Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 24.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

On the 15th of September General Lee had withdrawn the commands of Longstreet and D. H. Hill to Sharpsburg. On the same day, as soon as practicable after the capture of Harper's Ferry, General Jackson, with his division and Ewell's, began the march to rejoin General Lee. He left General A. P. Hill with his division at Harper's Ferry to take charge of the captured property and to parole the prisoners. General Walker, with his two brigades, followed General Jackson. General McLaws was enabled by the capture of Harper's Ferry to escape from the trap prepared for him, for he crossed the river and proceeded at once to rejoin General Lee by moving up the south bank of the Potomac. General Jackson, with his two divisions and Walker's, reported to General Lee on the afternoon of the 16th of September. General McLaws reached Sharpsburg in the forenoon of the 17th.

General A. P. Hill, with his division—except Thomas' Brigade, left in charge of Harper's Ferry—did not start to rejoin General Lee until the morning of the 17th. He made a forced march to Sharpsburg, seventeen miles distant, having to cross the Potomac river, reached the battlefield in the afternoon and went immediately into action.

I have given this review of the division and subsequent concentration of General Lee's army in order that the condition of the several commands that participated in the battle may be properly understood. In his official report General Lee says: ‘The arduous service in which our troops had been engaged, their great privation of rest and food, and the long marches without shoes over mountain roads, had greatly reduced our ranks before the action began.’

The infantry under General Lee at Sharpsburg embraced the following:

Jackson's command—J. R. Jones' division of four brigades and Ewell's division of four brigades (under Lawton, until wounded, and then Early).

Longstreet's command—D. R. Jones' division of six brigades, Hood's division of two brigades and Evans' (unassigned) brigade, D. H. Hill's division of five brigades, R. H. Anderson's division of six brigades. A. P. Hill's division of five brigades (this other brigade was at Harper's Ferry), McLaws' division of four brigades and J. G. Walker's division of two brigades.

I will now state the strength of these several commands on the 17th day of September, as given in the official reports of their respective commanders.