Number of Men for Action in Kemper's Brigade.
General D. R. Jones' Division.
Confederate Cavalry.
General Lee Playing Bluff with McClellan.
The Opening of the Battle.
Burnside's Attack and Repulse.
The Casualties.
Re-crossing the Potomac.
When Kemper's brigade was called to action at Sharpsburg, it did not
number 400 muskets. The only regimental report accessible of the number
going into action and the loss is that of Colonel Corse of the 17th
Virginia (himself wounded), who says he led into the action fifty-five
officers and men, all of whom were lost but five. The 1st Virginia did
not number more than 30, the 11th Virginia 85, the 24th probably 110,
and I know (for I counted them) that the 7th Virginia had but 117,
Company D having but two commissioned officers and fifteen men before
action began. Sergeant Taylor, sent in quest of rations, did not return
with the food until the battle had ended. John S. Dudley, on the
skirmish line, was wounded and captured. He, with Taylor, made the
fifteen, leaving for battle two officers and thirteen men. Kemper's
brigade belonged to General D. R. Jones' division, which was composed
of the brigades of Jenkins, Garnett, Jones, under Colonel Geo. T.
Anderson, Drayton, Kemper and Toombs, numbering on that morning, by the
report of General Jones, 2400 men--far too many.
The division of General Jones held the ground in front and southeast of
Sharpsburg, extending from the Boonsboro-Sharpsburg pike along the
ridges and range of hills in front, south and east of the old road to
Harper's Ferry, nearly a mile in length, covering the approaches from
what has since been known as Burnside's bridge over the Antietam.
Robertson's cavalry brigade, under Colonel Thomas T. Munford, was in
observation on the extreme right along the Antietam and toward the
Potomac; General Stuart, with General Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry brigade,
the 13th Virginia regiment of infantry, with a number of batteries
holding the extreme Confederate left, Hampton's cavalry brigade not in
the fight, but in reserve, in rear of Stuart's position.
It is stated upon authority that during Monday, September 15, and for
most of Tuesday, the 16th, General Lee confronted General McClellan's
Union army with only the divisions of Longstreet and D. H. Hill,
numbering all told 10,000 men, while General McClellan had 60,000 men
then facing Lee.
In the afternoon of Monday, and continuing for the most of Tuesday, the
Federal batteries across the Antietam kept up a lively fire, during
which the troops, our brigade included, frequently shifted position,
showing our flags first at one and then at another place, being exposed
to the artillery fire, and getting a severe shelling. General Lee was
playing bluff with McClellan, who was led to believe--and so reported
to his government--that he was confronted not only by "a strong
position, but by a strong force"--imaginary numbers, not real.
Late in the evening of Tuesday the firing to the left seemed to
increase. We heard not only the artillery fire but the rattle of
musketry for quite a time after dark. Before daylight on Wednesday, the
17th, the artillery opened vigorously on the left, followed by the
crash of small arms, the battle raging with intense fury for hours.
From our position on the right we could not see the combatants, but
could hear the crash of small arms and the wild rebel yell. As long as
we could hear this yell we felt that things were going our way.
The battle which began on the left had at noon extended to the right
until the Confederate troops holding the open ground on the left front
of Sharpsburg were within our view. We discovered at this time a
straggling retreating line of Confederates closely followed by a solid
blue line, which soon met the fire of a Confederate battery, causing it
to retire.
Now affairs in our front began to claim our attention. The 24th
Virginia regiment was detached from the brigade and sent a half mile to
the right, and shortly thereafter the 7th Virginia under Captain Phil
S. Ashby was detached and hurried to the right, taking position in
front of the old road leading from Sharpsburg to Harper's Ferry,
between the position held by the 1st, 11th and 17th Virginia regiments
of the brigade, and that held by the 24th regiment. Upon the advance of
the enemy we dropped back into the old road referred to. Captain Ashby
had been a soldier in our war with Mexico, was a brave man, and when he
had placed the regiment in the road, seeing the advance of the enemy he
drew his sword, saying: "Men, we are to hold this position at all
hazards. Not a man leave his place. If need be, we will die together
here in this road." Putting our muskets through the board fence, and
with fingers on the triggers, we awaited the enemy's approach through a
strip of corn, some forty yards away.[4]
[4] The headlong rush of Archer's brigade across the front of
the 7th Virginia regiment prevented its firing into the
enemy.
