Joseph T. Derry , A. M. , Author of School History of the United States; Story of the Confederate War, etc., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 6, Georgia
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

Chapter 8:

• Cedar (Slaughter's) mountain, Second Manassas, South mountain, Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg. Fredericksburg.

Thomas formed his line of battle along a fence bordering a cornfield, through which the enemy were advancing. After a short contest here the enemy was hurled back. . . . The Fourteenth Georgia, under the gallant Colonel Folsom, having become separated from the rest of the brigade, charged the advancing enemy and with brilliant success. The enemy had now been driven from every part of the field, but made an attempt to retrieve his fortunes by a cavalry charge. His squadrons advancing across an open field in front of Branch, exposed their flank to him, and, encountering a deadly fire, from the Fourteenth Georgia and Thirteenth Virginia, had many saddles emptied and fled in utter disorder. Much credit is due Thomas' brigade for the admirable manner in which it acted under very discouraging circumstances.

In this encounter the Stonewall division was heavily pressed by the Federals, who attacked with great vigor and were sweeping everything before them when the tide was turned, mainly through the tenacity of the Twelfth Georgia and the opportune action of Thomas brigade.

General Jackson now marched to the Rappahannock, and on the 22d, the Twenty-first Georgia, Capt. T. C. Glover, was the first to cross the river, making a dash at a detachment of Sigel's division, which had captured part of the Confederate wagon train. The Georgians recaptured the property, and took several prisoners, who furnished important information. On the afternoon of the same day the Thirteenth Georgia, Col. Marcellus Douglass, having crossed the river at Warrenton Springs, and Early, who had crossed a mile below, were cut off from the rest of the army by rising water. Two Georgia and six Virginia regiments were in this dangerous position during two nights and a day, and without food, but maintained [179] such a bold and defiant attitude that Pope hesitated to attack with his entire force, believing he had before him all of Jackson's corps. They recrossed without molestation on the 24th, and Stuart having made his celebrated capture of General Pope's headquarters at Catlett's Station, Jackson moved forward between the Federal army and Washington. On the night of the 26th, Jackson states in his official report, ‘learning that the enemy had collected at Manassas Junction, a station about seven miles distant, stores of great value, I deemed it important that no time should be lost in securing them. Notwithstanding the darkness of the night, and the fatiguing march, which would, since dawn, be over thirty miles before reaching the junction, Brigadier-General Trimble volunteered to proceed there forthwith with the Twenty-first North Carolina, Lieut.-Col. S. Fulton commanding, and the Twenty-first Georgia, Maj. T. C. Glover commanding, in all about 500 men, and capture the place. I accepted the gallant offer, and gave him orders to move without delay.’ Gen. J. E. B. Stuart was subsequently directed to participate. The command set out about 9 o'clock p. m., and as it approached the junction at midnight, came under fire from two batteries of the enemy. The two regiments took position on opposite sides of the railroad and charged toward the flashes of the guns. ‘Sending an officer to the north side of the railroad,’ said Trimble, ‘to ascertain the success of the Georgia regiment, he could not immediately find them, and cried out, “Halloo! Georgia, where are you?” The reply was, “Here! All right! We have taken a battery.” “ So have we,” was the response, and cheers rent the air.’ This was one of the most daring and famous exploits of the war. Three hundred prisoners were captured, and a vast amount of stores and munitions of war.

In the battle of July 28th, beginning the three days struggle called Second Manassas, the brigades of Lawton and Trimble, constituting the left of the Confederate [180] line of attack, advanced to close quarters with the enemy and suffered severely, Lawton's loss being very heavy. General Ewell was wounded and General Lawton took command of the division. On the following day Lawton formed his division in a line perpendicular to the railroad track, facing Groveton. In the afternoon, considerably weakened in consequence of Early's brigade and the Thirteenth Georgia having been sent to the relief of the brigades of Thomas and Gregg, Lawton was vigorously attacked, but he held the railroad and drove back the enemy. General Trimble being wounded, Capt. William F. Brown, of the Twelfth Georgia, the ranking officer present, took command of his brigade. In the battle of the 30th the Georgians of Lawton's division were in the heat of the fight, and contributed in large degree to the glorious victory. Gen. E. L. Thomas' brigade repulsed the repeated attacks of the enemy, and Col. R. W. Folsom, Fourteenth, Lieut.-Col. S. M. Manning, Forty-ninth, and Maj. W. L. Grice, Forty-fifth, commanded their regiments with skill and gallantry.

