Sturgis and Willcox,
supported by Rodman, again pushed forward, but whilst they made
progress they were baffled by a stubborn and concentrated
resistance.
Reno had followed Rodman's division up the mountain, and came to me
a little before sunset, anxious to know why the right could not get
forward quite to the summit. I explained that the ground there was
very rough and rocky, a fortress in itself and evidently very
strongly held. He passed on to Sturgis, and it seemed to me he was
hardly gone before he was brought back upon a stretcher, dead. He
had gone to the skirmish line to examine for himself the situation,
and had been shot down by the enemy posted among the rocks and
trees. There was more or less firing on that part of the field till
late in the evening, but when morning dawned the Confederates had
abandoned the last foothold above Turner's Gap and retreated by way
of Boonsboro to Sharpsburg. The casualties in the Ninth Corps had
been 889, of which 356 were in the Kanawha division. Some 600 of the
enemy were captured by my division and sent to the rear under guard.
On the north of the National road the First Corps under Hooker had
been opposed by one of Hill's brigades and four of Longstreet's, and
had gradually worked its way along the old Hagerstown road, crowning
the heights in that direction after dark in the evening.
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