chester, and Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews' artillery battalion operated with effect in driving back the enemy's advance on the Front Royal road.
In the attack upon the enemy's fortifications next day, resulting in his hasty retreat and the capture of his guns and stores, most valuable service was rendered by the artillery under the immediate command of Lieutenant-Colonel Jones, and the general charge of the acting chief of artillery for the corps, Colonel J. T. Brown. The works and their armament were alike formidable, and that they were thus rendered untenable by the enemy evinces at once the skill with which our batteries were disposed and the resolution with which they were served. The death of Captain Thompson, of the "Louisiana Guard Artillery," a most gallant and esteemed officer, was part of the price of this victory.
Retreating towards Charlestown, the enemy, near Jordan's Springs, on the morning of the 15th, encountered, with Johnson's division which had marched to intercept him, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews' artillery battalion. The sharp action ensuing, which resulted in the rout of the enemy and capture of most of his men, was especially remarkable for the unexampled steadiness with which artillery fought infantry skirmishers at close quarters. Lieutenant Contee, who commanded a section in a contest of this kind, distinguished himself by cool and persistent daring; and several non-commissioned officers are mentioned by their commanders as evincing like gallantry. Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews and Lieutenant Contee were in this affair painfully, though not very dangerously wounded.
While these events were transpiring at and near Winchester, General Rodes' division, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Carter's artillery battalion, having marched by Berryville, approached Martinsburg, where was an additional force of the enemy. Under the well-directed fire of Colonel Carter's batteries that force speedily abandoned the town, leaving, in addition to twenty-three captured in Winchester, five superior field-guns. In these several engagements our batteries lost six men killed and fifteen wounded.
The Second corps, in its subsequent advance across the Potomac into Maryland and Pennsylvania, was attended by its five battalions: Lieutenant-Colonel Carter's, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews', Lieutenant-Colonel Jones', Colonel Brown's, and Lieutenant-Colonel Nelson's—the three former marching with Rodes', Johnson's, and Early's divisions, the two latter constituting a corps reserve.
Simultaneously with these movements of the Second corps, the First and Third were put in motion, each accompanied by its own artillery force. The First corps, Lieutenant-General Longstreet commanding, left Culpeper June 15th, attended by Major Henry's, Colonel Cabell's, Major Dearing's, Colonel Alexander's, and Major Eshleman's artillery battalions—the three former marching with Hood's, McLaws', and Pickett's divisions, and the two latter constituting a corps reserve. As the route of this corps lay along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, to guard the several passes of that barrier against incursions of the enemy, its artillery was subjected to serious trial from roads frequently difficult and generally rough, and marches, under extreme heat, more than usually long. Additional labor was also imposed on some of the battalions by the necessity of meeting certain demonstrations of the enemy. Actual contest, beyond cavalry skirmishing, he declined.
The Third corps, on the 15th June, left Fredericksburg en route for Culpeper and the Shennandoah Valley, via Front Royal, accompanied by its artillery battalions, viz.: Lieut.-Colonel Garnett's, Major Poague's, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cutt's, attending the divisions of Generals Heth, Pender, and Anderson, and Majors McIntosh's and Pegram's battalions as a corps reserve.
In this advance, general headquarters being with the First corps, my own were thereby also chiefly regulated. On June 16th, after a week at Culpeper of such artillery preparation and supervision as were requisite and practicable,