Longstreet's corps began its distinctive career in history as it came through Thoroughfare gap to participate in the final fighting of this campaign. Longstreet brought up to Manassas plains the divisions of R. H. Anderson, D. R. Jones, C. M. Wilcox, John B. Hood and J. L. Kemper. With Anderson was Wright's Georgia brigade; with Hood the Eighteenth regiment, in Hood's brigade. D. R. Jones' division was almost entirely Georgian, including the brigades of Toombs and G. T. Anderson, and Drayton's brigade, in which were the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Georgia. While Jackson was fighting near Groveton on the 28th, Colonel Anderson reached Thoroughfare gap, and the Eighth Georgia, which he sent forward under Col. Benjamin Peck, was the first to pass through. Directly afterward it was assailed by a brigade of the enemy, who slowly forced the Georgia regiment back until it was reinforced by the First [181] regulars, Maj. John D. Walker; Eighth, Lieutenant-Colonel Towers; Seventh, Col. W. T. Wilson, and Eleventh, Lieut.-Col. William Luffman. The line then advanced in the most gallant manner, the men climbing the rough mountain side on their hands and knees to reach the enemy, who occupied the crest of the hill, and delivered a murderous fire in their faces as they made the perilous ascent. Because of the nature of the ground and the impenetrable thickets, only the First regulars obtained a favorable position, but they inflicted severe punishment upon the enemy. Capt. John G. Patton brought down five with his pistol. ‘The regulars,’ said Colonel Anderson, ‘both officers and men, behaved with distinguished gallantry, as they have on every occasion in which they have met the enemy, and I only regret that our army is not composed of just such men.’ On the 30th this brigade fought on the right of Toombs' brigade, held its ground under a galling fire, and then drove the Federal brigade confronting it from the field. Seven or eight of the field officers and over fifty company officers were among the killed and wounded. C. C. Harwick, acting assistant adjutant-general, was severely wounded at the outset, and Col. W. T. Wilson, Seventh Georgia, the gray-haired hero of many fights, who so gallantly led the charge at Dam No. 1, near Yorktown, was killed while cheering on his regiment.

Toombs' brigade, under Col. Henry L. Benning, was also engaged at Thoroughfare gap, particularly the Twentieth regiment, which led in the advance under Maj. J. D. Waddell, and charging upon a hill on the right of the gap, drove out a body of the enemy who might otherwise have done much mischief. When it had been reinforced by the Second regiment, Lieut.-Col. W. R. Holmes, the enemy was compelled to abandon his attempt to occupy this eminence with a battery. On the 30th, the brigade advanced past the Chinn house, and the Twentieth, after a forward [182] movement of more than two miles, a large part of the way in double-quick time, and exposed to shot and shell, drove two regiments of the enemy out of a dense pine thicket and captured a battery. Emerging from this wood the regiment, under Colonel Benning's direction, charged a Federal battery of six pieces, and, though now exhausted and with numbers reduced to about 300 all told, they drove the cannoneers from their guns, held the position confronting seven hostile flags, supported by at least six times the numbers of the Confederates, and only retired, and then in good order, when enfiladed by another battery. Major Waddell was conspicuous in this day's work, brilliantly seconded by his senior captain, E. M. Seago, and Lieut. W. N. Hutchins, acting adjutant. Capts. H. C. Mitchell, S. W. Blance, W. F. Denny, A. B. Ross and R. D. Little, and Lieuts. T. S. Fontaine, W. W. Beazel, J. A. Maddox, W. L. Abbott and J. B. Richards were honorably mentioned. Lieuts. Robert Jordan, C. H. Culbreath and J. F. Spear were killed in the discharge of heroic duty, and Captains Seago, Blance, Denny, and Lieutenants Fontaine, J. T. Scott, John M. Granberry, J. L. Carter and J. T. Hammack were wounded. ‘Color-bearer James Broderick was shot down at the instant of planting the colors in front of the belching cannon. Private Nunn seized the flagstaff ere it fell and bore it through the remainder of the conflict.’ The loss of the Twentieth in the two days was 21 killed, 125 wounded and 6 missing. Over 100 of the gallant 300 were barefooted, and left bloody footprints as they made their way through the thorns and briers. The other regiments of the brigade fought creditably under the immediate direction of General Toombs. The Seventeenth lost 101 out of 200 in action. Maj. John H. Pickett, commanding, fell late in the battle, desperately wounded, and hardly had A. C. Jones, next in rank, assumed command, before he was killed by a ball through the temples. Capt. Hiram L. French then took the [183] leadership. Among the wounded were Lieuts. John C. Talbert, Robert P. Tondee and M. H. Marshall. Lieut. John B. Pickett, Company I, was complimented for bravery in advancing beyond the lines during the hottest firing to ascertain the true position of the enemy. Capt. A. McC. Lewis commanded the Second in these battles, and reported a loss of 2 killed and 53 wounded out of 163. The Fifteenth lost 6 killed and 54 wounded.

General Hood reported the gallant conduct of the Eighteenth Georgia, which lost 19 killed and 114 wounded, mentioning Col. W. T. Wofford as conspicuous for bravery. Lieut.-Col. S. Z. Ruff and Maj. J. C. Griffis fell severely wounded while nobly discharging their duties. On the 29th the regiment captured a number of prisoners and the colors of the Twenty-fourth New York, Private Northcutt, of Captain O'Neall's company, tearing the colors from the hands of the wounded Federal soldier who refused to yield them. On the 30th the regiment, with the Fifth Texas and Hampton's legion, routed and captured the greater part of the Fifth and Tenth New York, the Eighteenth passing over a battery of four guns in its triumphal progress and capturing the colors of the Tenth New York. Advancing upon a second battery, the regiment was subjected to a flank attack and was withdrawn. Sergeant Weems, the daring colorbearer, was shot down before the second battery, as were also Sergeants McMurry and Jones. Among the killed were Lieuts. S. V. Smith and E. L. Brown.

