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[ South Mountain ]
HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, KANAWHA DIVISION,
Mouth of Antietam Creek, Md., September 20, 1862.
R. P. KENNEDY,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Kanawha Division.
CAPTAIN: I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by the Second Brigade, Kanawha Division, in the battle of South Mountain, on the 14th instant:
This brigade, consisting of the Eleventh, Twenty-eighth, and Thirty-sixth Regiments Ohio Volunteers, arrived on the south slope the mountain just after the First Brigade of the same division had dispossessed the enemy of it, when I was informed the enemy were trying to flank us on the left. I at once detached the Eleventh Regiment in that direction as skirmishers, forming the Twenty-eighth and Thirty-sixth Regiments in rear of the First Brigade as reserve. I was then ordered by the general commanding to send the Thirty-sixth Regiment to the right of the First Brigade, to help drive the enemy by a charge from the crest of the hills, which was done, the regiment making a gallant charge; this regiment again fell to the rear as reserves. The Twenty-eighth Regiment was sent to the right and front, participating in the charge of the division in the evening, the Eleventh Regiment being detached from my command at the second charge, and did not join me until after the battle. All under my command, so far as I know, behaved nobly.
The following is a list of the killed, wounded, and missing of the brigade: Eleventh Regiment-7 killed, 34 wounded, 3 missing; Twenty-eight Regiment-3 killed, 12 wounded; Thirty-sixth Regiment-7 killed, 18 wounded.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEORGE CROOK,
Colonel, Commanding Second Brigade, Kanawha Division.
[ Antietam ]
HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, KANAWHA DIVISION,
Mouth of Antietam Creek, Md., September 20, 1862.
Lieutenant KENNEDY,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Kanawha Division.
CAPTAIN: I have the honor the report that on the morning of the 17th instant I received orders from the general commanding corps to cross the bridge over Antietam Creek after General Sturgis had taken the bridge; but upon my arrival in the vicinity of the bridge I found that General Sturgis' command had not arrived; so I sent the Eleventh Regiment ahead as skirmishers in the direction of the bridge, and conducted the Twenty-eighth Regiment above the bridge to reconnoiter the enemy's position, leaving the Thirty-sixth Regiment as reserve. After a labor of two hours, I succeeded in establishing two pieces of Simmonds' battery in a position to command the bridge and getting five companies of the Twenty-eighth across the stream. I then intended taking the bridge with the Thirty-sixth Regiment, but soon after my battery opened on the bridge General Sturgis' command crossed the bridge. The brigade also participated in the charge on the enemy.
I regret to have to report the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Clarke, of the Thirty-sixth Regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel Coleman, of the Eleventh. These gallant officers fell while gallantly leading their men.
The following is a list of the killed, wounded, and missing during the engagement, viz: Eleventh Regiment-4 killed, 12 wounded, and 5 missing; Twenty-eighth Regiment-1 killed, and 19 wounded; Thirty sixth Regiment-3 killed and 21 wounded. Total, killed, 8; wounded 52, and missing, 5.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient, servant,
GEORGE CROOK,
Colonel, Commanding Second Brigade, Kanawha Division.
Source: OFFICIAL RECORDS: Series 1, Vol 19, Part 1 (Antietam - Serial 27) , Pages 471 - 472