Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-09-24
Interesting from the Maryland Battle
I'LL

SHARPsBURG, Sept. 20.-To~day have a
disaster instead of a victory to chronicle. Last
| evening regiment from Morell's division
won the applause of the whole army in cap
turing rebel battery. This morning brig
ade from the same division, not observing the
presence of the enemy on the opposite side
advanced to the river, and crossed, meeting
no resistance but the depth of water, which
all overcame by wading or swimming. The
llSth Pennsylvania and the 18th Massachu-
sets had no sooner crossed and advanced
up the bluff about fifty rods than they sudden
ly discovered that they were hemmed in on
three sides by overwhelming masses of infan
try, who Immediately opened Il most terrible
fire of musketry from every part of their
line. Gen. Barnes, who commanded the
brigade, instantly ordered his men to fall
back and rc-cross the river. A scene of the
widest confusion and most terrible slaughter
then occurred. The rebels pressed them
closely, and shot our men down by hundreds
as they attempted to ford the river. Great
numbers Of the wounded could not contend
with the rapid current, and were almost in
stantly drowned, The rebels kept up their
fire while they were in the water, and all who
did notescape were shot down without mercy.
The ll8th Pennsylvania passed over the river
| l,040 strong. | have Just seen all that is left
of this splendid regiment, which left the old
| Keystone state but Il few weeks since. Por-
tons Of two companies are all that remain of
the fine men who crossed the river this morn
ing. All the rest are killed, wounded or ia
ken prisoners. Only 80 of the wounded sue
ceeded in reaching this side. The enemy,
however, suffered terribly while springing
another Balls Bluff trap upon us. The mo-
ment the New York and Ohio batteries, plant
ed upon the hills on this side, discovered the
enemy in such force, they opened fire of
shell from every gun, and kept it up until the
whole rebel line fell back beyond range. The
effect of almost every shell could be clearly
seen by the naked eye. Great gaps would be
made in their ranks, as the shells burst or
| plowcd their way through them. From bushes
and fences would suddenly be seen great num-
bers of rebels flying in all directions to es-
cape the exploding shells A large brick
mansion, standing out bold upon the cliff,
was struck by almost every shot But not
withstanding the heavy firing OF our artillery,
the rebels succeeded in repulsing our advance
to-day. Tonight, in position, we are exactly
where we were last evening, but in numbers
we have lost at least 800 brave men.
THE SITUATION sUNDAY-sCENEs IN sHARPs-
| BURG.
| SHARPsBURG, Sept. 2l.-The army for the
defence of Washington are again on the de-
| fensive. The rebels in considerable force
crossed the Potomac last evening at Williams
| port. All last night cavalry, infantry and ar
tillcry were dashing through this village in
the direction Of Williamsport, in order to
| check the enemys entrance into Maryland the
second time. The promptness, however, with
which Mcclellan moved his forces to the men
aced point compelled Jackson to make ahasty
retreat to the sacred soil of rebel Virginia.
Gen. COUGHS division now lies close to the
corps of Franklin and Duncan, and within
easy supporting distance. With this force, in
addition to the thirty thousand Pennsylvania
| troops under Governor Curtin, all the soldiers
in the southern confederacy could not cross
at that point. Gen. Porter still lies up on this
side of the Potomac, overlooking ShepardS-
town. No attempt whatever, that can learn,
has been made to-day at any point to the
| river. Gen. Banks old corps, now under the
| command of Gen. Williams, is reported to be
near Harpers Ferry Gen. Burnside, with
the divisions of Gems. Cox, Wilcox, Rodman
| and Sturges lies about midway between
| Sharpsburg and Harper's Ferry. From pres
ent appearances no offensive movements will
| be made in several days. 1t is the opinion of
many officers that the campaign Of Maryland
has closed - yictoriouslv closed. Not an
armed rebel now treadS the soil of this loyal
| state.
Three regiments have been occupied since
| Thursday morning in bury ing the dead. Its
| beyond all question, and | challenge any one
who has been upon the battle field to deny it,
that the rebel dead are almost three to our
one. On the other hand, we lost more in
| wounded. This is accounted for by our Off
| GERS from the superiority of our arms. Many
| of our soldiers are wounded with buck-shOt,
which disfgures the body terribly, but seldom
produces a fatal wound. Nearly all the in
habitants of Sharpsburg have returnedto their
| dwellings,. The work of removing dead
horses from the streets and repairing the dam
age to the buildings has commenced. Two
churches were nearly destroyed, and will have
to be rebuilt Fortunately, the mansions of
the rich rebels suffered the most severely
| The dwelling Of a Mr.. Grover, a notorious
secessionists, was almost destroyed. A shell
from one OF our guns passed directly through
his portrait, hanging upon the wall in his par
lor, and tore out his nose his eyes and his
woodworking but his bald head, neck and
shoulders remains within the frame. During
the cannonadc the women and children were
| huddled together for three days in the eel
lars; one cellar under large stone mansion
| contained more than sixty They entertained
themselves with prayer and psalm singing,
and cursing the rebels or the Yankees, as
their sympathies leaned with one or the other
| belligerent One can imagine how furious the
cannonade must have been, from the fact that
but five dwellings in village containing 1900
inhabitants escaped injury.
OUR LossEs-DEATH ON THE FIELD.
Our first estimate of our loss were far too
| small. | think our killed and wounded will
| largely exceed 10000. OF the enemy's
wounded we cannot judge, as the most have
been taken away His dead certainly out
numbered ours. Between the fences of a
road to-day, in space Of 100 yards long, |
counted more than 200 rebel dead, lying
where they fell. Over acres and acres they
are strewn, singly, in groups, and sometimes
in masses, piled up almost like cord-wood.
They lie-some with the human form indis-
tinguishabe, others with no outward ndca-
ton of where the life went out-in all the
| strange positions of violent death. All have
blackened faces. There are forms with every
rigid muscle strained in fierce agony, and
those with hands folded peacefully upon the
bosom, some still clutching their guns, others
with arm appraised, and single open finger
pointing to heaven. Several remain hanging
over fence which they were climbing when
the fatal shot struck them.
The more we learn of the battle, the better
appears the conduct of our army, both Off
GERS and men. You have already our list of
general officers who, foremost fighting, fell.
Massachusetts, out of eight regiments en-
gagged, Gall, except the 35th old regiments,
with their ranks,) loses upward of 1900, and
Pennsylvania has suffered more than any
other state. Richardson's division alone is
said to have captured eleven stands of colors.
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