Today in History:

704 Series I Volume XIX-I Serial 27 - Antietam Part I

Page 704 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter XXXI.

Answer. No, sir; not immediately afterward. I think the evacuation commenced about 2 o'clock. I am not certain, however, about that. I was constantly engaged, and very seldom consulted my time-piece.

By the COURT:

Question: Who else was present at this interview?

Answer. I do not remember of any person being present. There may have been one or two of Colonel Ford's officers there; I do not remember of any others.

Question. You say it was about 10 o'clock, you think, when Colonel Miles was there?

Answer. I fixed it from 9 to 11.

Question. Had any fighting occurred after he left, before the evacuation commenced?

Answer. I think so.

Question. Where?

Answer. I think up on the heights; I am not sure about that.

Question. Then, what there occurred between the time Colonel Miles left, when you thought there was no necessity for evacuating, and 2 o'clock, when the evacuation took place, to render it necessary? You say that at 11 o'clock you did not consider it necessary to evacuate. At 2 o'clock you say there was a military necessity for it. What had there occurred in the mean time to make it necessary?

Answer. I said that previous to Colonel Miles making the remark I had thought there was not. After his making the remark, as I said before, having the confidence I had in him, I believed it then to be necessary.

Question. Then, when you state it to be a military necessity to evacuate at 2 o'clock, it was nothing from what you knew yourself, but simply from what you heard Colonel Miles say?

Answer. Principally; yes, sir.

Question. How many men had you at this point where Colonel Ford was stationed?

Answer. Collected together, do you mean?

Question. Yes, sir. How many men were there on duty - how many troops?

Answer. The principal part of them were about the battery, Captain McGrath's battery.

Question. How far was that away?

Answer. I suppose, perhaps 200 or 300 yards; 200 yards, I suppose. Colonel Ford was principally, however, at the battery; that was his position.

Question. Had these men in this position been themselves attacked at all?

Answer. No, sir; the enemy's force had not got down to this position then. They were only within a few hundred yards. The firing was quite position.

Question. You say you were absent at one time during that morning, placing the One hundred and fifteenth Regiment. What time was that; after Colonel Miles' arrival, or before?

Answer. Colonel Miles sent me with that regiment. I think that was at 9 o'clock, or it may be a little after.


Page 704 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter XXXI.