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266 Series I Volume XLIII-I Serial 90 - Shenandoah Valley Campaign Part I

Page 266 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter LV.

ing for a report of the part taken by the Sixty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers in the late engagements at the Opequon and Fisher's Hill, I have the honor to submit the following:

The regiment broke camp about 2 a. m. September 19, 1864, near Berryville, Va., and taking up the line of march, left in front, in the column of the brigade, about an hour later, moved in the direction of Winchester, Va. After a steady march of about three hours it reached the Opequon Creek, which was crossed as rapidly as possible. A short delay ensued at this point, when the regiment again moved forward, and after marching about one mile and a half, formed line of battle on the right of the brigade in the first line, and threw out fifty men, in charge of Acting Lieutenant Clarke, as skirmishers. There were no troops at this time on the right of the regiment. Brisk skirmishing began as soon as the line was formed, and the skirmish line advanced about 500 yards, driving the enemy before it. About 10 a. m. the Nineteenth Army Corps came up and formed line of battle on the right some 300 or 400 yards in the rear. Nearly an hour elapsed before the skirmish line of that cops connected with the skirmishers in front of the regiment. Between 11 and 12 m. the line, guiding left, charged and drove the enemy about a mile, when it was discovered that the Nineteenth Army Corps no longer connected with the regiment on the right, but had separated from it, leaving an interval of about 500 yards, and that the enemy were taking advantage of the break in our line. The troops on the left of the Nineteenth Army Corps had already been flanked and were giving way in confusion. The regiment continued to advance, however, until the whole brigade began to fall back, when the order to march in retreat was given. I may mention that at the time the line began to fall back the regiment was within a few hundred yards of a battery of the enemy, which they were endeavoring to draw away by hand, a part of which, at least, would undoubtedly have been captured had it not been for the break in the line mentioned above. When the regiment attempted to fall back it was found impossible to do so in any other way than to the left, along the line, as the enemy had an enfilading fire on the line and were almost in its rear. The regiment fell back to the winchester and Berryville turnpike, where it was rallied, and again advanced to within easy range of the enemy's line where it was halted over on hour. About 4 or 5 p. m. skirmishers were again thrown forward and another advance was made. With the exception of a brief halt on the edge of the plain near Winchester, the regiment advanced steadily with the line from the point last mentioned until it reached the heights at Winchester; it then rested for a short time, when it moved by the flank through the town of Winchester and bivouacked for the night about two miles south of that places. During this engagement the regiment lost 9 killed, 28 wounded, and 4 missing.

On the 20th instant the regiment again resumed the march in the column of the brigade and reached Strasburg the same day. About 1 p. m. on the 21st instant, the regiment again took up the line of march and moved toward the left of the enemy's lines at Fisher's Hill. Owing to the resistance made by the enemy it did not reach the point where it halted during the night until between 9 and 10 p. m. A portion of the night and of the morning following were consumed in erecting breast-works. On the morning of the 22nd instant, about 11 o'clock, the regiment formed line of battle, with the One hundred and tenth Ohio Volunteers ont he right and the One hundred and thirty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers on the left, and advanced to and occupied a hill within a few hundred yards of the enemy's line of works. It


Page 266 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter LV.