Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 25.djvu/282

 278 Southern Historical Society Papers.

onel's horse was killed, and a second charge was led by Captain Thomas Haynes, of Company H, in which a number of prisoners belonging to the 8th Illinois Cavalry were captured and brought out. With this charge, pursuit by the enemy was checked, and two battle- flags, about which some brave men fell into ranks, with Fitz Lee in the centre, served as a rallying point where our regiments were quickly reformed. We then withdrew leisurely in the direction of Sharpsburg, and were not further pressed.

THE KILLED AND WOUNDED.

In this brief and ill-starred encounter the gth regiment lost two officers and sixteen men killed and mortally wounded, and ten men captured. Among the killed were Lieutenant Fowlkes, of Lunen- burg, and Frank Oliver, of Essex two very gallant men.

Captain Hughlett, who was dismounted early in the action by the falling of his horse, remained in concealment in the corn throughout the day, and was a sad and silent witness of the burial of his dead comrades by the enemy. Under cover of darkness, he sought food at the hands of a woman who was strongly Union in sentiment and had two sons in the Federal army. She relieved his hunger, and being strengthened at her hands, he made his way into our lines and reached the regiment next day, having had during the night several narrow escapes from the enemy's sentries.

On the morning of the i6th of September the regiment was again in motion, after spending a quiet and restful night in a fine grove of oaks, and soon became satisfied that the movements of our army did not mean an immediate retreat across the Potomac, but a prepara- tion for battle in the beautiful, winding valley of the Antietam. Our line of march led us past the position of Hood's Division, the troops of which had already thrown up a slight breastwork of rails, logs, stones, &c., and lay on their arms, in readiness for the enemy's ad- vance. These gallant men, who were destined to meet the first furious onslaught of McClellan's troops, occupied rising ground, partly in the woods, and partly in the open fields, with an open val- ley winding in front of them. A few hundred yards in advance of Hood's line the cavalry was drawn up in line on a wooded eminence in rear of several pieces of artillery. The position commanded an extended view of open fields and a straight roadway leading towards Antietam river, and in the distance could be seen the heavy column of the advancing Federals. Their march was regular and steady towards our position. Only once, where a road diverged from that