History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

1862 BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 793
guns were recovered, the enemy driven to the woods, and the ground, which
had been a source of contention, was held.
At night the regiment moved on to Malvern Hill, where it went into position in support of artillery. After the battle the army retired to Harrison's
Landing, where it went into camp. On the 4th of August the divisions of
Sedgwick and Hooker, in light marching order, proceeded to Malvern Hill,
where a small force of the enemy was in position. After a short skirmish he
was driven, leaving his artillery and one hundred prisoners in the hands of
the victors. Upon the return of the regiment to Harrison's Landing the work
of re-organizing and filling up its shattered ranks was vigorously prosecuted.
It had to this time had fifteen companies. Five of them, L, M, N, P, and R,
were now disbanded and the men transferred to the first ten companies.
From the Peninsula, the regiment moved to Alexandria, where Colonel
Wistar, now partially recovered, resumed command. A forceed march of Sumner's Corps was made to the sound of the guns of the Second Bull Run Battle,
and reached the field towards the close of the action of the 31st of August,
where it went into position to cover the retreat of Pope's army, and, after it
had passed, acted as rear guard. Burns' Brigade was the extreme rear guard
on the left of the three roads of retreat to Washington, and maintained vigorous skirmishing as far as Chain Bridge, where it crossed and went into camp
at Tenallytown. After a brief pause, it marched to meet the enemy who had
now crossed the Potomac above Harper's Ferry. At Hyattstown the corps
was halted, and the Seventy-first sent forward to occupy the place, hold the
road and the pass through the hills beyond. The village was instantly cleared,
the enemy's pickets, in considerable force, retiring and taking position successively on the side and summit of the opposite hill, from both of which they
were rapidly driven. Here it was reinforced by the First Minnesota Infantry
and a battery, and directed to maintain itself for the night, which it did with
constant skirmishing. At daylight the corps came up, and pursuit of the
enemy was resumed. At the battle of South Mountain, September 14th, the
Second Corps was in reserve, but when the pass was carried, was immediately
thrown forward, through Boonsboro', to Keedysville, on the Antietam. In the
meantime, General Burns had been promoted to the command of a division in
the Ninth Corps, and General O. O. Howard had been assigned to the command of the brigade. The enemy was now in front, and the corps was posted
in support of a line of batteries on the left bank of the creek, on which he
opened early on the following morning. It was promptly responded to, when,
as bT; mutual consent, the firing suddenly ceased, and for some time both sides
remaned silent; but it was fitfully renewed during the day.
01 the morning of the 17th, wading the Antietam Creek, which was here
waist leep, the division made a sharp detour to the right, and then turned
abrupty to the left, where, at ten A. M., in marching through the never-to-beforgotten corn-field, it found itself face to face with the enemy. Before reaching
the field, the division had been thrown into parallel lines by brigade front, at a
distance of seventy paces apart. In this order it advanced under a heavy artillery fire from guns posted on the Hagerstown road, and drove the enemy's
infantry, concealed in the tall corn, steadily before it, until he reached a position beyond the hill, on which he had judiciously posted his artillery, and from
which he had poured forth his fire with terrible effect. Here. his infantry,