a broken regiment, is not surprising, although
much to be regretted.
Of the present state of the regiment I have
only the most favorable report to give.
By direction of Col. Steere, I have organized
the regi-ment into eight companies. The members
of companies I and K being divided among the
others, temporarily, although in all reports and
musters they will be borne upon their own rolls.
In this way officers are gained to officer the other
companies, and the companies are made practi
cally larger. The three days just spent in camp,
although broken by marching orders, have in
part rested the men from the fatigues of the two
battles and constant marches to which they have
been subjected since the fourth of this month.
The temporary loss of its commanding officer
at the time when his experience can be of so
much use, is a severe blow to the regiment.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully
your obedient servant,
JOSEPH B. CUKTIS,
Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Fourth Rhode Island
REPORT OF GENERAL McCLELLAX.
NBAR SHARPSBURGH, September 29 l.oO P.M.
Major-General Ilalleck, General-in- Chief, U.S.
Army :
GENERAL : I have the honor to report the fol
lowing as some of the results of the battles of
South-Mountain and Antietam :
At South-Mountain our loss was 440 killed,
1806 wounded ; total, 2325. At Antietam our
loss was 2010 killed, 9410 wounded, 1043 miss-
DOCUMENTS.
465
ing ; total, 12,009. Total loss in the two battles,
14,794
The loss of the rebels in the two battles, as
near as can be ascertained from the number of
their dead found upon the field, and from other
data, will not fall far short of the following esti
mate :
Major Davis, Assistant Inspector-General, who
superintended the burial of the dead, reports
about 8000 rebels buried upon the field of An-
tictam by our own troops. Previous to this,
however, the rebels had buried many of their
own dead upon the distant portion of the battle
field which they occupied after the battle pro
bably at least 500.
The loss of the rebels at South-Mountain can
not be ascertained with accuracy, but as our
troops continually drove them from the com
mencement of the action, and as a much greater
number of their dead were seen upon the field
than of our own men, it is not unreasonable to
suppose that their loss was greater than ours.
Estimating their killed at 500, the total rebel
killed in the two battles would be 4000. Ac
cording to the ratio of our own killed and
wounded this would make their loss in wounded
18,742.
As nearly as can be determined at this time,
the number of prisoners taken by our troops in
the two battles will, at the lowest estimate,
amount to 5000. The full returns will no doubt
show a larger number. Of these about 1200 are
wounded. This gives the rebel loss in killed,
wounded, and prisoners, 25,542. It will be ob
served that this does not include their stragglers,
the number of whom is said by citizens here to
be large.
It may be safely concluded, therefore, that the
rebel army lost at least 30,000 of their best troops
during their campaign in Maryland.
From the time our troops first encountered the
enemy in Maryland until he w r as driven back into
Virginia, we captured thirteen guns, seven cais
sons, nine limbers, two field-forges, two caisson-
bodies, thirty-nine colors and one signal-flag.
We have not lost a single gun or color., On the
battle-field of Antietam 14,000 small arms were
collected, besides the large number carried off by
citizens and those distributed on the ground to
recruits and other unarmed men, arriving imme
diately after the battle. At South-Mountain no
collection of small arms was made, owing to the
haste of the pursuit from that point. Four hun
dred small arms were taken from the opposite
side of the Potomac.
GEO. B. McCLELLAN,
Major-General Commanding.
GENERAL HALLECK TO GENERAL McCLELLAN.
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 30, 1862.
Major- General HcClellan, Commanding, etc.:
GENERAL : Your report of yesterday, giving the
results of the battles of South-Mountain and An
tietam, has been received and submitted t:> the
President. They were not only hard-fought bat
tles, but well-earned and decided victories.
VOL. V. Doc. 30
The valor and endurance of your army in the
several conflicts which terminated in the expul
sion of the enemy from the loyal State of Mary
land, are creditable alike to the troops and to the
officers who commanded them.
A grateful country, while mourning the la
mented dead, will not be unmindful of the hon
ors due to the living.
H. W. HALLECK,
General-in-Chief.
GENERAL WILCOX S ORDER.
HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, \
ANTIETAM CHEEK, September 22, 18 W. j
GENERAL ORDER No. 12. It is with the great
est pleasure that the Brigadier-General command
ing the First division, announces to the officers
and men of the command, his entire satisfaction
with the manner in which they fought in the
bloody battles of South-Mountain and Sharps-
burgh. No troops in Europe could have done
better. The insolent enemy, flushed with the
late successes, choosing their own position, and
led by their most talented generals, have been
met in desperate contest and hurled from the soil
they had invaded.