The official records contain very meager references to other commands, but the part taken by Georgians in this very important campaign, which relieved Virginia of invasion and transferred the field of battle to Maryland, was indelibly written in the general casualties. The report of Medical Director Guild shows that the heaviest loss of killed and wounded in any brigade of the Confederate army on Manassas plains in August, 1862, was that of Anderson's Georgia brigade, 62, and [184] the second heaviest loss of any regiment was by the Eleventh Georgia, 198. Lawton's brigade lost 456; Toombs', 331; Thomas', 261; Wright's (the Georgians), 155. To these add the loss of 9 by the Fifty-first Georgia, 133 by the Eighteenth, and 189 by the Twenty-first and Twelfth, and we have a total of about 2,200, nearly a third of the aggregate Confederate loss, 7,244 killed and wounded, as stated by the same authority. A few more Georgians suffered with their comrades at Chantilly. Conspicuous among those who fell there was Capt. W. F. Brown, Twelfth Georgia, in command of Trimble's brigade.

Early in September, covered by a cloud of Stuart's cavalry before the United States capital, the army crossed the Potomac and advanced to Frederick City, Md. Thence Jackson's corps and portions of the divisions of McLaws and John G. Walker were diverted westward to attack the 12,000 Federal soldiers at Harper's Ferry, and the remainder of Lee's forces marched to Sharpsburg. The army of McClellan, hesitating at first, although largely superior in numbers to the combined Confederates, at length pushed after Lee with considerable activity. The movements of the enemy made it necessary for Lee to hold the passes of South mountain, to give time for Jackson to complete his work at Harper's Ferry and rejoin him. This work was performed with amazing intrepidity, and conspicuous among the heroes of that day of great deeds, September 14th, were the Georgians of Colquitt's brigade, who held the main road at the Boonsboro gap, and of Cobb's brigade, who withstood Franklin's corps at Crampton's gap.

Colquitt's brigade had marched from Richmond with Hill, and its numbers were very much depleted by straggling on account of heavy marches, want of shoes and deficient commissariat. Gen. D. H. Hill has related that on the morning of the 14th he found Colquitt's Georgians at the eastern foot of the mountain, facing the enemy, and he brought them back to the summit and placed the [185] Twenty-third and Twenty-eighth on the north side of the pike behind a stone wall, while the Sixth and Twenty-seventh and the Thirteenth Alabama were put on the south side of the pike, protected by a dense wood. ‘The brigade did not lose an inch of ground that day. The skirmishers were driven in, but the line of battle on both sides of the road was the same at 10 o'clock at night as it was at 9 in the morning.’ The first attack of the enemy was repulsed by skirmishers and a few companies of the Sixth. When a more determined attack was made at 4 o'clock p. m., four companies of skirmishers under Capt. W. M. Arnold (Sixth) greeted it with an unexpected volley. The Federal forces, many times superior in numbers, rallying, assailed the position of the Twenty-third and Twenty-eighth, and were twice hurled back. General Colquitt reported: ‘The fight continued with fury until after dark. Not an inch of ground was yielded. The ammunition of many of the men was exhausted, but they stood with bayonets fixed. I am proud of the officers and men of my command for their noble conduct on this day. Especial credit is due to Col. W. P. Barclay of the Twenty-third, and Maj. Tully Graybill, Twenty-eighth, who with their regiments met and defeated the fiercest assaults of the enemy.’ General Hill gave to Barclay the proud title of ‘The hero of South Mountain.’

Gen. Howell Cobb had taken possession of Sandy Hook, near Harper's Ferry, and returned to Brownsville, when he was ordered to hurry to the support of Munford and Parham at Crampton's gap, the southernmost pass of South mountain. He marched forward with instructions to hold the gap against overwhelming numbers, if it cost the life of every man in his command. He put his men on the flanks of Mahone's brigade, and all went well until the center was broken. Even then Cobb was able to check the enemy's advance by momentary rallies, until, night coming on, he made a successful stand near [186] the foot of the mountain. The Tenth Georgia took a conspicuous part in the fight here, and Col. W. C. Holt was among the wounded. General Cobb was in command of all the Confederate forces engaged, about 2,200, and was assisted by General Semmes, who exposed himself, as did General Cobb, with great intrepidity. Col. John B. Lamar, a volunteer aide on the staff of General Cobb, while rallying the men received a mortal wound of which he died the next day. The loss of the Georgians was very heavy, Cobb's legion losing 190 killed, wounded and missing out of 248 engaged; the Sixteenth regiment 187 out of 368, the Twenty-fourth 126 out of 292, the Fifteenth 183 out of 402, the Troup artillery 4 out of 3, and the Tenth 50 out of 173. Two-thirds of the losses were reported as missing. General Cobb said in his report: ‘For the most successful rally made on the retreat from the crest of the mountain I was indebted to a section of the Troup artillery under Lieut. Henry Jennings. By their prompt and rapid firing they checked for a time the advance of the enemy.’

