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right, and formed in line of battle midway up the mountain, with
General Garnett's brigade on my left.
Having thrown out skirmishers preparatory to an advance, I was ordered by
General Jones to move the brigade along the mountain to the
White House hotel, on the turnpike, at the summit of the pass.
Upon reaching the hotel, I posted the brigade a little in advance of it, and to the left of the turnpike.
Some ten minutes afterward, by order of
General Jones, I moved the brigade farther up the mountain, and obliquely to the right, in the direction of
Middleburg, and formed it into line of battle at the foot of the hill, where a fierce fight was raging.
The First regiment South Carolina volunteers,
Lieutenant-Colonel D. Livingston; the Sixth regiment South Carolina volunteers,
Lieutenant-Colonel J. M. Steadman, and the Fifth regiment South Carolina volunteers,
Captain T. C. Beckham commanding, were advanced some two hundred yards to the front, behind a stone fence, where they engaged in a desultory fire with the enemy until dark, when the brigade was withdrawn to the hotel.
Ordered by
General Jones to cover the withdrawal of the troops from this portion of the field, I advanced the Second rifle regiment South Carolina volunteers some distance down the turnpike, toward
Middleburg, and threw out a heavy force of skirmishers.
This position was held by the brigade until about four o'clock A. M., fifteenth September, when it was relieved by the cavalry brigade of
General Fitzhugh Lee, and rejoined the command of
General Jones at
Sharpsburg.
Although but partially engaged, I commend the conduct of the officers and privates of the brigade, with but one exception, which is as mortifying to the feelings of a Carolinian, as it is unworthy of the flag they bear, and the cause which they represent.
Lieutenant-Colonel Livingston, of the First regiment South Carolina volunteers, reports that company A did not enter the fight, shamefully deserting the regiment while marching through the gap. Why charges have not been preferred against officers and privates for cowardice, has not been explained.
In this action the loss of the brigade was as follows:
| Regiments. | Killed. | Wounded. |
| Palmetto sharpshooters, | 0 | 2 |
| First regiment South Carolina volunteers, | 1 | 15 |
| Second regiment rifles South Carolina volunteers, | 0 | 1 |
| Fourth battalion, | 0 | 0 |
| Fifth regiment South Carolina volunteers, | 0 | 6 |
| Sixth regiment South Carolina volunteers, | 2 | 5 |
| | | |
| Total, | 3 | 29 |
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
sir: By a rapid march from Boonsboroa, this brigade reached
Sharpsburg, Maryland, about eleven o'clock A. M., on the fifteenth of September, and took position, in line of battle, on an eminence in front of the town and to the right of the turnpike.
By order of
General Jones, it moved, late in the evening, across a ravine, to the right, with
Kemper's,
Garnett's, and
Drayton's brigades, where it remained, under a heavy fire of shot and shell, until three o'clock in the evening of the seventeenth, when it moved back, by order of
General Jones, and occupied its first position, in support of
Captain Moody's battery and a company of the Washington artillery,
Captain Squiers, both from
Louisiana.
Here the brigade endured a terrific fire of shot and shell for some half hour, when, the ammunition of the artillery having been exhausted, it advanced some four hundred yards to an apple orchard, under a heavy fire of artillery and small arms.
Perceiving the enemy in force in several positions, from any of which we were assailable, I threw out the First, Fifth, and Sixth regiments of South Carolina volunteers to oppose him on the left, and the Palmetto sharpshooters and the Second regiment rifles, South Carolina volunteers, to meet him in the centre and on the right.
From this position we continued to pour a destructive fire into the ranks of the enemy, at short range, until he recoiled and retreated out of sight among the timber on
Antietam Creek.
At this juncture, perceiving that the enemy had advanced three heavy columns some four hundred yards in rear of the brigade and to the right, across a ravine leading up from the creek, and was steadily driving back the brigades of Generals Kemper and Drayton, I moved this brigade into line parallel with the turnpike and ravine, and near to the latter, and opened a destructive enfilade fire upon the enemy, which assisted materially in driving back his columns.
Changing the front of the brigade again toward Antietam Creek, and at right angles to the turnpike and ravine, I threw forward a line of skirmishers to a fence, near to the timber on the creek, and bivouacked for the night.
This position the brigade, alone and unsupported, held during the eighteenth, burying the dead and caring for the wounded — the skirmishers, in the mean while, keeping up a brisk fire upon the enemy.
Just after dark on the eighteenth, I received orders from General D. R. Jones to cover the retreat of his division.
Strengthening my line of pickets, and extending it farther to the right and left, I held the position until nearly daylight on the morning of the nineteenth of September, when I was relieved by the cavalry brigade of General Fitzhugh Lee, and withdrew the brigade across the Potomac, effecting the passage, a little after sunrise, in perfect safety.
The loss of the
