. At night this blanket was unrolled and wrapped
around its owner, who found a place on the ground with his cartridge
box for a pillow. We cooked but little, having usually little to cook.
The frying pan was in use, if we had one.
We remained three days at Monocacy, during which time the bridge was
destroyed by our engineers. The morning of Wednesday, September 10, our
division marched through Frederick, Middletown, Boonsboro, and to
Hagerstown, reaching the latter place the evening of the 11th, and
going into camp half a mile to the south of the town. Subsistence was
still a pressing need, green corn and fresh beef becoming monotonous.
In Frederick our hearts were made glad by unmistakable signs of
friendship and sympathy. A bevy of pretty girls, singing "Maryland, My
Maryland," on seeing our battle flag inscribed "Seven Pines," proposed
"three cheers for the battle flag of Seven Pines," which were heartily
and lustily given by us. In Middletown we met no smiles, but a decided
Union sentiment was in evidence. In Hagerstown we observed indications
and heard some expressions of Southern sentiment, but none that
satisfied us that they were ready and willing to shed their blood for
the Southern cause.
The troops of Stonewall Jackson, together with those of McLaws and
Walker, were now rapidly moving to invest and capture the Union
garrison of some 13,000 men, at Harper's Ferry. During the march from
Frederick, the Confederate rear was protected by a cavalry force under
General Stuart, and infantry under General D. H. Hill. In the wake of
this rear guard, following leisurely was the Union army under General
McClellan, quite a hundred thousand strong, including a powerful
artillery of 300 guns.
On Sunday, just before noon of the 14th, the long roll sounded calling
the men into line, and a quick movement was made east in the direction
of Boonsboro and Turner's Gap. Wagons, artillery and ambulances cleared
the road, giving us the right of way. At Hagerstown was left General
Toombs' Georgia brigade, and one regiment of G. T. Anderson's to watch
a Federal gathering force just across the Maryland line. The day was
hot, the road hard and dusty, the march rapid--so much so that many of
the men broke down, falling by the wayside. The emergency demanded the
presence of our division on the field of battle, which we knew, having
learned on our way that General Hill's division had been attacked at
Turner's Gap beyond Boonsboro by a largely superior force, perhaps by
the larger part of General McClellan's Union army. Let it now be
remembered that this army made fourteen miles to the immediate vicinity
of the battleground in three and a half hours--good time for a
Hamiltonian horse. Now with other troops we were hurried up the
mountain to the right of the main gap (Turner's), and after getting
near the firing line, and finding Confederate troops there holding the
enemy in steady fight, our steps were retraced to the Gap. From thence
we were ordered to the left, climbing the mountain side in full view of
the enemy to our right, and in range of one of his batteries on a
plateau to our right rear, which threw shot and shell thick and fast,
striking the head of the leading company of my regiment and killing one
man instantly. On reaching the crest of the mountain we found ourselves
face to face with the enemy and close up to them, and under fire before
we were able to get into formation. The brigades of Rodes and Evans on
the left were engaged in strong combat with the force in their front,
and as soon as Garnett's and Jenkins' brigades filled the space on the
right and connected with Colquit's Georgia brigade, which was astride
the turnpike, the fighting along the line became general and fierce, as
much so as brave men on both sides could make it.
The writer's brigade was now in a body of open timber, among
stones--large boulders, with some fallen timber along the line, behind
which, lying down, the men took shelter as best they could; the enemy
occupying a skirt of woods with a strip of open land between their
position and ours. For two or more hours the battle raged, or until
darkness fell, the enemy making repeated but unsuccessful efforts to
dislodge our men. The firing having ceased, there was heard in our
front the tramp of the enemy's feet, evidently preparing to renew the
assault. In a few minutes, a few yards to the right, in which lay a
portion of the brigade in the edge of a field, where at the beginning
of the battle was standing corn (now cut to the ground) came the sound
of a voice, "There they are, men! Fire on them!" Suddenly came a sheet
of flame with a deafening crash from the guns of each of the
combatants, plainly disclosing them to be within a few feet of each
other. The flame from the respective muskets seemed to intermingle. The
well-directed fire of the Confederates caused confusion in the enemy's
ranks and compelled them to retire. Among the casualties on our side
from this encounter was Adjutant John W. Daniel of the 11th Virginia,
who received a severe wound in the hand. This same Daniel served with
distinction in the United States Senate, dying a year or so ago. Such
was the character of many a noble man engaged in this horrid game of
death.