Colonel Geo. T. Anderson's brigade of D. R. Jones' division had early
in the morning been detached and sent to the aid of General Jackson,
and Garnett's brigade had been taken away and placed in position to
cover the front of Sharpsburg. General Lee had stripped his right in
aid of his left, which was being sorely pressed, leaving General Jones
to hold the right with the small brigades of Jenkins, Garnett, Drayton,
Kemper and Toombs, whose numbers I will later attempt to give.
Two of General Toombs' regiments, the 15th and 17th Georgia, were
guarding ammunition trains, and he, with the 2d and the 20th Georgia,
and 50th Georgia of Drayton's brigade--in all numbering 403 men--with a
company of sharpshooters and a battery, was ordered to the defense of
the bridge (Burnside's). On Wednesday morning at an early hour General
Burnside, who had been ordered to carry the bridge and advance to the
heights at Sharpsburg, assailed General Toombs' men at the bridge. The
stream is small, and at the time of the battle afforded but little
water--could have been waded in dozens of places. Why the bridge?
Burnside made the effort to carry the bridge, was five times repulsed
by Toombs' small force, losing a large number of men in killed and
wounded--exacting, however, from Toombs' regiments heavy toll, for his
2d Georgia lost one-half its numbers, and the 20th Georgia suffered
heavily. General Toombs, finding the enemy crossing the stream at a
ford below the bridge, and the position no longer tenable, withdrew his
men and retired to the heights on which Jones' four brigades--Jenkins',
Garnett's, Drayton's and Kemper's--were posted. General Toombs was
joined on the way by his 15th and 17th Georgia, and Major Little's
battalion of 140 Georgia men. His 20th Georgia had been sent to
replenish its ammunition, and only part of these men returned in time
for the final contest.
The enemy came in bold march at 4 P.M. He came in fine style and good
order until probably half way from the Antietam to the crest of the
heights, whereon stood the depleted Confederate battalions of Jenkins,
Garnett, Drayton and Kemper, when he encountered the Confederate
skirmish line posted behind stone and rail fences. These skirmishes
repulsed and routed the Union skirmishers, making it so hot for the
enemy's front battle line that it was only able to push forward by its
mere momentum, but on it came, overrunning, killing, wounding and
capturing the entire skirmish line, the men thereof remaining in their
places, firing until he reached the muzzles of their muskets. The
enemy's battle line overreached Kemper's right by several hundred
yards, exposing McIntosh's battery, the men thereof for the time being
forced to abandon their guns. Kemper's and Drayton's men were broken
off, outflanked and forced back to the outskirts of the village.
General A. P. Hill with five small Confederate brigades which had left
Harper's Ferry that morning, marching seventeen miles, reached the
field at the opportune moment. Leaving two of his brigades to guard the
approach from a ford on his right, General Hill threw the brigades of
Gregg, Archer and Branch on the enemy's left front and flank, while
General Toombs, who had circled around the enemy's left, being joined
by the men of Kemper, Jenkins, Garnett and Drayton, together with
Hill's three brigades, with a wild yell charged, the Confederate
batteries opening fiercely; the enemy was driven from the field, mostly
in disorder, fleeing to the banks of the Antietam for shelter. The
field was won, the day was ours. In this headlong Confederate charge,
General Branch of Hill's division was killed; General Gregg of the same
division and General Toombs of Jones' division, wounded. Federal
General Rodman was mortally wounded. The 24th and 7th Virginia suffered
a few casualties in killed and wounded, mostly from the artillery fire,
a few by musket balls. My company lost Hare, and Dudley wounded, the
latter captured on the skirmish line.
