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Chapter 17: preparations about Fredericksburg.
On the afternoon of the 19th, after leaving
Lawton's brigade at Boteler's Ford, I marched with the three other brigades on the road towards
Martinsburg, about six miles from
Shepherdstown, and bivouacked.
During the night the enemy had succeeded in crossing the
Potomac and capturing four of
General Pendleton's guns near
Shepherdstown, and on the morning of the 20th I was ordered to move back to Boteler's Ford.
On arriving near there, by order of
General Jackson, my three brigades were formed in line of battle in rear of
General A. P. Hill's division which had preceded me, and were moving against the force of the enemy which had crossed over to the south bank.
My three brigades were posted in pieces of woods on each side of the road leading towards the ford, and remained there within range of the enemy's guns on the opposite side until late in the afternoon.
In the meantime
Hill's division advanced, under a heavy fire of artillery from across the river, and drove the enemy's infantry on the southern bank pell-mell into the river, inflicting upon him a very severe punishment for his rashness in undertaking to pursue us and making him pay very dearly for the guns he had taken.
One officer in my command,
Captain Frazier of the 15th Alabama Regiment,--the only
regimental commander in
Trimble's brigade who had not been killed or wounded at
Sharpsburg,--was severely wounded by a shell, which was all the damage I sustained.
Late in the afternoon, I was ordered to move back, and that night we marched to the vicinity of the
Opequon not far above its mouth.
We remained at this position until the 24th, when we moved across the
Opequon to the
Williamsport pike, and on the next day to the vicinity of
Martinsburg.
On the 27th,
General Jackson's whole
