78 NortH Carotina Troops, 1861-’65. did to the other Colonels. along the line, that with Stuart’s Cavalry and some infantry he was going around the Federal right and get in their rear, and added “when you hear the rattle of my small arms this whole line must advance.” He wished to ascertain the force opposed, and a man of our regi- ment named Hood was sent up a tall tree, which he climbed carefully to avoid observation by the enemy ; Stonewall called out to know how many Yankees he could see over the hill and beyond the “East Woods,” Hood replied, “Who-e-e! there are oceans of them, General.” ‘Count their flags,” said Jackson sternly, who wished more definite information. This Hood proceeded to do until he had counted thirty-nine, when the General told him that would do and to come down. By reason of this and other information he got, the turning movement was not attempted, and it was probably fortunate for us that it was not. During the same lull, our Brigadier-General (Robert Ran- som) received a flag of truce which had been sent to remove some wounded officers, and by it sent his love to General Hartsuff (if I remember aright), who had been his room- mate at West Point; but Hartsuff, as it happened, had been wounded and had left the field. Soon after our regiment was moved laterally a short distance to the right, and we charged a piece of artillery which had been put in position near the Dunkard chureh; we killed the men and horses, Iut did not bring off the artillery, as we were ourselves swept by artillery on our left posted in the “old corn-field.” Just to the right of the Dunkard church was the “peach orchard” lying between the church and the town of Sharps- burg, where General D. H. Hill held our line for hours with a line of men four feet apart. A half mile in front of the orchard, early in the day, Anderson’s Brigade had made the name of the “Bloody Lane” forever famous. Its position thrust out in front resembled that of the “Bloody Angle” at Spottsylvania later. It was overwhelmed by Richardson’s Division, losing its Brigadier, Geo. B. Anderson, mortally wounded, Colonel Tew killed, Colonels Parker, Bennett and others wounded. Its loss was great, but the fame of its deeds that day will abide with North Carolina forevermore. SHARPSBURG (OR ANTIETAM). 79 About 3 p. m., Burnside on our right (the Federal left) advanced, having crossed the bridge about 1 p- m., until which hour his two corps had been kept from crossing the bridge by Toombs’ Brigade of 400 men. Though it crossed at 1 p. m., Burnside’s Corps unaccountably did not advance till 3 p.m. Then advancing over the ground which had been abandoned by our division early that morning, utter disaster to our army was imminent. Just then A. P. Hill’s Divis- ion arrived from Harper’s Ferry, where it had been parol- ing prisoners. A delay of ten minutes by Hill might have lost us the army ; as it was, the division arrived just in time. The roll of musketry ‘was continuous till nightfall and Burn- side was driven back to the Antietam. Here General L. O’B. Branch was killed. About dark our brigade was moved to the right a half mile and bivouacked for the night around Reel’s house near a burning barn. As we were moving by the right flank, we were seen by the Federal signal station on the high hills on the east bank of the Antietam. A shell sent by signal fell in the rear company of the Forty-ninth North Carolina Regiment, just ahead of us, killing Lieutenant Greenlea Fleming and killing or wounding thirteen others. It rained all next day. We were moved back that morning to our old position of the Dunkard church; neither army advanced. That night our whole army quietly moved off and crossed the Potomac, the passage of the river being lighted up by torches held by men stationed in the river on horseback. The army came off safely without arousing the Federal army, and left not a cannon nor a wagon behind us. On the 19th Fitz John Porter’s corps attempted to follow us across the river at Shep- herdstown, and was driven back with disastrous loss. During the battle of the 17th, McClellan’s headquarters were across the Antietam at the Fry house. There he had his large spy-glasses strapped to movable frames, and could take in the whole battlefield; besides, from his signal station on the high hills, which border the Antietam on the east side, - he could learn all the movements of our army. With this ad- vantage and his great preponderance of numbers, 87,000 to 101,000 as against our 35,000 to 40,000 (giving the margin to each allowed by the official reports), it is clear that he SESS iat NR eh eRe i tern en are scorer mtee oa mistnanior engi e armen neem et ete geen ene