HEADQUARTERS RIGHT WING,
September 26, 1862.

Respectfully referred to Colonel Walton, chief of artillery, for inspection of this battery, and report of same, with recommendation as to its disposition.

By command of Major-General Longstreet:

G. MOXLEY SORREL,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

Numbers 248. Report of Brigadier General John B. Hood, C. S. Army, commanding division, of the battles of Boonsborough and Sharpsburg.

DIVISION HEADQUARTERS,

September 27, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of this division, composed of two brigades-Fourth Alabama, Second and Eleventh Mississippi, and Sixth North Carolina, Colonel E. M. Law commanding; my own brigade, First, Fourth, and Fifth Texas, Eighteenth Georgia, and Hampton Legion, and Reilly's, Bachman's, and Gardens' batteries, Major B. W. Frobel commanding-in the engagements at Freeman's Ford, on the Rappahannock River, August 22; plains of Manassas, August 29 and 30; Boonsborough Gap, Md., September 14, and Sharpsburg, Md., September 16 and 17.*

* * * * * * *

The next day [September 1], after burying the dead, the march was continued [from vicinity of Sudley Ford, Va.] to Sudley Ford, and from thence to Hagerstown, Md., via Frederick City, crossing the Potomac at White's Ford, near Leesburg.

On the morning of September 14, we marched back to Boonsborough Gap, a distance of some 13 miles. This division, arriving between 3 and 4 p. m., found the troops of General D. H. Hill engaged with a large force of the enemy. By direction of the general commanding, I took up my position immediately on the left of the pike. Soon, orders came to change over to the right, as our troops on that side were giving way to superior numbers. On the march to the right, I met General Drayton's brigade coming out, saying the enemy had succeeded in passing to their rear. I at once inclined more to the right over a very rugged country and succeeded in getting in a position to receive the enemy. I at once ordered the Texas Brigade, Colonel W. T. Wofford commanding, and the Third Brigade, Colonel E. M. Law commanding, and the Third Brigade, Colonel E. M. Law commanding, to move forward with bayonets fixed, which they did with their usual gallantry, driving the enemy and regaining all of our lost ground, when ninth came on and further pursuit cease. On this field, fell, mortally wounded, Lieutenant Colonel O. K. McLemore, of the Fourth Alabama, a most efficient, gallant, and valuable officer.

Soon after nigh, orders were receive to withdraw and for this division to constitute the rear guard of the army. The march was accordingly taken up in the direction of Sharpsburg. Arriving on the heights across the Antietam River near the town, about 12 m. on the 15th instant, I was ordered to take position in line of battle on the right of the road leading to Boonsborough, but soon received orders to move to the

---------------

* Portions of report here omitted are printed in Series I, Vol. XII, Part II, pp. 604-606.

---------------