The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-12

. awakening sleepers gave semhlance to the cry, and in an ipstsn. the road was clear. Even the 11 gray shOrse upon which the writer sat aslcep, a horse whose previous failure 10 take any note of bomb shell that had burst just after passing over his run1p the writer had attributs1 to stupidi- ty--eveu this old gray hai partnken of the panic. and I awoke to find him shivering in a briar patch Unto whish he had jumped from the rchd. with mo still in the saddle. In moment the regiment obeyed orders t, set into lline and hearty was the Laughter when !. the cause dt tho alarm was ascertain- bed. -s was the Tapping of its wings by a chicken in the fea1trcugh of a quartermAster's wagon just ahead. Panics are strange ph sntmanl The 8th Alabama never took one when It's eyes we're open; the very next day 1t l sharpsburg. in the bloodiest single day'sststtle of the civil var. these men fought. CT and yu. 'iD:sag he who.e day in the open asId. cv~ntu,.,s held Ing their groun1. th1'Ixi losing IT. killed .-nf. wound sd, s:x,y-fiva net cent.
 of thes- numbers
 We waded the river II shepardstown at suinrise, and absu. seven itr the morning three m.iss away reaehsl Sharpsbarg
 The battle had already b gun and was raging furiol siy. Our brigade was drawn up anl the r"si ~s. r1;lcd only 20 rank and flo answering 70 their James In the Sth The regiment was small from 'ts heavy losses in battle and from sickness, and there were low many straggleis behind for
 want of shoesA rhe entire brigade had only two field ofis,rs present.. Ma- jor Williams of tho 3sh. nd the wii-
 ter, Major Williams ae ig tho rank ing officer. Colonel Cummings of n Georgia regiment. shortly afterwards appointed BrigadI .r ,5elerall was in commander our brigaia
 As we were goia,S forward into the fight by the right flank we passed close by our peerless leader. standing upon rock-crowned. eminence over
 looking the battlefield. With his hat off to acknowledge the loud and con- tinuous cheers we gave him, the light of battle in his eye. the morning sun lighting up his silvery hair and beard, his martial form outlined against the blue sky, Lee, amid the roar of bat tie. on that rock at Sharpsburg. was a figure such as no pen has ever de- scrfbed and no brush has ever paint ed He seemed very God of War
 The following account of the 8th Alabama in a battle In which the loss es on both sides were greater than in any single days fight of the civil war, is transcribed literally as written in camp at Orange, C. H., in 1864, and approved by the officers who were participants. My excuse for publish Ing 1t Is this Is that no report was ever made by myself the last com mander that day of wiicox's Brigade, nor by our Division General, R. H. An derson. who was wounded in the bat tie and this report as hereafter ex- plained, written in ntcamp. for the Ad- jutant General of Alabama is the only official report ever made of our part in or of the part taken by wilcox's Brigade in that bat tie. so far as I have bee nable to dis cover.
 Leaving Sharpsburg to our right we made detour to our left, pass- ing beyond the town and through open fields exposed for half a mile to whitening fire of artillery. Rising a hill into an apple orchard and still marching by the right flank, we came within grape shot range of the ene- my's batteries and within reach of their small arms We moved forward through field of corn, which sloped downward from an orchard (near Pfeiffer's house1, and went forward into line on the right opposite the enemy Before we had gotten to line Colonel Cummings, commanding the brigade, was wounded and compelled to leave the feld). The fight now be- came furious. Our Division occupied about the right centre of the line, our Brigade on the right of the Division. On the right of the Brigade was a gap in the line unoccupied. (So great was this gap that no Confederates were in sight on our right). Before
 getting into position we had lost heavily; Captain Nall had been tenn porarily disabled by shell and Lieu tenant Ravesies. acting Adjutant had received a severe wound in the leg
 "A compact line of infantry about 12O yards in our front poured we'll directed fire upon us, which we an- swered rapidly and with effect
 "A battery of artillery about forty i've degrees to our right (a) and another at similar an- upon us with terrible accuracy. We were unsupported by any artillery on our portion of the line.
 Sergeant Harris, bearing the coll ors. was soon wounded Corporal Ryan of Company E immediately took the colors and was shortly afterwards mortally wounded.
 ny G now seized the flag. Ammuni- tion was being exhausted and men were using the cartridge boxes of their dead and wounded comrades. The en- eny's line in front of us wavered and portions of 1t broke but ft was rein forced by fresh troops. Our line to the left was being pushed back by overwhelming numbers. Major Her bert gave the order the regiment, and we fell back slowly. About 300 yards in the rear we found Major Fairfax, General Longstreet's Tight ing Aide as the soldiers called him, endeavoring to rally the troops that had fallen back before us.
 Despatehing Lieutenant McWilllams Williams (of the 9th) and Major Her bert rallied about 100 men of the brig ade and moved forward again. Ris- ing the hill Into the apple orchard bc- fore spoken of. the enemy were ob- served coming through the corn field in front in a strong line Pouring a volley into them and charging them with a shout, we routed them com pIetely.l They rallied, however, and seeing how few we were. formed be- hind a rock fence on the opposite ridge about 100 yards distant. Tak- ing post in the orchard the unequal fight was kept up until our numbers gradually melting away under the ire of the enemy 1t became impraeti- cable to hold the ground longer. and the order was given to retire.
 Major Williams had now been wounded and the command of the Brigade devolved on, Major Herhart, l who rallied about fifty men and again l advanced to the apple orchard. Here inc combat was renewed with exactly