Diary of Private William S. White, September 15, 1862

In some way McClellan succeeded in getting his hands upon one of General Lee's orders, which gave him a pretty correct idea of the disposition of our forces, and thinking he could throw a heavy force upon D. H. Hill, at Boonsboro', cut our army in two and get to Harper's Ferry in time to save the Federal forces stationed there and now penned up by Jackson, he made a heavy attack upon Hill. Hill made a desperate resistance with his gallant troops, but it remains to be seen whether or not he held out long enough.

Certain it is that Hill has had to fight against very heavy odds, and has lost many men.

The Yankees having pushed us so closely at Boonsboro' it becomes necessary for us to gather up our forces before we can offer McClellan battle. The larger portion of our troops moved last night, and this morning, towards Sharpsburg, whilst my artillery command moved on to Williamsport, on the Potomac, to guard the ford—had neither infantry nor cavalry support, and we were smartly excited on getting within a few miles of that place to find the Yankees had possession of it and had destroyed a good many of our ordnance wagons. It seems that a body of Yankee cavalry had escaped from Harper's Ferry, and from the clutches of the rapacious Jackson, and had made their way to Williamsport. Crossing the Potomac at that place they came upon our ordnance train, which being unprotected was completely at their mercy. Our artillery regiment was also unprotected, and had the Yankees been aware of it, we could have been easily captured; but war is a game of chance and I presume they concluded that they had accomplished enough for one day escaped from Jackson at Harper's Ferry and captured a Confederate ordnance train. They beat a hasty retreat, and we entered Williamsport without opposition, crossing the Potomac and bringing our guns "into battery" once more upon Virginia soil. So far, our march into Maryland has resulted in but little good to our cause, and has lasted but a single week. There is no doubt of this fact (and 'tis useless to attempt to conceal it) the people, or at least the larger portion of them, are against the South, and that, too, most bitterly.

Confederate money, in most places, was not current, and as we had nothing else, we made but few purchases.

We remained on the Potomac until dark, then marched six or seven miles and camped for the night.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, pp. 131-2