HDQRS. NINTH REGIMENT NEW YORK STATE MILITIA,
Sandy Hook, near Harper’s Ferry, July 4, 1861.
SIR: In compliance with your order of to-day, I arrived here about 4.30 p.m. and found Major Atterbury with two companies retiring toward the village, having been engaged across the Potomac near the bridge with the rebels’ pickets, and at a great disadvantage, the rebels being under cover of bridge piers, trestle-work, and firing from the windows with rifles, while the arms in the hands of our men were the ordinary percussion muskets, which could not carry across the river with any precision. I have the honor of inclosing a copy of Major Atterbury’s report of the combat,* the result of which shows the necessity of changing the arms we have now in use for some long-reach arm.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. W. STILES,
Colonel Ninth New York State Militia.
Colonel STONE,
Commanding Rockville Expedition.
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. LI, Part I. With additions and corrections. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902.
Spirit of '61 