reached and passed through Strausburg on the 13th.  In the afternoon of this day, while we were on the march, but at the time laying by the side of the turn-pike, the enemy tried to capture some of our artillery.  We had heard firing all day in our front, but thought this the effects of the enemy’s sullen withdrawal.  While resting by the road side, the enemy made a spirited attack upon the troops in front.  We were hurriedly rushed forward, put in line of battle, advanced through an uneven piece of ground, and met the enemy posted behind a hill in front.  They opened upon us at close range, killing and wounding quite a number, but as soon as our brigade made the first fire, they fled to a brick wall, running at an angle from the turn-pike.  General Connor fell at the first fire, badly wounded in the knee, from the effects of which he lost his leg, and never returned, only to bid his brigade farewell in the pine regions of North Carolina.  Colonel Rutherford being next in command, advanced the troops to the top of the hill and halted.  In going out in front to reconnoitre in the direction of the stone wall, a party of the enemy, who had concealed themselves behind it, rose and fired, mortally wounding the gallant and much beloved Colonel.  A charge was made, and the enemy fled to a thicket of pine timber and made their escape.  This was a bloody little battle for the brigade, and some of its loss was irreparable.  We halted after driving the enemy away, and at night withdrew to Fisher’s Hill and camped for the night.  Fisher’s Hill is a kind of bluff reaching out from the Massanutten Mountain on our right; at its base ran Cedar Creek.  It is a place of great natural strength.  In the presence of some of his friends Colonel Rutherford passed away that night, at one o’clock, and his remains were carried to his home by Captain Jno.  K. Nance.  General Connor had his leg amputated.  The brigade was without a field officer of higher grade than Major, and such officer being too inexperienced in the handling of so large a number of men, Major James Goggans, of the division staff, was ordered to its command.  While some staff officers may be as competent to handle troops in the field as the commanders themselves, still in our case it was a lamentable failure.  Major Goggans was a good staff officer, a graduate of West Point, but he was too old and inexperienced to command troops of such vigor and enthusiasm as the South Carolinians who composed Kershaw’s Brigade.

We remained a short time on Fisher’s Hill, throwing up some slight fortifications.  Kershaw’s Brigade was encamped in a piece of woods on the left of the turn-pike as you go north.

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COLONEL WILLIAM DRAYTON RUTHERFORD.