It was now 9 o'clock or after and intensely dark, especially in the
timber where we were. Wounded comrades had to be removed and cared for;
this had to be done quietly, as the enemy was in whispering distance.
As heretofore stated, Company D of the 7th Virginia carried into the
battle of Second Manassas forty men, of which sixteen were killed and
wounded, leaving twenty-four, including commissioned officers. After
crossing the Potomac and on entering the battle at Boonsboro Gap, we
had twenty-one commissioned officers and men. In this battle were lost
four men: T. P. Mays, killed; James Cole, mortally wounded; George
Knoll, severely, and John R. Crawford, slightly wounded. Mays was
serving in the capacity of ensign of the regiment, and died at the
front, where danger was met and glory won, with that flag which he had
so gallantly, proudly and defiantly borne aloft on many victorious
fields. Brave and undaunted, he ever led where duty called, sharing the
hardships and privations of camp life, the march and dangers of battle,
without a murmur, and dying with his flag unfurled and its staff
clenched in his hands. May the memory of Tapley P. Mays rest in peace.
With two commissioned officers, Captain Bane and Lieutenant Stone,
and fifteen men we left the field a little after 9 o'clock at night,
carrying one of the wounded, George Knoll, who had an ankle bone
fractured. Knoll was borne on the back of Isaac Hare a mile or more
to the hospital in Boonsboro.
The officers and men of Company D who went into the battle of Boonsboro
were Capt. R. H. Bane, Lieut. E. M. Stone; men of the line, Travis
Burton, John R. Crawford, James Cole, John S. Dudley, John A. Hale,
Isaac Hare, B. L. Hoge, J. J. Hurt, John F. Jones, David E. Johnston,
George Knoll, John Meadows, T. P. Mays, W. W. Munsey, William D.
Peters, W. H. H. Snidow, R. M. Stafford, Thomas S. Taylor and A. J.
Thompson. The cook in Company D, Alexander Bolton, remained with the
supply trains and was not in the engagement.
The forces in this battle on the Federal side, according to the report
of General McClellan, numbered 30,000, while the Confederate force, as
stated by General D. H. Hill and others, was 9000. The Federal loss was
1813 in fifty-nine infantry regiments engaged; 325 killed, 1403
wounded, and 85 missing. The Confederate loss was 224 killed, 860
wounded, and 800 made prisoners. There are but few regimental reports
of losses, therefore I am unable to give those in the 7th Virginia. I
am satisfied that of the four brigades of Evans, Kemper, Garnett and
Jenkins, sent late in the evening to reinforce the Confederate left,
not more than one thousand men reached the firing line, but these were
iron soldiers equal to the emergency, holding more than 5000 of the
enemy at bay until we were ready to leave the field. The superb
fighting in this battle--if at this day a fight can be called something
superb--prevented the enemy from occupying the Gap, thus sealing the
fate of the Union garrison at Harper's Ferry, which surrendered the
following morning, the tidings whereof came to us about noon, causing
much rejoicing.
Now set in an all night's march to the scene of the struggle at
Sharpsburg, called in the North "Antietam," among the most gigantic and
awful in the history of warfare. When daylight came Monday, we were at
Keedysville, midway between the points mentioned, not having reached
the field of Sharpsburg until 12 o'clock. Having been on our feet all
night, without sleep or food, save green corn or apples, placed us in
no cheerful mood, but in good fighting temper, as hungry soldiers fight
better than well fed ones. Numbers of men straggled off along the
march, and even after the Antietam was crossed, in search of food, a
number of whom did not get back in the ranks for the battle.
[Illustration: Lieut. John W. Mullins]