The regiment was commnaded by Colonel Montgomery D. Corse and lost 13 men. Colonel Corse was again wounded, but remained in the field.
From the War Department marker for Kemper’s Brigade on the Antietam Battlefield:
Kemper’s Brigade reached Sharpsburg about noon September 15th and took position on Cemetery Hill. In the afternoon the Brigade moved to the ravine about 520 yards northwest of this. At noon of the 17th, the 7th and 24th Regiments were sent down the Harpers Ferry Road about 520 and 850 yards respectively, to guard the right flank. Upon the approach of the 9th Corps, about 3 P.M. the 1st, 11th and 17th Regiments advanced to the high ground in their front and met the charge of Fairchild’s Brigade; they were driven from their position and retreated through the town. They reformed with Garnett’s and Drayton’s Brigades in the Harpers Ferry Road just south of the town and, co-operated with Toombs’ Brigade, and A.P. Hill’s Division, checked the further advance of the enemy and reoccupied the ground from which they had been driven, where, joined by the 7th and 24th, they remained until the morning of the 19th, when the Brigade recrossed the Potomac.
From Colonel Corse’s Official Report on the 17th Virginia at South Mountain:
My regiment was placed in line of battle about 4 p. m., in a field to the right of the road leading to the summit of the mountain and to the left of Crampton’s Gap. In the act of taking that position the regiment was subjected to a very fierce shelling from a battery of the enemy about 600 or 800 yards on our right, which enfiladed our line. Fortunately however, we suffered very little loss from that, having but 2 men slightly wounded. I moved the regiment forward about 100 yards, by your orders, toward a woods in our front, and ordered Lieutenant [F. W.] Lehew, with his company, to deploy forward as skirmishers into the woods and to engage the enemy, which were supposed to be there. Very soon I heard shots from our skirmishers. Your aide, Captain Beckham, at this time delivered me an order to move my regiment by the left flank and to connect my line with the Eleventh, occupying a corn-field, which order was obeyed, when Colonel [William D.] Stuart’s regiment (Fifty-sixth Virginia), of Pickett’s brigade, joined my right. Immediately the brigade on our right became hotly engaged. We reserved our fire, no enemy appearing in our front. After the fire had continued about fifteen minutes, Colonel Stuart reported to me that the troops on his right had fallen back. I observed that they had abandoned the left of the Eleventh. I communicated my intention to Colonel Stuart and Major Clement, of the Eleventh, to fall back about 10 or 15 steps behind a fence, which was simultaneously done by the three regiments in good order. We held this position until long after dark, under a severe fire of musketry obliquely on our right flank and in front, until nearly every cartridge was exhausted.
Shortly after the enemy had ceased firing (about 7.30 p. m.), I received your order to withdraw my regiment, which was done in good order, and halted to rest on the Boonsborough and Fredericktown road, with the other regiments of your brigade.
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