With the utter defeat of General Burnside's Federal Army Corps, the
battle ended, and Kemper's brigade occupied that night and the next day
the same position it held when the battle in our front opened.
No fiercer, bloodier one day's conflict occurred during the war than
the battle of Sharpsburg, which was fought on the part of the
Confederates by a worn out, broken down, naked, barefooted, lame and
starved soldiery, against a far superior force of brave, well rested,
well clothed and well fed veterans. It was an all day, stand up,
toe-to-toe and face-to-face fight, just as close as brave American
soldiers could make it, and in none other did Southern individuality
and self reliance--characteristics of the Confederate soldier--shine
more brilliantly or perform a more important part. It was on this field
that strategy and military science won the day for the Confederates. It
was mind over matter. General Lee, the greatest military man of the
age, was on the field, wielding the blade that was so admirably
tempered, which brought blood and destruction at every stroke.
The failure of the Union soldiers to win this battle and utterly crush
the Confederates, was no fault of theirs; they had the numbers and
equipment, were courageous and brave. The truth is, their leader was
timid, overcautious, and outgeneraled, fought his battle in detail,
and was defeated in detail. General Burnside's, the largest single
attacking corps, was beaten before he had his columns fairly deployed,
and this because the Confederates outmaneuvered him on the field, had
the flanks of his assaulting columns turned before he knew there was
any Confederate force on the ground to turn them. Upon this occurring,
he lost control of the battle, and the only thing apparent to him was
to get away as quickly as possible, which he did, though his battle had
not lasted an hour.
The force engaged in this battle on the Confederate right, on the Union
side, was that of General Burnside's 9th army corps, consisting of
twenty-nine regiments of infantry, six batteries of artillery, and
two companies of cavalry, making, according to the most reliable
information obtainable, an aggregate of 13,083. His losses were:
Killed, 436; wounded, 1796; missing, 115; total, 2349.
On the Confederate side the battle was fought by the brigades of
Jenkins, Garnett, Toombs, Kemper and Drayton (two regiments, 51st
Georgia and 15th South Carolina); Gregg's, Archer's and Branch's (less
the 18th North Carolina, on detached duty), of Hill's division. The
24th and the 7th Virginia, except their skirmishers, did not pull a
trigger, but were under the fire of the artillery and partly that of
infantry. Nor did the 18th North Carolina take part in the battle.
From the best information I have been able to obtain, from the official
reports and otherwise, I fix the number of Confederates in this battle
against General Burnside's 13,083 men as follows:
Jenkins' brigade 500
Garnett's brigade 250
Drayton's brigade (51st Ga. & 15th
S.C. Regmts.) 200
Kemper's brigade 300
Toombs' brigade (including Maj.
Little's bat., 140) 600
----
Total Jones' Division 1850
A. P. Hill's three brigades, less
18th North Carolina, detached 1900
----
Total, both divisions 3750
Casualties--General Jones reports, including the battle of Boonsboro,
1435. Toombs' brigade was not at Boonsboro, and the brigade commanded
by Colonel Geo. T. Anderson was detached in the early morning, and we
have no reports from the 28th Virginia regiment of Garnett's brigade,
and only in part from Toombs' regiments, and but from one regiment of
Kemper's. Approximately, however, the losses were as follows:
Col. Walker, commanding brigade
of Jenkins, reports 210
Taking 4 regiments of Garnett's
and averaging the 5th 80
Drayton's two regiments, estimated 100
Kemper's regiments, estimated 160
Toombs, stated 346
---
Total 996
The disparity in numbers on this part of the field was probably greater
than on any other--nearly three and a half to one.