We have borne no mean part in these victories,
won for the glorious Union and Constitution,
without which life is worth nothing, and for the
defence of which we are still ready to die.
Soldiers ! In our rejoicings let us drop a
manly tear for those who have fallen by our
sides, and for the brave men of our division,
whose spirits have fled to new scenes of glory.
The names of " South-Mountain" and " Sharps-
burgh " will be inscribed on the respective regi
mental colors. By order of
Brigadier-General WILCOX.
ROBERT A. HUTCIIINGS,
Capt. and Asa t Adj t-Gen.
HONORABLE MENTION OF TROOPS.
HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, ?
MOUTH OP ANTIETAM CREEK, MD., September 28, 1802. (
SPECIAL ORDER No. 8.
The following officers and enlisted men of this
command have been honorably mentioned in the
official reports of the engagements of the seven
teenth instant, and their names are hereby pub
lished, as a testimony to their gallant and merito
rious conduct in the field, and for efficiency in
their departments.
FIRST DIVISION.
Captain Robt. H. Hutchins, A.A.G. ; Lieuts.
Brackett, James W. Roraeyn, and Dearborne,
aids-de-camp on General Wilcox s personal staff ;
Colonels B. C. Christ and Thomas Welsh, for the*
able manner in which they handled their bri
gades ; Capt. Wm. T. Lusk, A. A.A.G. of Colone 1
Christ s brigade; Lieut. Samuel U. Benjamin,
commanding battery E, Second U.S.A. ; Lieut.
John M. Coffin, and Sergeants Wm. Davis and
Newall B. Allen, of Eighth Massachusetts bat
tery.
168
REBELLION RECORD, 1862.
SECOND DIVISION.
Capt. H. R. Mighels, A.A.G., Capt. C. H. Hale,
aid, and Capt. W. C. Ramalle, A.D.C. and ord
nance-officer, all of Gen. Sturgis s staff, for per
sonal gallantry; also, Captain U. Slato, A.Q.M.,
Captain F. Berrier, C.S., and brigade Surgeon F.
Watson, of Gen. Sturgis s staff, for efficiency in
their departments ; Captain Clark, battery E,
Fourth artillery, Lieut Hinkle, A.D.C. to Gen.
Nagle, for activity and gallantry ; Surgeon Reber,
for devotion to his duty ; Orderly Sergeant C. F.
Meskle, company E, Fourth artillery, for gallant
conduct and able handling of the battery after all
the commissioned officers were disabled.
THIRD DIVISION.
Lieut.-Col. Kimball, commanding Ninth New-
Fork volunteers, Major Jardine, commanding
Eighty-Ninth New-York volunteers, and Major
Ringold, commanding One Hundred and Third
New- York volunteers, for gallant conduct and
able management of their commands.
KANAWHA DIVISION.
Lieuts. R. P. Kennedy, A.A.A.G., and J. Bots-
ford, A. A.D.C., of Col. Scammon s staff, for cool
ness and efficiency; Colonels George Crook, com
manding Second brigade, and Hugh Ewing, com
manding First brigade, for energy and skilful
bravery ; Lieuts. Furbay and Duffield, Thirtieth
regiment volunteers, acting as aids to Col. Ewing,
and who were both killed ; Lieut. -Colonel A. II.
Coleman, commanding Eleventh regiment volun
teers, killed while gallantly leading his men;
Lieut-Col. J. D. Hines, Twelfth regiment volun
teers ; Color-Sergeants White and Carter, who
were both killed, and Corporals Howett, of com
pany D, and Buchanan, of company C, of the
same regiments, for rescuing their regimental col
ors, when the color-sergeants were shot.
The General commanding takes this opportu
nity to mention the gallant and meritorious con
duct of Captain G. M. Bascom, A.A.G. ; Lieuts.
S. L. Christie, J. W. Conine, and The. Cox, aids-
de-camp on his personal staff; brigade Surgeon
W. W. Holmes, for his thorough attention to the
duties of the medical department, in the prompt
organization of hospitals, and systematic provi
sion for the wounded ; Surgeon Cutter, late medi
cal director on General Reno s staft^ for energetic
attention during the action to the disposal of the
wounded in the field ; also, to thank Captain E.
