Their cause and country still the same—
They died, and wore the gray."
On the 18th we occupied the position of the preceding day. Our ranks were increased during the day, and our general forces were augmented by the arrival of troops; but our army was in no condition to take the offensive, and the army of McClellan had been too severely handled to justify a renewal of the attack, consequently the day passed without any hostile demonstrations. During the night our army was withdrawn from Sharpsburg, and at day-break on the morning of the 19th we recrossed the Potomac at Shepherdstown. After fording the river, we halted a short distance on the hills near by, and were engaged in drying our clothing and making a breakfast from our scanty rations of pop-corn and hard tack, when a force of the enemy, (Porter's corps,) who had the temerity to cross the river in pursuit, made their appearance. Gen. A. P. Hill, in charge of the rear guard of the army, met them, made a charge upon them and drove them into the river. In his report of this engagement he says: "The broad surface of the Potomac was blue with the floating bodies of our foe. But few escaped to tell the tale. By their own account they lost three thousand men, killed and drowned. Some two hundred prisoners were taken."
The condition of our troops now demanding repose, we were ordered to the Occoquan, near Martinsburg. On our march another attempt to harass our rear was reported, and we were sent back to the vicinity of Shepherdstown; finding "all quiet on the Potomac," the march was again resumed at night, and on the 21st we went into camp near Martinsburg. After spending a few days here we were moved to the neighborhood of Bunker Hill and Winchester, and remained in camp until the 23d of October.
On the 22d of September, while in camp near Martinsburg, the Grays proceeded to fill the offices made vacant by the battle of the 17th. Lieut. J. A. Sloan was promoted to captain; 2d Lieut. McKnight to 1st Lieutenant; Frank A. Hanner to 2d Lieutenant; and Sergeant B. G. Graham to junior 2d Lieutenant. J. Harper Lindsay was appointed orderly sergeant. Corporals Wm. M. Paisley and A. C. Cheely were made Sergeants. Privates R. D. Weatherly, Thos. J. Rhodes and H. Rufus Forbis were appointed corporals.
On the 8th of September, private R. D. Brown died at the hospital in Petersburg, Va.; on the 12th, private R. L. Coble, at Frederick City, Md.; on the 19th, Hugh Hall in hospital at Richmond; and on the 24th, privates Wm. Seats and Wm. H. McLean died in hospital at Winchester, Va.
CHAPTER VIII.
About the middle of October, McClellan moved his army across the Potomac, east of the Blue Ridge, and bent his course southward. Later in the month, he began to incline eastwardly from the mountains, and finally concentrated his forces in the neighborhood of Warrenton, Virginia. On the 7th of November he was relieved of the command of the army of the Potomac, and Gen. Burnside, "under Federal dispensation," became his successor. The indications were that Fredericksburg was again to be occupied. Gen. Lee, with his usual foresight, divining his purpose, promptly made such disposition as was necessary to forestall him. McLaw's and Ransom's divisions were ordered to proceed at once to that city.
On the morning of the 23d we broke up our camp at Winchester, and after a long but pleasant day's march, reached the vicinity of Millwood; from thence we journeyed on to Paris, in Loudon County. Our march through this Arcadia of Virginia, with its picturesque scenery, and along those splendid and wonderful turnpikes, as they stretched out before us, formed a panorama never to be forgotten. The giant hills stood around like sentinels wrapped in their everlasting silence; behind these, still bolder hills, and again behind these, the blueness of the distant mountains. The day was glad with the golden brightness of an October sun, and as I gazed upon these mountains, clothed in their autumnal beauty, and in their everlasting fixity of repose, I could but contrast this grandeur and silence with the too recent scenes of blood and tumult upon the hills of Antietam. How brief, how insignificant is man's existence! Encamped so high above the world filled us with a sense of exaltation and awe. Fires were soon lighted, and the men, weary with marching, wrapped in their blankets, stretched themselves upon the ground to sleep, perchance to dream of firesides in distant homes where—
"Belike sad eyes with tearful strain,