Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam)

Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam)

  On the 15th, after resting on the heights south of Sharpsburg long enough to get a scanty meal and to gather stragglers, we moved back through that place to the advanced position in the center of the line of battle before the town.  Here, subsisting on green corn mainly and under an occasional artillery fire, we lay until the morning of the 17th, when began the engagement of September 17.  The fight opened early, on the left, but my brigade was not engaged until late in the forenoon.  About 9 o'clock I was ordered to move to the left and front to assist Ripley, Colquitt, and McRae, who had already engaged the enemy, and I had hardly begun the movement before it was evident that the two latter had met with a reverse and that the best service I could render them on the field generally would be to form a line in rear of them and endeavor to rally them before attacking or being attacked.  Major-General Hill held the same view, for at this moment I received an order from him to halt and form a battle line in the hollow of an old and narrow road just beyond the orchard, and with my left about 150 yards from and east of the Hagerstown Road.  In a short time a small portion of Colquitt's brigade formed on my left, and I assumed the command of it.  This brought my left to the Hagerstown Road.  General Anderson's brigade, occupying the same road, had closed up on my right.
    A short time after my brigade assumed it's new position, and while the men were busy improving their position by piling rails along their front, the enemy deployed in our front in three beautiful lines, all vastly outstretching ours, and commenced to advance steadily.  Unfortunately, no artillery opposed them in their advance.  Carter's battery had been sent to take position in rear, by me, when I abandoned my first position, because he was left without support, and because my own position had not then been fully determined.  Three pieces, which occupied a fine position immediately on my front, abandoned it immediately after the enemy's skirmishers opened on them.  The enemy came to the crest of the hill overlooking my position, and for five minutes bravely stood telling fire, however.  In this position, receiving an order from General Longstreet to do so, I endeavored to charge them with my brigade and that portion of Colquitt's which was on my immediate left.  (After researching this battle, I've come to the conclusion that the 26th was positioned the furthest left and attached to Colquitt's right).  The charge failed, mainly because the Sixth Alabama Regiment, not hearing the command, did not move forward with the others, and because Colquitt's men did not advance far enough.  That part of the brigade which moved forward found themselves in an exposed position, and , being outnumbered and unsustained, fell back before I could, by personal effort, which was duly made, get the Sixth Alabama to move.  Hastening back to the left, I arrived just in time to prevent the men from falling back to the rear of the road we had just occupied.  It became evident to me then that an attack by us must, to be successful, be made by the whole of Anderson's brigade, mine, Colquitt's, and any troops that had arrived on Anderson's right.  My whole force at this moment did not amount to over 700 men--most probably not to that number.
    -----Returning toward the brigade, I met Lt. Col. J. N. Lightfoot, of the Sixth Alabama, looking for me.  Upon his telling me that the right wing of his regiment was being subjected to a terrible enfilading fire, which the enemy were enable to deliver by reason of their gaining somewhat on Anderson, and that he had a few men left in that wing, I ordered him to hasten back, and to throw his right wing back out of the old road referred to.  Instead of executing the order, he moved briskly to the rear of the regiment and gave the command, "Sixth Alabama, about face, forward march."  Major Hobson, of the Fifth, seeing this asked him if the order was intended for the whole brigade, he replied "Yes," and thereupon the Fifth, and immediately the other troops on their left, retreated.  I did not see their retrograde movement until it was too late for me to rally them.  -------As I turned toward the brigade, I was struck heavily by a piece of shell on my thigh.  At first I thought the wound serious, but, finding, upon examination, that it was slight, I again turned toward the brigade, when I discovered it, without visible cause to me, retreating in confusion.  I hastened to intercept it at the Hagerstown Road.  I found, though, that, with the exception of a few men from the Twenty-sixth, Twelfth, and Third, and few under Major Hobson, not more than 40 in all, the brigade had completely disappeared from this portion of the field.  This small number, together with some Mississippians and North Carolinians, making in all about 150 men, I rallied and stationed behind a small ridge leading from the Hagerstown road eastward toward the orchard before spoken of, and about 150 yards in rear of my last position.
    It is proper for me to mention here that this force, with some slight additions, was afterward led through the orchard against the enemy by General D. H. Hill, and did good service, the general himself handling a musket in the fight.