Meanwhile several Georgia commands had the great honor of being with Stonewall Jackson in the investment and capture of Harper's Ferry, where the rich spoil consisted, according to the Official Records, of 12,520 prisoners, 13,000 arms, 73 pieces of artillery and several hundred wagons. These commands were: In Lawton's brigade, the Thirteenth, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-first, Thirty-eighth, Sixtieth and Sixty-first Georgia; in Trimble's brigade, the Twelfth Georgia; in Archer's brigade, the Nineteenth Georgia; in Thomas' brigade, the Thirty-fifth, Forty-fifth and Forty-ninth Georgia. This great victory, which cost so little loss of life, was greatly enjoyed by Jackson's gallant soldiers, who began at once the march to Sharpsburg to join Lee in the great battle pending against the overwhelming army of McClellan. The blood shed at South Mountain by Georgians and other Southern troops not only saved the trains of Lee's army, [187] but also made possible Jackson's triumph at Harper's Ferry.

In the bloody battle of September 17th, at Sharpsburg and along Antietam creek, there were forty Georgia regiments, including the cavalry of Cobb's legion with Stuart, and six batteries; but the number of men engaged in the entire Confederate army was less than would have been brought into action by the Georgia commands alone, if in approximately full strength. Brigades were reduced to the dimensions of regiments, regiments to companies; but the remnant, footsore, weary and deprived of sleep, held at bay nearly three times their number, and inflicted such tremendous losses that they were permitted to return to Virginia without molestation. The slaughter was terrible among the Confederates as well as among their opponents. Nearly one-fourth of the Southerners who went into battle were killed or wounded.

After the artillery fighting, the battle of Sharpsburg was opened by Hood's brigade, under command of Col. W. T. Wofford, Eighteenth Georgia, in front of the Dunker church, on the evening of the 16th. About midnight the Eighteenth and the rest of the brigade, having had no regular issue of rations for three days, retired to devote the rest of the night to cooking, and their place was taken by Lawton's brigade. Just after daylight the Eighteenth lay down in line of battle under a storm of shell from the enemy's batteries, and at 7 o'clock charged under fire and drove the Federals from the cornfield in their front, but suffered such terrible losses that their part of the work ended there. But 75 men were left fit for duty out of 176. Lieuts. T. C. Underwood and J. M. D. Cleveland were killed, and among the wounded were Capts. J. A. Crawford and G. W. Maddox, and Lieuts. M. J. Crawford, J. F. Maddox, O. W. Putnam, W. G. Calahan, J. Grant and D. B. Williams.

At this famous point of the field (the Dunker church), Ewell's division, under command of General Lawton, [188] fought with great heroism through the morning of the 17th. The Thirty-first, under Lieut.-Col. J. T. Crowder, was on picket duty during the previous night. Lawton's brigade, under Col. Marcellus Douglass, and Trimble's under Colonel Walker, of Virginia, sustained a destructive artillery attack at daybreak, followed by an assault of infantry, and after a short time General Lawton received a severe wound which compelled his withdrawal from the field. Gen. Jubal A. Early then for the first time assumed command of the division. The latter reported of the fight:

Colonel Walker, by moving two of his regiments, the Twenty-first Georgia and Twenty-first North Carolina, and concentrating their fire and that of the Twelfth Georgia upon a part of the enemy's line in front of the latter, succeeded in breaking it; and as a brigade of fresh troops came up to the support of Lawton's and Hays' brigades just at this time, Walker ordered an advance, but the brigade which came up having fallen back, he was compelled to halt, and finally to fall back to his first position. His brigade (Trimble's) had suffered terribly. . . . Colonel Douglass, whose brigade had been hotly engaged during the whole time, was killed, and about half of the men had been killed, wounded and captured.

The terrible nature of the conflict in which these brigades had been engaged, and the steadiness with which they maintained their position, are shown by the losses they sustained. Lawton's brigade suffered a loss of 554 killed and wounded out of 1, 500, and five regimental commanders out of six. Hays' and Walker's brigades, together hardly equal in numbers to Lawton's, suffered the same loss, including all of the regimental commanders but one. ‘In the death of Colonel Douglass,’ said Early, ‘the country sustained a serious loss. He was talented, courageous and devoted to his duty.’ Maj. J. H. Lowe, Thirty-first Georgia, succeeded to the command of Lawton's brigade, being the senior officer present not disabled. He reported the gallant conduct [189] of Corp. Curtis A. Lowe, Company F, Sixty-first Georgia, who, after the color-bearer and four of the color guard were shot down, seized the colors and pressed forward, calling on his comrades to follow their standard. A similar tribute was paid to Private M. V. Hawes, Company E, Thirty-first Georgia, who, after two of the colorbear-ers had been shot down, took the colors and carried them, leading in the charge, until the regiment was withdrawn. Lieuts. J. D. Hill, J. A. Adair, E. S. Bass and Edwin Dallas were among the killed of the Thirteenth, Lieut. D. P. Rice of the Twenty-sixth, Capt. W. H. Battey of the Thirty-eighth, Maj. A. P. Macrae and Capt. W. J. Mathews of the Sixty-first. Capt. James G. Rodgers, commanding the Twelfth, was killed, and Lieut. A. Henderson wounded, and Major Glover, commanding the Twenty-first, was dangerously wounded. The aggregate loss of the Thirteenth was 216, of the Twenty-sixth 61, Thirty-first 53, Thirty-eighth 71, Sixtieth 60, Sixty-first 104, Twelfth 59, Twenty-first 67.

