rate times to move his command into action, and that I had to myself order his leading division (Meade's) to start before he would go.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

[A. E. BURNSIDE,]

Major-General.

Brigadier General S. WILLIAMS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS,

No. 17. Mouth of Antietam, Md., September 20, 1862.

The commanding general announces to the corps the loss of their late leader, Major General Jesse L. Reno.

by the death of this distinguished officer the country loses one of its most devoted patriots, the army one of its most thorough soldiers. In the long list of battles in which General Reno has fought in his country's service, his name always appears with the brightest luster, and he has now bravely met a soldier's death while gallantly leading his men at the battle of South Mountain.

For his high character and the kindly qualities of his heart in private life, as well as for the military genius and personal daring which marked him as a soldier, his loss will be deplored by all who knew him, and the commanding general desires to add the tribute of a friend to the public mourning for the death of one of the country's best defenders.

By command of Major-General Burnside:

LEWIS RICHMOND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

No. 138. Report of Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox, U. S. Army, commanding Ninth Corps, of the battle of Antietam.

HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS,
Mouth of Antietam, September 23, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the movements of the Ninth Army Corps on the 16th instant, and their part in the battle of Sharpsburg on the 17th:

On the evening of the 15th instant the Ninth Army Corps, having been ordered away from the remainder of the right wing, was encamped in the rear of the extreme left of the whole line of the Army of the Potomac, close to the hills on the southeast side of the valley of the Antietam, and on the left of the road from Rohrersville to Sharpsburg. On the afternoon of the 16th the whole corps, except Willcox's division, was moved forward and to the left and front, by command of Major-General Burnside, in three columns, and took up a new position upon thereat slope of the ridges on the left bank of the Antietam, the center of the corps being nearly opposite the stone bridge over the stream on the above-mentioned road.

The positions assigned the divisions of the command were as follows:

The right front to be occupied by Crook's brigade, of the Kanawha Division, supported in rear by Sturgis' division; a commanding knoll in the center to be occupied by Battery E, Second U. S. Artillery, First Lieutenant Samuel N. Benjamin commanding, consisting of 20-pounder Par-