P. Fitch, A.Q.M. and acting commissary of sub
sistence, for unwearied labor, by night as well as
by day, in bringing forward supplies to the com
mand under circumstances of great difficulty ;
also, to thank Mr. F. Cuthbert, a civilian, and
employed in the quartermaster s department, for
gallantry displayed as a volunteer in carrying
despatches and orders upon the field.
The ability and gallantry displayed by the
division commanders has already been noticed,
ui the official report of the engagement.
J. D. Cox,
Brigadier-General Commanding.
NEW- YORK "TRIBUNE" NARRATIVE.
BY GEORGE N. SMALLKY.
BATTLE-FIELD or AVTIETAM, )
WEDNESDAY E VEXING, Sept. IT, 1S62. f
Fierce and desperate battle between two hun
dred thousand men has raged since daylight, yet
night closes on an uncertain field. It is the
greatest fight since Waterloo all over the field
contested with an obstinacy equal even to Wa
terloo. If not wholly a victory to-night, I believe
it is the prelude to a victory to-morrow. But
what can be foretold of the future of a fight in
which from five in the morning till seven at night
the best troops of the continent have fought with
out decisive result ?
I have no time for speculation no time even
to gather details of the battle only time to state
its broadest features, then mount and spur for
New- York.
After the brilliant victory near Middletown,
Gen. McClellan pushed forward his army rapidly,
and reached Keedysville with three corps on Mon
day night. That march has already been de
scribed. On the day following the two armies
faced each other idly until night. Artillery was
busy at intervals ; once in the morning open-
I ing with spirit, and continuing for half an hour
| with vigor, till the rebel battery, as usual, was si-
! lenced.
McClellan was on the hill where Benjamin s
battery was stationed, and found himself sudden
ly under a rather heavy fire. It was still uncer
tain whether the rebels were retreating or ree n-
forcing. Their batteries would remain in position
in either case, and as they had withdrawn nearly
all their troops from view, there was only the
doubtful indication of columns of dust to the rear.
On the evening of Tuesday, Hooker was order
ed to cross the Antietam Creek with his corps,
and feeling the left of the enemy, to be ready to
attack next morning. During the day of appar
ent inactivity, McClellan, it may be supposed,
had been maturing his plan of battle, of which
Hooker s movement was one development.
The position on either side was peculiar. When
Richardson advanced on Monday he found the
enemy deployed and displayed in force on a cres
cent-shaped ridge, the outline of which followed
more or less exactly the course of Antietam
Creek. Their lines were then forming, and the
revelation of force in front of the ground which
they really intended to hold, was probably meant
to delay our attack until their arrangements to re
ceive it were complete.
During that day they kept their troops exposed
and did not move them even to avoid the artillery-
fire, which must have been occasionally annoy
ing. Next morning the lines and columns which
had darkened corn-fields and hill-crests had been
withdrawn. Broken and wooded ground behind
the sheltering hills concealed the rebel masses.
What from our front looked like only a narrow
summit fringed with woods was a broad table
land of forest and ravine ; cover for troops every
where, nowhere easy access for an enemy. The
DOCUMENTS.
467
smoothly sloping surface in front and the sweep
ing crescent of slowly mingling lines was all a
delusion. It was all a rebel stronghold beyond.
Under the base of these hills runs the deep
stream called Antietam Creek, fordable only at
distant points. Three bridges cross it, one on
the ilagerstown road, one on the Sharpsburgh
pike, one to the left in a deep recess of steeply
falling hills. Hooker passed the first to reach
the ford by which he crossed, and it was held by
Pleasanton with a reserve of cavalry during the
battle. The second was close under the rebel
centre, and no way important to yesterday s fight.
At the third, Burnside attacked and finally cross
ed. Between the first and third lay most of the
battle-lines. They stretched four miles from right
to left.
Unaided attack in front was impossible. Mc-
Clellan s forces lay behind low, disconnected
ridges in front of the rebel summits, all or nearly
all unwooded. They gave some cover for artil
lery, and guns were therefore massed on the
centre. The enemy had the Shephcrdstown road
and the Ilagerstown and Williarnsport road both
open to him in rear for retreat. Along one or
the other, if beaten, he must fly. This among
other reasons determined, perhaps, the plan of
battle which McClellan finally resolved on.
The plan was generally as follows : Hooker
was to cross on the right, establish himself on
the enemy s left if possible, flanking his position,
and to open the fight. Sumncr, Franklin, and
Mansfield were to send their forces also to the
right, cooperating with and sustaining Hooker s
attack while advancing also nearer the centre.