There has been, and probably will always be, uncertainty as to the
number of men General Lee had in the battle of Sharpsburg. Colonel
Taylor, of the staff of General Lee, and Adjutant General of the army,
puts the number at 35,250--including cavalry and artillery, putting the
infantry force at 27,255. This is surely incorrect for the reasons:
first, that the returns of the army on the 20th of July, 1862, a few
days before the movement of the army to North Virginia from Richmond
began, show the total cavalry 3740. In the second place the fact is
well known that the cavalry and artillery had been engaged in the
battle of Cedar Run, the battles around Manassas, and at South
Mountain, Harper's Ferry, Crampton's Pass, and Boonsboro, and the
losses must have been large; and again, there were only three brigades
of Confederate cavalry at Sharpsburg--Lee's, Hampton's and Robertson's,
the latter under Munford, and there is no evidence that either of the
two latter named fired a shot at Sharpsburg. Lee's brigade could not
have numbered more than a third of the cavalry force, say 1500--a
liberal estimate--and the artillerists 1800. We have 3300. A careful
examination of all the sources of information available to me,
including official reports, and my own personal knowledge and
observation on the march and on the field, inclines me strongly to the
opinion and belief that the Confederate troops on the field of
Sharpsburg on the firing line and actually engaged on the 17th of
September numbered:
Jackson's division 1600
Ewell's division 3400
D. H. Hill's division 3000
D. R. Jones' division 1850
A. P. Hill's division 1900
Hood's division 2000
McLaws' division 2893
R. H. Anderson's division 3500
J. G. Walker's division 3200
Geo. T. Anderson's brigade 300
N. G. Evans' division 1500
Lee's cavalry brigade 1500
Artillerists 1800
------
Total 28,443
Note:--There is no evidence that Armistead's brigade of R. H.
Anderson's division drew trigger in this battle.
The Confederate casualties in the Maryland
campaign as given in the War Records 13,609
The Federal casualties, including the garrison
at Harper's Ferry 27,767
Deducting the Harper's Ferry garrison,
we have the Federal losses of the campaign 15,203
Deducting Federal losses at Boonsboro
Gap of 1813, Crampton's Gap 533, we
have approximately as the Federal loss
in battle of Sharpsburg 12,856
Deducting the estimated Confederate loss
at Boonsboro Gap, Crampton's Gap and
Harper's Ferry, 3948, from the campaign
loss, we have approximately as
the Confederate loss at Sharpsburg 9,661
The actual number of Union soldiers on the firing line in the battle of
Sharpsburg could not have exceeded 68,000 men, but Porter's corps, some
19,000, was close up in the center in reserve, with more than 14,000,
only a march away.
The night of the battle several of our men went out on the battlefield,
to look after the dead and wounded and for other purposes. Among those
from my company who went out in this way were Travis Burton and
Lieutenant Stone, who shortly returned with an unwounded prisoner of a
Rhode Island regiment, who had failed to get away with his retreating
comrades. This prisoner was a mere boy, who exhibited considerable
signs of fear and trepidation, and with whom Captain Ashby had quite a
little fun.
On passing over a battlefield after the close of the battle, it will
usually be observed that the pockets of the dead, and sometimes of the
wounded, have been turned out. A soldier will generally take from the
battlefield and the dead what he wants.
The next day, the 18th, was in the main quiet, with some little picket
firing; the wounded were being cared for and the dead buried. In the
immediate front of our brigade, some fifty yards away, the farthest
point reached by Harland's Federal brigade the day before, and the
ground on which it stood, when charged by the brigades of Toombs and
Kemper, I counted the bodies of 33 dead Union soldiers of the 8th
Connecticut regiment. One of the wounded was still living, to whom I
gave a drink of water and filled his canteen. During the day a man of
our regiment, who had gone forward to help remove the Federal wounded,
was shot through the body and killed by a Federal sharpshooter, who was
so far away that the report from his rifle was not heard by the men
engaged in the removal of the wounded.
On the night of the 18th, we left the battle line, moving to the
Potomac, wading the river at the ford near Sheperdstown, and instead
of singing when crossing the river thirteen days before, "Maryland,
MY Maryland!" the song was, "Carry me back, oh! carry me back to old
Virginia, once more."
A halt was made some three miles from the river; moving in a day or two
to near Bunker Hill, and again to a point nearer to Winchester, close
by a large spring, where we received quite a number of accessions to
our ranks by the return of the shoeless, sick, and some wounded men
left along the route of our advance into Maryland.