The fighting thus briefly mentioned was on the extreme left or north of the Confederate line. Just south of this D. H. Hill's division, about 3,000 infantry, with 26 cannon, besides Cutts' Georgia artillery battalion, was engaged. Colquitt and Ripley were moved up to the support of Hood at daybreak. The First line of the Federals was broken, and the Confederates pushed vigorously forward only to meet additional lines. ‘Colquitt had gone in with ten field officers,’ said Hill; ‘four were killed, five badly wounded, and the tenth stunned by a shell. The men were beginning to fall back, and efforts were made to rally them in the bed of an old road (nearly at right angles to the Hagerstown pike) which had been their position previous to the advance. These efforts, however, were only partially successful. Most of the brigade took no further part in the action.’ Here the gallant Colonel Barclay, who had just achieved hearty plaudits by his service at South Mountain, was killed. On the [190] same field of carnage ended the lives of Col. Levi B. Smith, of the Twenty-seventh Georgia, and Lieut.-Col. J. M. Newton and the modest and heroic Maj. P. Tracy, of the Sixth. ‘The lamented Capt. W. F. Plane, of the same regiment,’ said Hill, ‘deserved special mention. Of him it could be truly said that he shrank from no danger, no fatigue and no exposure. Maj. Robert S. Smith, Fourth Georgia, fell fighting most heroically. He had received a military education and gave promise of eminence in his profession.’ Capt. N. J. Garrison, commanding the Twenty-eighth; Lieut.-Col. C. T. Zachry, Twenty-seventh; Lieut.-Col. E. F. Best and Maj. J. H. Huggins, Twenty-third, were severely wounded—and Lieut. R. P. Jordan, acting assistant adjutant-general of Colquitt's brigade, fell in the course of gallant service.

Further south on the line, standing between the village of Sharpsburg and the southernmost bridge on the Antietam, was the division of D. R. Jones, six brigades but only 2,430 men, to whom fell the duty of holding back Burnside's corps of the United States army. General Toombs was ordered to defend the bridge with the Second and Twentieth Georgia regiments, Col. John B. Cumming and Lieutenant-Colonel Holmes, and the Fiftieth, about 100 strong, under Lieut.-Col. F. Kearse. Toombs had an excellent position, and with 400 Georgians performed one of the most important military feats of the four years war, holding the bridge against Burnside's corps, or as much of it as could advance to the attack. In Gen. R. E. Lee's detailed report of the battle, the only regiments mentioned by name are Cooke's North Carolina regiment, who held their ground without ammunition in the center, and the Second and Twentieth Georgia, who defended the bridge under command of Toombs. Between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning, after a fierce cannonading, the enemy made an attempt to carry the bridge by assault, but was repulsed with great slaughter, and up to 1 o'clock made four other [191] attempts, with the same result. Then despairing of winning a passage from the brave 400, Burnside sent a force across the river at fords below, and flanking Toombs compelled his withdrawal. But after the bridge had been abandoned by the Georgians, the enemy was so impressed with the necessity for caution that he consumed two hours in getting across, and by that time A. P. Hill was up from Harper's Ferry and saved the Confederate army from this flank attack. After supplying his brigade with ammunition, General Toombs returned to the line of battle with the Fifteenth and Seventeenth, Major Little's battalion of the Eleventh, part of Kearse's regiment, and part of the Twentieth under Colonel Cumming, but found the Federals in the position he was ordered to occupy and in possession of McIntosh's battery and part of the suburbs of Sharpsburg. Toombs decided instantly to attack, though he had but about a fifth of the strength of the enemy. Captain Troup, his gallant aide, rallied a part of Kemper's brigade and brought it into line with the Georgians. The enemy advanced first, but was thrown into confusion by an accurate volley, and a countercharge followed which swept the Federals from Toombs' front and brought the battery again into Confederate hands. The enemy did not stop short of the bridge, where a battery was hurried across to check the Georgians. But the Fifteenth and Twentieth, aided by Richardson's battery, soon cleared the enemy from the side of the river he had fought so hard to gain, and Toombs at nightfall was at liberty to reoccupy the position he had held in the morning. This gallant action was not without losses. Says General Toombs' report:

