equipage. Our loss was very small. The meritorious conduct of officers and men will be mentioned in a more extended report.

I am, Colonel, your obedient servant,

Colonel R. H. CHILTON, A. A. General.

T. J. JACKSON, Major-General.

It has been truthfully declared that the capture of Harper's Ferry was worth the entire campaign in Maryland; and the results achieved induced the belief, above alluded to, that General Lee had no other end in view when he advanced into that country. Such a supposition is exceedingly absurd; but the capture of 11,000 prisoners, 73 pieces of artillery, 13,000 stand of arms, and 200 wagons, is an amount of damage which few victories inflict upon an enemy.

No good fortune, however, is entirely without alloy; and the movement against Harper's Ferry had withdrawn from General Lee a force at that moment infinitely precious. With Jackson, McLaws, and Walker detached from the main body, he had been compelled to arrest his advance into Pennsylvania, and fall back to Sharpsburg to unite his army; and thus, instead of occupying the aggressive attitude of an invader, to stand on the defensive.

Jackson was now ordered to rejoin General Lee without delay, and leaving General A. P. Hill at Harper's Ferry-to which Walker and McLaws had crossed-he took his two remaining divisions, and by a severe night march reached Sharpsburg on the morning of the 16th September.

CHAPTER XX.

SHARPSBURG, OR ANTIETAM.

THE battles of Boonsboro' and Crampton's Gap took place on Sunday, September 14th; Harper's Ferry surrendered on the morning of the 15th; Tuesday, the 16th, was spent by both combatants in concentrating their forces for the great conflict which was to ensue.

The battle of Sharpsburg was fought east and north of the town of that name, in the valley immediately west of South Mountain.

This valley is undulating and broken into innumerable eminences of every size, from diminutive knolls to steep and lofty hills. Many of the depressions between these hills are dry, af fording good cover for infantry, while others are traversed by Antietam Creek, a deep, narrow, and crooked water-course, which twists about like a serpent, and has to be "crossed every ten minutes." Sharpsburg is situated on the western side of the valley, and on the eastern side, near the foot of South Mountain, are the little villages of Peterstown and Keedysville. Numerous farm-houses dot the valley in every direction, some standing out plainly on the hill tops, others half hidden on the slopes, with their ample barns and orchards. Fields of clover and ripe corn stretched on every hand, and to the northward a dense belt of woods shut in the prospect. In this amphitheatre, with the hills rising in terraces around it, the two great adversaries, Lee and McClellan, were now to close in one of those desperate struggles, which will throw a glare so lurid on the annals of this period.

An army correspondent writes: "Jackson and Lawton (commanding Ewell's division), always in time, had come forward rapidly during the night, and were in position on our extreme left. What a strange strength and confidence we all felt in the presence of that man Stonewall' Jackson"!

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General Lee's line of battle was in front of Sharpsburg, with Longstreet on the right, D. H. Hill in the centre, and Jackson on the left-the cavalry under Stuart being posted on the extreme left of the line. The divisions of McLaws, Anderson, and A. P. Hill, and Walker's brigade had not arrived on the night of the 16th, and Jackson had under him only Ewell's and his own division.

The Federal line was several miles in length, and their forces embraced the corps of Burnside, Mansfield, Hooker, Sumner, Franklin, Williams (formerly that of Banks, Jackson's old ad

versary), and Sykes' division of Fitz John Porter's corps. General Hooker held the right of their line, one of his divisions being commanded by General Meade, and Burnside the left.

On the evening of the 16th the opposing lines had already come into collision, General McClellan having thrown Hooker across the Antietam on his right for the assault next morning. Jackson's division and General Hood, holding the left of D. H. Hill, were attacked, but the enemy's batteries were soon silenced, and, resting on their arms in close proximity to the Federal lines, the Southern troops snatched a brief sleep before the arduous struggle of the coming day.

At dawn skirmishing commenced between the advanced lines of Jackson and Hooker, now reënforced by the corps of Mansfield, and in a short time the Federal batteries, so posted on the opposite sides of the Antietam as to enfilade the Confederate line, opened a heavy and destructive fire. Jackson's batteries under Poague, Carpenter, Brockenbrough, Raine, Caskie, and Wooding returned it hotly, and about sunrise the Federal infantry advanced in heavy force to the edge of the wood, on the eastern edge of the turnpike, driving in Jackson's skirmishers, and opening upon his lines a determined fire of shell and canister from their batteries at close range. This was kept up for some time, when General Hooker suddenly advanced his line and threw his entire column against Jackson. The firing which succeeded was heavy and incessant. The best troops of the Fed eral army had been concentrated in this portion of the field to turn the Confederate left, and the attempt was made with desperation. For more than two hours the lines of Jackson sustained this almost overwhelming assault without giving back, and the great mortality which resulted was sufficient evidence of the desperate character of the struggle. General Starke, commanding Jackson's division, and Colonel Douglas, commanding Lawton's brigade, were killed; Generals Jones, Lawton, and Walker were wounded and disabled; more than half of the brigades of Lawton and Hays were either killed or wounded; more than a third of Trimble's, and all the regimental com