Lieutenant Edmund DeWitt Patterson of the 9th Alabama Infantry had fought at Marye’s Heights and Salem Church during the Chancellorsville campaign. He marched north in June as part of the Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Lieutenant General A. P. Hill. The advance forces of Lee’s army defeated the Union garrison at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley on June 15 and crossed into Pennsylvania on June 22.
Near Boonesboro, Md. Wednesday the 24th. This morning bright and early we crossed the Potomac at Mill Ford one mile below Shepherdtown. The water from three to four feet deep. It was a little cool but we were all in such fine spirits that we didn’t mind it. We came up on the hill near Sharpesburg and halted for an hour or two; while there General Wright and staff rode into town and all came near being captured. All escaped but the General’s son, who could not ride fast on account of the loss of a leg which he parted with at Manassas. The squad who made the charge escaped before our infantry could reach them. Passed through Sharpesburg which is a hard looking dilapidated old town, and which still shows the marks of the battle fought there. The battle of Sharpsburg, or Antietam as the Yankees have it, will long be remembered. We have had an easy march today, and are now camping in a pretty meadow, in a valley three miles from Boonesboro.
Hagerstown, Md. Thurs. 25th. Passed through Boonesboro this morning just as the sun was rising bright and glorious over the South Mountain. Everything on the road looks strange to us coming as we do from the desolate fields of Virginia. Here we see houses, barns filled with grain, fine stock etc. Today we met a fine large drove of beef cattle going to the rear. Some of the boys who have fully realized the effects of the war at their own houses are fairly itching to retaliate, but Gen’l. Lee’s order issued the morning we crossed into Md. is too strict. The majority of the people seem to be “loyal” tho we find quite a number who are with us heart and soul, though not bodily. Fungston seems to contain quite a number of families who are Southern sympathizers. We reached this place at one o’clock this evening, and quite a number of the boys have been in the city. I preferred to remain in camp.
Two miles from Green Castle, Penn. Friday the 26th of June. This morning Capt. Harry Lee, Jim Crow and I left camps about daylight and came into the city of Hagerstown. Had an old fashioned time. Patronized the barber shop, hotel, and saloon, and as it bade fair to rain all day we laid in a supply of the “needful.” About 8 o’clock our command passed through Middlebury. Crossed the Pennsylvania and Maryland line at 11 o’clock precisely. Jim Crow, Van Whitehead and I persuaded an old gentleman to show us exactly where the line ran and then standing with one foot in Maryland and the other in Pennsylvania, we finished the contents of a canteen, drinking some pretty heavy toasts. Green Castle seems to be a pretty little town but intensely “loyal.” It would probably be more so, if it had passed through what many of the towns in the South have, tried with fire. Gen’l. A. P. Hill passed us on the march looking ready for a fight.
Saturday the 27th. On the march again. Passed through Marion and Chambersburg. While passing through the latter place Gen’l. Lee rode up the column speaking kindly to acquaintances and passed on. The boys never cheer him, but pull off their hats and worship. The females of Chambersburg seem to be very spiteful, make faces, sing “Rally round the flag,” wave their little banners etc. I think if they had a hole burned out in their town about the size and extent of that which the Yankees burned in Florence or Athens, Alabama, these patriotic females would not be quite so saucy. A widow in the place discovered the knapsack of her deceased husband in the command, she wished it and the soldier gave it to her. He had picked it up on the battlefield of “Gaine’s Mills,” where we fought the “squirrel tail rifles.” I suppose that her husband has gone to that home from whence etc., such is war. We reached this place, Fayetteville, a little before sun down, and Jim and I went out and took supper with a good old Pennsylvania farmer; plenty of everything, especially apple butter, the first I have tasted since I left Ohio.
Fayetteville, Sunday Evening, 28th. I have been down town nearly all day sauntering about up and down the streets. No preaching either in camps or in town. Some of the boys have been “capturing” chickens. It is against positive orders, but I would not punish one of them, for as Joe McMurray says, it’s not half as bad as they did, to his mother and sisters in Alabama, for they not only took such things, but took the rings from his sisters’ fingers, and earrings from their ears, besides cursing and abusing them. It is well that Joe isn’t General in Chief for he would try what virtue there is in fire, as well as the sword.
Tues. 30th. Still at Fayetteville, but there is something on the tapis, for yesterday Heath’s and Pender’s divisions left, and have gone in the direction of Gettysburg. I took dinner yesterday at the hotel, and at night Jim Crow, Dick Hobbs and I went out about two miles into the country to get supper, and had a most magnificent time. The young lady was Union but called herself a “copperhead.” I would not mind being bitten by her a few times. On our way back as we were coming through the town we serenaded the citizens with “The Bonnie Blue Flag,” “The Sunny South Forever,” etc. Don’t think it was appreciated though. Hood’s and McLaws’ divisions passed through town late this evening. Met several of my old friends in the 4th Alabama. Also saw Cousin Frank. Had but little time to talk to him. Was on brigade guard today, and kept things straight around the hotel, took dinner there, and so won the heart of the old landlord that he filled my canteen with cherry brandy. I pronounce him a “gentleman and scholar and a judge of the article.”