South Mountain & Sharpsburg

The following letter from Joe Belt, Co K, 3d Alabama Volunteers, was published in the Mobile Advertiser & Register, Oct. 16, 1862:

                                                                                    NEAR WINCHESTER, Va., 1862 [Late Sept.]

Dear J –––––:

      I received your letter on 23d August, whilst at Hanover Junction, and ever since then I have been so steadily marching, that I have been unable to write. We have undergone hardships and privations on this march, by the side of which, all other hardships that this regiment have gone through pale into insignificance.

      I could fill up pages in regard to this trip, but as this is all the paper I have, I will have to be brief. On the march coming on, we would frequently travel from eighteen to twenty-five miles a day. My feet became so blistered under the soles, I could scarcely walk; but I managed to keep up all the time, though often I could hardly put one foot before another. Our rations were very short––sometimes nothing but green corn. Whilst in Maryland, for four or five days we had to depend entirely on apples and corn. I tell you, hunger gnawed our stomachs mightily.

      Our regiment was the first to cross into Maryland. We met with no opposition, as there were only a few pickets, who fled at our approach. We crossed at Point of Rocks, above Leesburg, on the evening of the 4th of September, fording the river. We saw nothing of the enemy until the 14th of September. Gen. Jackson had gone to Harper’s Ferry, and our division was left to prevent the enemy escaping by Boonesboro’ from the Ferry, and also to prevent reinforcements getting to them from that direction. Sunday morning [Sept. 14], McClellan came up with 80,000 men, and we formed line of battle, in the pass of the Blue Ridge at Boonesboro’. Our division was only 3000 strong, to meet that terrible host, but the safety of the whole army depended on us, and every man seemed determined to do his best.

      Cannonading commenced, to feel position, and at 1 P.M. fighting commenced on the right wing; we were on the left. Our brigade was only 900 strong. At 3 P.M. they attacked us, and the battle raged furiously for some time, but their numbers prevailed and we were compelled to fall back up the mountain, contesting every foot.

      About dark Gen. Longstreet arrived and checked the enemy, who did not again attack; that night we fell back to Sharpsburg and formed a line of battle. Jackson, having taken Harper’s Ferry, moved up, and our whole army took position.

      Monday and Tuesday were occupied in shelling, but Wednesday morning at daylight fighting commenced along the whole line. It was the grandest battle ever fought on this continent, lasting till after dark. We had killed thousands of them, and still held our position.

      Next day was occupied in burying the dead and removing the wounded. That night, our army crossed safely back into Virginia. There is no Southern sentiment in that part of Maryland through which we passed. We are now resting ten miles above Winchester [at Bunker Hill]. What is to be done next, I know not. There is no telling where we will fight again. I passed safely through both fights––had only a ball through my jacket.

      Our company went into the fight on Sunday with eleven man and two officers. Lieut. Lake was killed, Ryder was wounded, and left; Childress, Barr, Bell, Geaudreau, and T. Smith, are missing––their fate not known. In Wednesday’s fight [i.e. Sharpsburg] our company only three representatives––Donaldson, Lescesne, and myself. They were both wounded, and I was the only [one] left of our company on the field. Thanks to God! I passed through it all unhurt. Lescesne was wounded in the face, Donaldson in the thigh, slightly––he is again with us. Capt. Hoyt and Lieuts. Gardner and Dunlap are with us now. We have nine men. I am shoeless and ragged. Nothing to supply my necessities can be got up here. I am at a loss to know what to do. Numbers are in my fix. I am almost dying to get home once more. But there is no telling when I will ever get there.                                                                                                                                    Joe

Note: Joe Belt (age 21), was a member of The Mobile Rifles Militia (Co K, 3d Alabama). This company departed Mobile, AL, on April 23, 1861 with 105 officers and men. Joe Belt survived the war.

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing the Potomac: “To our regiment was given the honor…”

 

After the disasters of Seven Pines and Malvern Hill, the 3d Alabama Regiment was much reduced in number when the Army of Northern Virginia moved north.

They had sustained 200 casualties at Seven Pines on June 1st, another 200 just one month later at Malvern Hill. The Gulf City Guards (Co B) marched with only 13 officers and men; the Mobile Rifles (Co K) about the same number.

In the early hours of September 3, 1862, Rodes’ Alabama Brigade (under command of Col. Gordon) marched through Leesburg, VA., and camped about one mile north.

 “[Gordon] made us a speech to the effect that, to-morrow would be awarded to Alabamians the honor of putting foot on the soil of Maryland. Immense cheering!”                                        –– letter of ‘Cadet’ 9-7-62

Next day, because of their valorous conduct at Malvern Hill, Gordon awarded the 3d Alabama the honor of first crossing of the Potomac.

“Left camp at 10 1/2 o’clock, a clear bright day, the ‘Old Third’ in the advance; reached the Potomac in the vicinity of the Aqueduct of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal . . . ” –– IBID

About 4 PM, under command of Capt. Simpson, the Wetumpka Light Infantry (Co I), the Tuskegee Light Infantry (Co C), the Mobile Cadets (Co A), and the Gulf City Guards (Co B) were detailed as skirmishers to go down to the river “to shoot Yankees.”  They fired into tents on the far shore, and a handful of enemy scrambled out and galloped off on horses. The skirmishers forded the river above the aqueduct “just where the Monocracy River empties into the Potomac” (the spot at the 43 mile marker (i.e. 43 miles from Washington). To Captain Simpson, of the Co B, went the credit ‘first man to cross the Potomac’.

