SEPTEMBER 20TH.—While Jackson was doing his work, McClellan, who has been restored to command, marched at the head of 100,000 men to the rescue of Harper’s Ferry, but D. P. Hill, with his single division, kept him at bay for many hours, until Longstreet came to his assistance; and night fell upon the scene.
But Lee soon concentrated his weary columns at Sharpsburg, near Shepherdstown, and on the 17th inst. gave battle. We got the first news of this battle from a Northern paper—the Philadelphia Inquirer—which claimed a great victory, having killed and taken 40,000 of our men, made Jackson prisoner, and wounded Longstreet! But the truth is, we lost 5000 and the enemy 20,000. At the next dawn Lee opened fire again—but, lo! the enemy had fled!
SEPTEMBER 19TH.—And God has blessed us even more abundantly than we supposed. The rumor that our invincible Stonewall Jackson had been sent by Lee to Harper’s Ferry, and had taken it, is TRUE. Nearly 12,000 men surrendered there on the 15th inst., after the loss of two or three hundred on their side, and only three killed and a few wounded on ours. We got 90 guns, 15,000 stand of small arms, 18,000 fine horses, 200 wagons, and stores of various kinds, worth millions.
SEPTEMBER 18th.—To-day, in response to the President’s proclamation, we give thanks to Almighty God for the victories HE has blessed us with.
SEPTEMBER 17TH.—Everything seems to indicate the “breaking up” of the armies of our enemies, as if our prayers had been answered, and the hosts of Lincoln were really to be “brought to confusion.”
SEPTEMBER 16TH—Intelligence from Missouri states that the Union militia have rallied on the side of the South.
SEPTEMBER 15TH.—Our flag floats over the Capitol at Frankfort! And Gen. Marshall, lately the exile and fugitive, is en-camped with his men on his own farm, near Paris.
SEPTEMBER 14TH.—Our army has entered the City of Lexington, and the population hail our brave soldiers as deliverers. Three regiments were organized there in twenty-four hours, and thirty thousand recruits, it is thought, will flock to our standard in Kentucky.
SEPTEMBER 13TH—Buell has impressed 10,000 slaves, and is fortifying Nashville.
SEPTEMBER 12TH.—The ranks of the enemy are broken everywhere in the West. Buell is flying to Nashville as a city of refuge, but we have invincible columns interposed between him and his country.
SEPTEMBER 11TH —And Cincinnati is trembling to its center. That abolition city, half foreign and half American, is listening for the thunder of our avenging guns.
