The report of Colonel Abner Perrin following the Gettysburg campaign describes the retreat as follows: "Went into line of battle at Hagerstown on the [11th], when my skirmishers were again engaged, and where we lost a few men killed and wounded. Among the former, Capt. John W. Chambers, of the First, a most gallant and worthy officer, who fell, at the head of his company." The Biddle Family Papers at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia contain a superb account by Alexander Biddle, who was a Major of the 121st Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg campaign. In a 16 July (1863) letter to his wife Julia, Biddle writes "... took up quarters in an orchard near a house the night after the rebels had crossed [the Potomac, on 14 July]. In this orchard was the grave of John W. Chambers, Captain of Co. L of the 1st SC Vols., supposed to be a rebel captain killed the day before the 13th by the skirmishers, as they reported one wounded."