Colonel Millican, of the Fifteenth, who had distinguished himself both at Manassas and in this action, . . . fell while gallantly leading his regiment in the final charge. . . Lieutenant-Colonel Holmes, who commanded the Second regiment, fell near the close of his heroic defense of the passage of the Antietam, and it is due to him to say that, in my judgment, he has not left in [192] the armies of the republic a truer or braver soldier, and I have never known a cooler, more efficient, or more skillful field officer. . . . Colonel Benning stood by his brigade on the Antietam, guiding, directing and animating his officers and men with distinguished coolness, courage and skill; withdrew them from that perilous position and again led them, with equal skill and courage, in the final conflict with the enemy. He deserves the marked consideration of the government. Colonel Cumming, with marked gallantry and skill, led his regiment throughout the day, and after the long, bloody conflict at the bridge, brought up one of its fragments to the last charge, and was among the foremost in it. Maj. Skidmore Harris, of the Second, after the fall of Colonel Holmes, though suffering from a painful wound, stood firmly and gallantly by his command during the whole day. Colonel Benning being in command of the brigade, and Lieut.-Col. Wesley C. Hodges and Maj. J. H. Pickett both being absent on account of severe wounds received by them in former battles, Capt. John A. McGregor led the Seventeenth regiment with ability, courage and skill. Major Little led his battalion and the Eleventh Georgia with a dashing courage and success which won the admiration of his comrades. [Three times during the day Capt. J. R. Troup rendered very important service in rallying troops; and other aides, Capt.. D. M. DuBose, Cadet W. T Lamar, Capt. A. A. F. Hill, and Lieut. J. J. Grant, and Courier Thomas Paschal were warmly commended.]

Col. G. T. Anderson's Georgia brigade won new honors fighting under D. H. Hill, but the gallant colonel commanding reported that he could not discriminate by mention of cases of individual bravery. The list of casualties showed 894 killed, wounded and missing out of about 2,200. The Georgians of Semmes' and Cobb's brigades fought with McLaws. Col. C. C. Sanders, Twenty-fourth Georgia, who commanded Cobb's brigade during the first part of the engagement, carried it for. ward in good order, and the brigade maintained its position and drove the enemy for some distance, retiring only after losing 43 per cent. of its strength. General [193] Semmes supported General Stuart and drove the Federals from his front. The Nineteenth Georgia, Archer's brigade, Major Neal commanding, lost the gallant Capt. T. W. Flynt at Sharpsburg. At Shepherdstown, subsequent to Sharpsburg, the regiment, with Thomas' Georgia brigade, participated in the defeat of the Federal pursuit.

The report of the Maryland campaign by D. H. Hill, contained the following further honorable mention of Georgians:

Brigadier-General Colquitt reports as specially deserving notice for their gallantry . . . N. B. Neusan, color sergeant, J. J. Powell, W. W. Glover, H. M. James, and N. B. Lane, color guard, of the Sixth Georgia; and in the same regiment, Corps. John Cooper, Joseph J. Wood, Privates J. W. Tompkins, B. C. Lapsade, L. B. Hannah, A. D. Simmons, W. Smith, J. M. Feltman and J. C. Penn, and Capt. W. M. Arnold, who skillfully commanded a battalion of skirmishers at South Mountain and Sharpsburg; Capt. James W. Banning, Twenty-eighth Georgia distinguished for his intrepid coolness, fighting in the ranks, gun in hand, and stimulating his men by his words and example; W. R Johnson and William Goff, Twenty-eighth. The officers commanding the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Georgia regiments report that it is impossible for them to make distinctions where so many acted with distinguished bravery. In the Twenty-seventh every commissioned officer except one was killed or wounded at Sharpsburg, and this sole survivor was unwilling to discriminate among so many brave men. Colonel Doles, Fourth Georgia, who by the wounding of General Ripley attained brigade command, commended the gallant conduct of Capt. John C. Key, commanding Forty-fourth, and Captain Read, assistant adjutant-general. Asst. Surg. William P. Young remained on the field after he was wounded, caring for the suffering, and was taken prisoner. Privates Thomas S. Carwright, who fell with the colors of the Fourth in his hands, Joseph L. Richardson, wounded, and Henry E. Welch were distinguished, and Privates R. Dudley Hill and Thomas J. Dingler, two lads in the Forty-fourth, attracted in a special manner the attention of their commander. [194] Equally distinguished were Lieut.-Col. Phil. Cook, Capts. W. H. Willis and F. H. DeGraffenreid, and Lieuts. E. A. Hawkins, R. M. Bisel, W. W. Hulbert, J. T. Gay (wounded), J. G. Stephens, C. R. Ezell, F. T. Snead, L. M. Cobb (killed), and J. C. Macon (severely wounded).