At 6 PM, General D.H. Hill, Colonel Gordon and the bulk of the regiment crossed shouting “Third Alabama! Third Alabama!” (Presumably the rest of the brigade followed).

            “It was quite an amusing sight to see us crossing; a great many men in their shirts alone, tearing across with their rifles in hand, ready to fire at any one they could see on the other side . . . Our color-bearer rushed up the riverbank in his shirt alone, and stuck his colors firmly in the ground, amid loud cheers.” –– Jeff Carver (Co B)

Simpson’s battalion was ordered back to the Virginia side to support the artillery and guard the camp for the night.

      “All night and part of the next day was taken up in destroying the Chesapeake and Ohio canal . . .” –– ‘Volunteer’ in the Mobile Advertiser of 9-8-62

All this was prep for the invasion of Maryland. On September 6th  D.H. Hill’s division marched towards Frederick, MD, and camped at the Best Farm, about 3 miles short of the town on the southeast side.

 

 

 

The Washington Light Infantry, Roster Co. B: April 23, 1861

The 101 officers and men (age and rank) of the Washington Light Infantry, Captain Archibald Gracie, as of boarding the steamer St Nicholas, April 24, 1861, bound for Montgomery.

Adams, Homer,  26

Adams, Quintus Sertorius,  22

Bagby, John Hampden,  19

Bagby, Simon Connell,  24

Baird, Henry Clay, 3CPL,  22

Bancroft, Sydney S.,  21

Battle, James M.,  16

Battle, Samuel G. Jr.,  19

Bird, Albert Galliline,  19

Boullemet, Milton Hyman,  17

Bowers, George Florian,  16

Bridges, George Rodney,  24

Burnham, Charles Edward,   ?

Burton, John Thomas,  23

Byard, Edward Hogan,  22

Chester, John Wood, 1LT,  29

Childers, James Edward,  17

Cleveland, James Brown,  25

Cocke, Thomas Watt,   ?

Cocke, William Gustavus,  20

Coleman, Fountain Pitt,  21

Coleman, James LaFayette,  CPL,  ?

Coleman, Wiley Theophilus,  21

Crawley, John J.,  20

Dalton, Edmund Richard,  23

Dargen, Edward Pickens,  20

Dean, William Edward,  21

Donaldson, James,   ?

Donoho, Osceola Charles,  23

Donovan, William G.,  33

Drish, Archibald Rye,  27

Ellison, George H.,  4CPL,  19;

English, David Crawford,  25

Foley, John Sylvester,  [21]

Foster, Aaron Whitney,  28

Foster, David Alexander,  2CPL,  [25]

Gilmore, John Young,  24

Goldsmith, Leo,  ?

Gordon, Jesse A., [22]

Gracie, Archibald Jr., Captain,  29

Gwin, George Bailey,  19

Heddon, William Henry,   ?

Heirs, William Andy,  18

Hemstag, William,  25

Hill, Van Courtland,  21

Hodges, William Harrison, [4]SGT,  20  (Hodges actually enlisted in Montgomery, 4-28-61)

Hooks, Alfred B.,  23

Hopkins, Robert,   ?

Huggins, John Thomas, 1SGT,  24

Hull, H. Edgar,  18

Irwin, Richard Learn F. “Lee,” 1CPL,  20

Johnson, Robert Bruce,   ?

Jones, George C.,   ?

Jones, Harvey Ellis,  3SGT,  19

Keough, Arthur Magee,   ?

Latham, Mortimer Aldridge,  26

Lenoir, Thomas Middleton,  22

Levy, Julian Camden,  2SGT,  27

Massey, Wright Stanley,  21

May, Charles Henry,   ?

McDonald, Thomas Anthony,  19

McGillivary, William Stuart,  26

McKeon, Daniel Valentine,   ?

McLaughlin, Thomas Jefferson,  21

McVoy, Cornelius,   ?

Meldrum, George Sterling,   ?

Miller, Duncan James,   ?

Murrill, Charles Washington “Walter,”  20

Myer, Franklin Samuel,  22

Needy, John Albert,  24

Nicolson, George William,  19

Norris, William Young,  20

Oppenheim, Edward Lewis,   ?

Owen, Franklin Alexander,  20

Parham, Rutledge Thomas Blessingame,  17

Patten, William Thompson,   ?

Peabody, Horace M.,  19

Porter, Charles S. D.,  [18]

Reynolds, Hugh,   ?

Riley, James Augustus,  19

Rutherford, John S.,  20

Shearer, Walter W.,   ?

Sherwood, John J.,   ?

Simon, James Julius,  20

Skates, Henry Schuyler,  20

Sloan, Joseph R.,   ?

Smith, Chandler Starr, 2LT,  27

Smith, Edward,   ?

Smith, James Xavier,  23

Steed, George Edward,   ?

Stephenson, William Henry,  22

Toulmin, John Francis,  18

Turner, Samuel Coote,  36

Vail, William Benners,  20

Waltz, William Christopher,  39

Watt, James N. Jr.,  [22]

Westfeldt, Charles/Class Fleetwood, 3LT,  22

Wilcox, Robert H.,  18

Williams, John Parey,  32

Woodward, John Gosee,  [22]

Wyckoff, Cornelius Peter,  26