Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 39.djvu/51

 The Battle of Boonsboro Gap. 39

tacked by the brigade of Scammon and Crook, the first Federals to gain the summit. In this first attack General Garland was killed, and his brigade was somewhat broken and divided. The part that rallied on the north side of the mountain road was gathered under the command of Col. Ruffin of the 5th North Carolina Regiment, and the remnants of the other three regi- ments on the south of the road being rallied under Col. Mc- Crae, who was the officer next in rank to Gen. Garland. At the beginning of this fight General Garland had attempted to bring Bondurant's battei'y into play, but owing to the roughness of the ground on the mountain side, and the sudden attack of the Federals, it was not able to render efifective service, and it was soon compelled to retire.

It appears from the report of General Scammon that the fight • was opened on the Federal side by the 23rd Ohio, deployed as skirmishers under Lieut. Col. R. B. Hayes, afterwards Presi- dent of the United States, who was severely wounded m the fight. Col. McCrae and Col. Ruffin. with their small detach- ments separated and demoralized by the sudden attack, and the death of their gallant General, held their ground as long as they could, but were finally forced to retire. Col. Ruffin falling back towards the Mountain House, and Col McCrae retiring on the north side of the Old Sharpsburg road, and when some dis- tance down the mountain, he joined Col. Rosser who had been sent by Gen. Stuart, without the knowledge of Gen. Hill, with a regiment of cavalry, and Capt. Pelham's Battery of Horse Artillery, to guard the approach to Pleasant Valley by that road.

After this successful assault of the Federals, it is difficult to see why they did not follow it up by pushing their whole force down, either on the road to the Mountain House, or on the Old Sharpsburg road to Pleasant Valley. Gen. Hill says that at this crisis he ordered two guns of a battery to move forward and open fire on the enemy, and that he organized a support for these guns from stafif officers, teamsters, cooks, and strag- glers, but this small force could easily have been swept away.