Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/362

 From the Times-Dispatch, September 30 1906

THIRTY-SECOND VIRGINIA INFANTRY AT SHARPSBURG.

'''Graphic Story of Work Done on One of the Bloodiest Fields—Forty-Five Per Cent Lost—Shot at from Behind a Stone Fence—Samples of Personal Courage.''' Editor Times-Dispatch:

Sir, On December 10, 1905, you published in the Confederate Column an account of the part the 15th Virginia Regiment took in that awful battle of Sharpsburg on September 17, 1862. It was written by that noble and gallant gentleman, Colonel E. M. Morrison.

The hope was then expressed that some soldier who was there would do for the 32nd Virginia Regiment what Colonel Morrison had done for the 15th Virginia. I have waited for nearly one year to see if some one more competent than I would respond, but so far I have seen no account of the 32nd Virginia, and the old regiment was there, and did her full duty, having lost 45 per cent, in killed and wounded. If our noble Colonel Edgar Bunn Montague, Lieutenant-Colonel W. R. Wills, Major Baker P. Lee, or several captains, Samuel Armistead, Octavius Coke, O. P. Johnson, Segar Green, Adjutant Pettit, and other true and brave men were alive, they could and would give a good account; but I will try and do the best that I can, and tell what I saw and did from my standpoint, which was not very far right or left of our colors. Bob Forrest was the color-bearer. John Cose, of Company I, was on his right front rank, and I was on his left front rank. Captain Octavius Coke, of Company C, on my left.

Our brigade (Semmes') left Maryland Heights on the afternoon of the 16th of September, 1862. We crossed the river at Harper's Ferry on pontoon bridges. Late in the day saw plenty of Federal prisoners. I got a good supply of crackers and maple