Sharpsburg was the last of the terrible battles of the summer of 1862. In quick succession had followed Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill and the others of the bloody Seven Days, Slaughter's Mountain, Second Manassas, South Mountain and Sharpsburg, all within ninety days. The army of Northern Virginia was terribly reduced in numbers. But this shattered army, by the tenacity with which it held its ground and the success with which it recovered positions temporarily lost, had so impressed McClellan that he dared not risk another attack upon Lee, who remained defiant in his front throughout the 18th and then retreated unmolested. Though Longstreet has expressed the opinion that ‘at the close of the day 10,000 fresh troops could have come in and taken Lee's army and everything it had,’ Gen. Jacob D. Cox, of the Union army, has declared that McClellan was so impressed by the complete defeat of his own right wing that he held Porter's corps of fresh troops in reserve. Says Cox: ‘McClellan's refusal to use them was the result of his continued conviction through all the day after Sedgwick's defeat that Lee was overwhelmingly superior in force, and was preparing to return a crushing blow upon our right flank. He was keeping something on hand to cover a retreat if that wing should be driven back. . . . McClellan estimated Lee's troops at nearly double their actual number.’ Indeed, he estimated them at much more than double their actual number, and it was this that kept him from attacking on the 18th, although he received that day 15,000 additional troops.

Lee, having returned with his army to Virginia, there began a period of recruiting. At home thousands of [195] families were stricken with sorrow, but the great heart of the State, though overwhelmed with grief, was still loyal to the cause, and more brave men went forward to fill up the depleted ranks. November 1st the Tenth battalion of Georgia volunteers, Maj. John E. Rylander, at Macon, was ordered to report to General Lee at Winchester, and the First regulars were ordered to Macon. The Tenth battalion, after some delay caused by other orders, went to Virginia and joined Lee's army at Hamilton's crossing, December 27, 1862, just two weeks after the battle of Fredericksburg, relieving the First regulars, who thereupon went to Georgia.

At the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, Georgia soldiers achieved no less fame than in previous encounters. With the two important epochs of that battle, the attempt to break the line of A. P. Hill's division and the assault upon Marye's hill, the names of Georgia commands are indissolubly associated.

It was the Nineteenth Georgia, of Archer's brigade, Lieut.-Col. A. J. Hutchins commanding, that after gallantly foiling the direct assault of the Federals on the right of Lee's army, was pushed from position by the enemy moving to their rear through a gap unfortunately left between Archer's and Lane's brigades, and it was Gen. Edward L. Thomas who, in the words of A. P. Hill, ‘responding to the call of General Lane, rapidly threw forward his brigade of Georgians by the flank, and deploying by successive formations, squarely met the enemy, charged them, and, joined by the Seventh and part of the Eighteenth North Carolina, drove them back, with tremendous losses, to their original position.’ At the close of the struggle in this quarter, General Hill reported, ‘The enemy having been repulsed at all points, my brigades remained in their original positions, save General Thomas' (Fourteenth, Thirty-fifth, Forty-fifth and Forty-ninth Georgia), which was not recalled from the position it had so gallantly won in the front line.’ The [196] loss in killed and wounded was for the Nineteenth 54, Fourteenth 132, Thirty-fifth 89, Forty-fifth 48, Forty-ninth 61. Among the killed were Lieuts. W. H. Putnam, C. Johnson, and W. J. Solomon.

Another column of the enemy encountered Hill's reserve, and Gen. Maxcy Gregg was mortally wounded while rallying his men. To the relief of this gallant command Lawton's old brigade went forward, now 2,000 strong, under the command of Col. E. N. Atkinson, who, being severely wounded in the midst of the battle, was succeeded by Colonel Evans, of the Thirty-first. The brigade had been in line under fire during the morning, the Thirteenth regiment, Col. J. M. Smith, on the right; and thence to the left the Sixtieth, Col. W. H. Stiles; Sixty-first, Col. J. H. Lamar; Thirty-eighth, Capt. William L. McLeod; Thirty-first, Col. C. A. Evans, and the Twenty-sixth, Capt. B. F. Grace. The brigade gallantly swept the enemy back, driving them at the point of the bayonet from the railroad cut and into the wood beyond, where the pursuit was carried with such energy by the regiments of Stiles, Lamar, McLeod and Evans, that both parties entered the ditches beyond almost together. At the railroad and in the ditches a large number of prisoners were captured and sent to the rear, among them one colonel and several officers of minor grade. A battery on a hill 200 yards distant tempted the Georgians still further, but after they had caused the guns to be abandoned and were about to take possession, a strong flank movement against them made it necessary to withdraw from a dangerously exposed position. Among the officers commended by Colonel Evans in his report were Colonel Lamar, wounded; Maj. C. W. McArthur, Capt. Peter Brenan, Col. W. H. Stiles, and Capt. Edward P. Lawton, adjutant-general of the brigade, distinguished for heroic activity at the close of the fight, when he received a dangerous wound, and was unavoidably left on the open plain. This brave staff officer died a few [197] days later. The Twelfth Georgia, Col. Z. T. Conner, and Twenty-first, Col. J. T. Mercer, also participated in this movement. Lieut.-Col. T. B. Scott, of the Twelfth, was killed while nobly doing his duty, and Lieut. Thomas J. Verdery, of the Twenty-first, was also among the slain.