The heavy work in the centre was left mostly to
the batteries, Porter massing his infantry sup
ports in the hollows. On the left, Burnside was
to carry the bridge already referred to, advancing
then by a road which enters the pike at Sharps-
burgh, turning at once the rebel flank and de
stroying his line of retreat. Porter and Syke.s
were held in reserve. It is obvious that the com
plete success of a plan contemplating widely di
vergent movements of separate corps, must large
ly depend on accurate timing that the attacks
should be simultaneous and not successive.
Hooker moved Tuesday afternoon at four, cross
ing the creek at a ford above the bridge and well
to the right, without opposition. Fronting south
west, his line advanced not quite on the rebel
flank but overlapping and threatening it. Turn- j
ing off from the road after passing the stream, he
sent forward cavalry skirmishers straight into the
woods and over the fields beyond. Rebel pickets
withdrew slowly before them, firing scattering !
and harmless shots. Turning again to the left, ;
the cavalry went down on the rebel flank, coining
suddenly close to a battery which met them with i
unexpected grape and canister. It being the
nature of cavalry to retire before batteries, this
company loyally followed the law of its being, |
and came swiftly back without pursuit.
Artillery was sent to the front, infantry was
rapidly deployed, and skirmishers went out in
A"-vr>f ,inA /-LTI /ii flir.T- <linL TVir r>nrnc mnvc fl f. ir-
ward compactly, Hooker as usual reconnoitring
in person. They came at last to an open grass-
sown field inclose ] on two sides with woods, pro
tected on the right by a hill, and entered through
a corn-field in the rear. Skirmishers penctratin-
these woods were instantly met by rebel shots,
but held their ground, and as soon as supported ,
advanced and cleared the timber. Beyond, on
the left and in front, volleys of musketry opened
heavily, and a battle seemed to have begun a lit
tle sooner than it was expected.
General Hooker formed his lines with precision
and without hesitation. Ilicketts s division went
into the woods on the left in force. Meade with
the Pennsylvania reserves formed in the centre.
Doublcday was sent out on the right, planting
his guns on the hill, and opening at once on a
rebel battery that began to enfilade the central
line. It was already dark, and the rebel position
could only be discovered by the flashes of their
guns. They pushed forward boldly on the
right after losing ground on the other flank, but
made no attempt to regain* their hold on the
woods. The fight flashed, and glimmered, and
faded, and finally went out in the dark.
Hooker had found out what he wanted to know.
When the firing ceased, the hostile lines lay close
to each other their pickets so near that six
rebels were captured during the night. It was
inevitable that the fight should recommence at
daylight. Neither side had suffered considerable
loss; it was a skirmish, not a battle. " We are
through for to-night, gentlemen," remarked the
General, " but to-morrow we fight the battle that
will decide the fate of the republic."
Not long after the firing ceased, it sprang up
again on the left. General Hooker, who had
taken his headquarters in a barn which had
been nearly the focus of the rebel artillery, was
out at once. First came rapid and unusually fre
quent picket-shots, then several heavy volleys.
The General listened a moment and smiled grim
ly. " We have no troops there. The rebels are
shooting each other. It is Fair Oaks over again. 1
So every body lay down again, but all the night
through there were frequent alarms.
McClellan had been informed of the night s
work, and of the certainties awaiting the dawn.
Surnner was ordered to move his corps at once,
and was expected to be on the ground at day
light. From the extent of the rebel lines de
veloped in the evening, it was plain that they had
gathered their whole army behind the heights and
were waiting for the shock.
The battle began with the dawn. Morning
found both armies just as they had slept, almost
close enough to look into each other s eyes. Tht
left of Meade s reserves and the right of Jlickctts .s
line became engaged at nearly the same moment,
one with artillery, the other with infantry. A
battery was almost immediately pushed forward
beyond the central woods, over a ploughed liclj
near the top of the slope where the coin-field be
gan. On this open field, in the corn beyond, ami
in the woods which stretched forward into t.he
broad fields like a womontorv into the ocean,
463
REBELLION RECORD, 1862.
were the hardest and deadliest struggles of the
day.
For half an hour after the battle had grown to
its full strength, the line of fire swayed neither
way. Hooker s men were fully up to their work.
They saw their General every where in front,
never away from the fire, and all the troops be
lieved in their commander, and fought with a
will. Two thirds of them were the same men
who under McDowell had broken at Manassas. ,
The half-hour passed, the rebels began to give
way a little only a little, but at the first indica
tion of a receding fire, Forward, was the word,
and on went the line with a cheer and a rush.
