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I remained in
Winchester until the afternoon of the 18th,
General Ewell having moved in the meantime to
Shepherdstown on the
Potomac, to which place
Johnson's division, and
Gordon's brigade,
Hays' brigade and three regiments of
Smith's brigade of my own division had also moved.
The 54th North Carolina Regiment of
Hoke's brigade, and the 58th Virginia of
Smith's brigade had been sent to
Staunton in charge of the prisoners, and leaving the 13th Virginia Regiment in
Winchester, I proceeded on the afternoon of the 18th with the residue of
Hoke's brigade, and
Jones' battalion of artillery, to
Shepherdstown, which place I reached on the 19th.
By this time
Longstreet's corps had begun to arrive in the valley, and
Hill's was following.
The crossing of the river at
Fredericksburg by a portion of
Hooker's army had been for the purpose of ascertaining whether our army had left the vicinity of that place, and when ascertained that we were concentrating near Culpeper Court-House, he withdrew his force from across the river and moved his army north to defend
Washington.
I remained at
Shepherdstown until the 22nd.
The field return of my division at this place on the 20th showed 487 officers and 5,124 men present for duty, making a total of 5,611, and the brigade inspection reports for the same day showed the number of efficient present to be about the same number, the reduction since the last reports being caused by the absence of the three regiments before mentioned and which did not rejoin until the campaign was over, the permanent detaching of
Wharton's battalion of
Hoke's brigade as a provost guard for the corps, the loss sustained at
Winchester, and the sick and exhausted men left behind.
It is as well to state here that we had no hired men