But the most famous incident of this battle, as often quoted among the glorious defenses of military history as is the charge at Cemetery hill among the assaults, was the performance of Cobb's brigade at Marye's hill. His heroic command was now composed of the Sixteenth regiment, Col. Goode Bryan; Eighteenth, Col. W. T. Wofford; Twenty-fourth, Col. Robert McMillan; Cobb's legion, Lieut.-Col. L. J. Glenn, and Phillips' legion, Col. W. Phillips, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb, who had succeeded Gen. Howell Cobb. On the night of December 11th, the brigade had taken its position in the Telegraph road, a sunken highway at the base of Marye's hill, on the side of which, next the town, was a stone wall, shoulder high, against which the earth was banked, making an almost impregnable defense. When on the morning of the 13th the Federals in great masses of troops advanced from the town of Fredericksburg, they could not see the fatal sunken road, nor know that any Confederate troops were nearer than the summits of the hills. Marching in double-quick time, the United States troops swarmed up in the field in front of Cobb's brigade until the space was packed. The Confederate artillery poured shot and shell into these devoted masses, causing great carnage, but they pressed forward steadily until they came within range of the Georgians behind the stone wall, when a storm of lead was poured into their advancing ranks and they were swept from the field like chaff before the wind. Another blue line was formed and sent forward to the carnival of death. It fell back shattered. Yet another; and when the fourth came, the ground was covered so closely with the dead and [198] wounded that it impeded the advance of the later aspirants for glory or death. In this fourth charge a gallant Federal officer came within 100 feet of Cobb's line before he fell, but the great mass of the dead was piled at about 100 yards distance, beyond which no organized body was permitted to approach. In spite of these terrible reverses, a fifth and a sixth charge were made before night came to end the terrible slaughter. The musketry alone killed and wounded about 5,000, to which the artillery added enough to make 7,000 maimed, dead and dying, lying on that horrible field of destruction.

General McLaws has written that about 1 p. m. General Cobb reported that he was short of ammunition. ‘I sent his own very intelligent and brave courier, little Johnny Clark, from Augusta, Ga., to bring up his ordnance supplies, and directed General Kershaw to reinforce General Cobb with two of his South Carolina regiments, and I also sent the Sixteenth Georgia, which had been detached, to report to General Cobb.’ General McLaws also tells how a Georgia boy, William Crumley, an orderly of General Kershaw, seeing his chief's horse in a very dangerous position, rode the animal up a slope, exposed to the hottest fire of the enemy, left him in a safe place, and returning by the same way with an inferior horse, rejoined the general, who, until Crumley's return, was ignorant of his daring feat. While Kershaw was moving forward, General Cobb fell mortally wounded during the third assault upon his line, and Kershaw took command of the line and Colonel McMillan of the brigade. General Cobb's wound was by a musket ball in the calf of the leg. He was carried to the field hospital in the rear and given every attention, but he died soon afterward. Gen. R. E. Lee alluded to him as one of the South's noblest citizens and the army's bravest and most distinguished officers, and the whole nation joined with unaffected sympathy in the sorrow which overwhelmed his native State. As General McLaws has said, every one [199] esteemed him warmly who knew his great intellect and good heart.

The losses of Cobb's brigade were as follows: Staff, 3 wounded; Sixteenth regiment, 4 killed, 62 wounded, 4 missing; Eighteenth, 11 killed, 47 wounded; Twenty-fourth, 5 killed, 31 wounded; Phillips' legion, 13 killed, 55 wounded; aggregate, 235. Among the killed were Lieut. J. S. Bowring, Capt. Walter S. Brewster and Lieut.-Col. R. T. Cook.

Capt. John P. W. Read's battery (Pulaski artillery), Capt. Henry H. Carlton's battery (Troup artillery), Capt. H. N. Ells' battery (Macon artillery), and Capts. H. M. Ross' and John Lane's batteries (Companies A and E of Cutts' Sumter battalion), were on the crest of the hills occupied by the division of General McLaws. One of Carlton's guns on this occasion was commanded by Lieut. W. F. Anderson of Ells' battery. These, with batteries from other States, 48 guns in all, were under command of Col. Henry Coalter Cabell. The fire of these guns upon the charging columns of the enemy was, according to the reports of the officers commanding on both sides, very destructive to the Federals, as was also that of the guns on Marye's heights, under command of Lieut.-Col. E. P. Alexander, of Georgia. Capt. John Milledge's battery of eight rifled guns was sent to the support of Jackson's wing, and according to the report of Gen. W. N. Pendleton, ‘was useful on the river, and with Major Pelham in his successful dash upon the enemy when menacing our right flank.’ Of the batteries of Captains Lane and Ross, General Pendleton says that theirs, ‘as of best guns, were most in requisition and rendered most service.’ Capt. G. M. Patterson's battery (B of the Sumter battalion), with one section of Ross', under Maj. T. Jefferson Page, Jr., shared in the defense of General Hood's front.

During the fighting at Fredericksburg the cavalry of Cobb's Georgia legion accompanied Gen. Wade Hampton [200] on an expedition to Dumfries, which was completely successful. In his report General Hampton spoke in the highest terms of the conduct of all his officers and men. ‘They bore the privation and fatigue of the march—three nights in the snow—without complaint, and were always prompt and ready to carry out my orders.’ [201]