Back across the corn-field, leaving dead and
wounded behind them, over the fence, and across
the road, and then back again into the dark
woods which closed around them went the re
treating rebels.
Mcade and his Pennsylvanians followed hard
and fast followed till they came within easy
range of the woods, among which they saw their
beaten enemy disappearing foljowed still, with
another cheer, and flung themselves against the
cover.
But out of those gloomy woods came suddenly
and heavily terrible volleys volleys which smote,
and bent, and broke in a moment that eager front,
and hurled them swiftly back for half the distance
they had won. Not swiftly, nor in panic, any
further. Closing up their shattered lines, they
came slowly away ; a regiment where a brigade
had been ; hardly a brigade where a whole divi
sion had been victorious. They had met at the
woods the first volleys of musketry from fresh
troops had met them and returned them till
their line had yielded and gone down before the
weight of fire, and till their ammunition was ex
hausted.
In ten minutes the fortune of the day seemed
to have changed ; it was the rebels now who
were advancing, pouring out of the woods in end
less lines, sweeping through the corn-field from
which their comrades had just fled. Hooker sent
in his nearest brigade to meet them, but it could
not do the work. He called for another. There
was nothing close enough, unless he took it from
his right. His right might be in danger if it was
weakened, but his centre was already threaten
ed with annihilation. Not hesitating one moment,
he sent to Doubleday : " Give me your best bri
gade instantly."
The best brigade came down the hill to the
right on the run, went through the timber in
front through a storm of shot and bursting shell
and crashing limbs, over the open field beyond
and straight into the corn-field, passing as they
went the fragments of three brigades shattered
by the rebel fire and streaming to the rear. They
passed by Hooker, whose eyes lighted as he saw
these veteran troops, led by a soldier whom he
knew he could trust. " I think they will hold
it," he said.
General Hartsuff took his troops very steadily,
but, now that they were under fire, not hurriedly,
up the hill from which the corn-field begins to
descend, and formed them on the crest. Not a
man who was not in full view not one who bent
before the storm. Firing at first in volleys, they
fired then at will with wonderful rapidity and
effect. The whole line crowned the hill and
stood out darkly against the sky, but lighted and
shrouded ever in flame and smoke. They were
the Twelfth and Thirteenth Massachusetts and
another regiment which I cannot remember
/>ld troops all of them.
There for half an hour they held the ridge,
unyielding in purpose, exhaustless in courage.
There were gaps in the line, but it nowhere bent.
Their General was severely wounded early in the
fight, but they fought on. Their supports did
not come they determined to win without them.
They began to go down the hill and into the
corn; they did not, stop to think that their am
munition was nearly gone; they were there to
win that field, and they won it. The rebel line
for the second time fled through the corn and
into the woods. I cannot tell how few of Hart
suff s brigade were left when the work was done,
but it was done. There was no more gallant,
determined, heroic fighting in all this desperate
day. General Hartsuff is very severely wounded,
but I do not believe he counts his success too
dearly purchased.
The crisis of the fight at this point had arrived.
Ricketts s division, vainly endeavoring to advance
and exhausted by the effort, had fallen back.
Part of Mansfield s corps was ordered in to their
relief, but~ Mansfield s troops came back again,
and their General was mortally wounded. The
left nevertheless was too extended to be turned,
and too strong to be broken. Pcicketts sent word
he could not advance, but could hold his ground.
Doubleday had kept his guns at work on the
right, and had finally silenced a rebel battery
that for half an hour had poured in a galling en
filading fire along Hooker s central line. There
were woods in front of Doublcday s hill which
the rebels held, but so long as those guns pointed
toward them they did not care to attack.
With his left, then, able to take care of itself,
with his right impregnable, with two brigades of
Mansfield still fresh and coming rapidly up, and
with his centre -a second time victorious, Gen.
Hooker determined to advance. Orders were sent
to Crawford and Gordon the two Mansfield
brigades to move fox ward at once, the batteries
in the centre were ordered to advance, the whole
line was called on, and the General himself went
forward.
To the right of the corn-field and be} ond it was
a point of woods. Once carried and firmly held,
it was the key of the position. Hooker deter
mined to take it. He rode out in front of his fur
thest troops on a hill to examine the ground for
a battery. At the top he dismounted and went
forward on foot, completed his reconnoissance,