ne. He was a thorough
disciplinarian, an able tactician, and the interests and welfare of his
men were constantly upon his heart.

My diary records the fact that I saw Captain Willard, of the Fourteenth
Connecticut, fall as we passed their line on our way to the rear; that
he appeared to have been hit by a grape-shot or piece of shell. I did
not know him, only heard that he was a brother of E. N. Willard, of
Scranton. The Fourteenth Connecticut men said he was a fine man and
splendid officer.

Among the wounded--reported mortally--was Sergeant Martin Hower, of
Company K, one of our very best non-commissioned officers. I saw him at
the hospital, and it was very hard to be able to do nothing for him. It
seemed our loss must reach upward of two hundred killed, wounded and
missing. Out of seven hundred and ninety-eight who answered to roll-call
in the morning, we had with us less than three hundred at the close of
the fight. Our actual loss was: Killed--Officers, two (Colonel Oakford
and Lieutenant Cranmer); men, twenty-eight; total, thirty.
Wounded--Officers, four; men, one hundred and ten; total, one hundred
and forty-four. To this should be added at least thirty of the men who
died of their wounds within the next few days, which would make our
death loss in this battle upward of sixty. Of the missing, many of them
were of those who joined the Irish brigade in their charge, and who did
not find us again for a day or so. It may seem strange that a man should
not be able to find his regiment for so long a time, when really it is
so close at hand. But when one remembers that our army of about
seventy-five thousand men had upward of two hundred regiments massed
within say two square miles, and that they were constantly changing
position, it will be seen that looking for any one regiment is almost
like looking for a needle in a hay-mow.

CHAPTER VI

THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM--CONTINUED

During the afternoon of this day we were again moved further to the
right and placed as supports of a battery. We were posted about two
hundred yards directly in front of the guns on low ground. The battery
was evidently engaged in another artillery duel. We were in a
comparatively safe position, so long as the rebel guns directed their
firing at our battery; but after a time they began "feeling for the
supports," first dropping their shells beyond our guns, then in front of
them, until they finally got a pretty good range on our lin