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THE BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN, OR BOONS BORO’.
shows what he would have done had he been in command of the Federalarmy. But the American soldier preferred to do sure work rather thanbrilliant work, his natural caution being increased by the carping criticismsof his enemies.
Upon the fall of Garland, Colonel McRae, of the 5th North Carolina regi-ment, assumed command, and ordered the two regiments on the left to closein to the right. This order either was not received or it was found to be impos-sible of execution. The main attack was on the 23d North Carolina behind thestone-wall. The Federals had a plunging fire upon this regiment from the crestof a hill, higher than the wall, and only about fifty yards from it. The 12thNorth Carolina , a badly trained regiment, on that day under the command ofa young captain, deserted the field. \ The 12th Ohio, actuated by a differentimpulse, made a charge upon Bondurant’s battery and drove it off, failing, how-ever, to capture it. The 30th Ohio advanced directly upon the stone-wall intheir front, while a regiment moved upon the 23d North Carolina on each flank.Some of the 30th Ohio forced through a break in the wall, and bayonets andclubbed muskets were used freely for a few moments. Garland’s brigade,demoralized by his death and by the furious assault on its center, now brokein confusion and retreated behind the mountain, leaving some two hundredprisoners of the 5th, 23d, and 20th North Carolina in the hands of the enemy.The brigade was too roughly handled to be of any further use that day. Rosserretired in better order, not, however, without having some of his men capt-ured, and took up a position from which he could still fire upon the old road,and which he held until 10 o’clock that night.
General Cox, having beaten the force in his front, now showed a dispositionto carry out General Pleasonton’s instructions, and advance to the MountainHouse by the road running south from it on the summit of the mountain.There was nothing to oppose him. My other three brigades had not come up ;Colquitt’s could not be taken from the pike except in the last extremity. Sotwo guns were run down from the Mountain House and opened a brisk fireon the advancing foe. A line of dismounted staff-officers, couriers, teamsters,and cooks was formed behind the guns to give the appearance of batterysupports. I do not remember ever to have experienced a feeling of greaterloneliness. It seemed as though we were deserted by “ all the world and therest of mankind.” Some of the advancing Federals encountered Colquitt’sskirmishers under Captain Arnold, and fell back to their former positions.
General Cox seems not to have suspected that the defeat of Garland hadcleared his front of every foe. He says in his report: “ The enemy withdrew
\ Mr. R. V. Minor, of Oxford, North Carolina ,a member of the 12th North Carolina regiment,writes to the editors that on the morning of the14th of September his regiment numbered seventy-two men, and that they advanced along the mount-ain crest until they were in the midst of enemies.The commander, an inexperienced captain, thengave the order to “ fire and fall back.” The orderwas obeyed, but the fire was returned so promptly,at close range, that the withdrawal was attended
■with confusion. However, ‘ ‘ thirty or forty ’’mem-bers of the 12th regiment halted on the line ofthe 13th North Carolina , of their own (Garland’s)brigade. Lieutenant-Colonel T. Ruffin, Jr., com-mander of the 13th regiment, says in his report:“ I feel it to be just that I should acknowledge thefact that we were joined by a small party of the12th North Carolina regiment early in the morn-ing, who continued with us throughout the dayand rendered us very efficient aid.”