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up the right country road. Meade carried the eminence on one side of that road; Patrick, supported by Doubleday and Phelps, the other. Ricketts's division pressed up the mountain about 5 P.M., arriving at the crest in time to participate in the engagement.

Thus Hooker carried the mountain sides on the right of the Gap, and Reno those on the left, notwithstanding the extreme steepness and difficulty.

About 4 P.M. Longstreet came up from Hagerstown with re-enforcements for Hill, and, outranking him, took command.

It remained now for the national forces to move up the main or central road. Late in the afternoon Burnside ordered Gibbon's brigade to advance along that road upon the Confederate central position. Though stubbornly resisted, it forced its way, pressing the enemy before it. After dark it was relieved by one of Sedgwick's brigades.

The Confederates, being now outflanked right and left, abandoned their position during the night, leaving also their dead. On the quiet valley-and it is one of the most beautiful valleys in Atlantic America-the morning sun once more shed his welcome beams. Seen from the heights which the national soldiers had won, the Catoc tin lay like a silver thread in the meadows. The turnpike was crowded with an advancing line of troops and artillery; the green fields in the distance were dotted with white army wagons.

Crampton's Gap, six miles to the south of Turner's Forcing of Cramp Gap, held by the Confederates under Howton's Gap. ell Cobb, was simultaneously carried by Franklin. He drove them from their position at the base of the mountain, where they were protected by a stone wall, steadily forced them back up the slope, and, after an action of three hours, gained the crest. The Confed

CHAP. LVIII.] JACKSON CAPTURES HARPER'S FERRY.

455

erates hastily fled down the mountain on the other side.

Object of Lee in these battles.

The national loss at Turner's Gap was 328 killed, 1463 wounded and missing. The loss at Crampton's Gap was 115 killed, and 418 wounded and missing. Lee had ventured on this resistance merely to gain time for the completion of his enter prise at Harper's Ferry; and though in the actual engagement the victory was with the national side, the suc cess of the whole operation was with the Confederates.

For Jackson appeared at Harper's Ferry on the mornHarper's Ferry cap- ing of the 13th, the post being in charge of tured by Jackson. Colonel Miles, who, though he had been ordered to fortify Maryland Heights, had neglected to do so. Those heights and Loudon Heights were speedily occupied by the Confederates, and Harper's Ferry was at their mercy. Miles had with him at this time about 14,000 men, of whom 2500 were cavalry; the latter cut their way through the enemy's lines on the night of the 14th. On the morning of the 15th Miles surrendered 11,583 men, 73 guns, 13,000 small-arms, 200 wagons, and large quantities of supplies. His object thus accomplished, Jackson did not delay to receive the surrender. He left that to Hill; and, hurrying across the pontoon bridge into Maryland, marched without stopping until he joined Lee in time to assist him at the battle of Antietam, which was fought on the 17th of September. McClellan had pushed forward his right wing and centre in pursuit of the Confederates, and had found them on the 15th, along the western bank of Antietam Creek, a sluggish stream entering the Potomac eight miles above Harper's Ferry. The creek was on their front, the Potomac on their rear, behind them and near the midst of their line the little town of

He hastens to Antietam.

Lee's army at Antietam.

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Sharpsburg. It is about a mile from the creek. A road leads from it to the Shepherdstown ford of the Potomac.

At this moment Lee's army was divided. A part of his force, under Jackson, McLaws, and Walker, was operating at Harper's Ferry. The post surrendered, however, on the morning of that day, and Jackson, as we have seen, with all speed hastened his march to Sharpsburg. It had become clear that the detaching of Maryland from the Union, and the projected invasion of Pennsylvania, were destined to failure. Forced out of the passes of South Mountain, Lee's hope of escaping the consequences of dividing his army rested on one thing only-the dilatoriness of his antagonist. But he remembered the Peninsula, and took courage.

to fight.

Lee was constrained, not by military, but by political He is constrained reasons, to fight the battle of Antietam. The South would never be satisfied with the barren laurels acquired from Pope; nor was it possible to give up the expedition to the North without a struggle. And yet he did not do well in fighting a merely defensive battle, especially in fighting with a river at his back. On the 16th McClellan's army had for the most part arrived, and the day was spent in preparation for confronting the enemy. Hooker's and Sumner's corps were placed on the right, Porter's in the centre, Burnside's on the left.

Position of the national troops.

Position of the Confederate troops.

On the Confederate side, Longstreet was on the right, with his right flank resting on a curve of the Antietam; D. H. Hill was on the left; but one of Longstreet's divisions (Hood's) was on the left of that. In a general manner, their line stood north and south; but the last-named division made an angle with the rest, and, facing northward, stood across the Hagerstown Road. Upon the west side of that road, half a

CHAP. LVIII.]

tietam.

TOPOGRAPHY OF ANTIETAM.

457

Topography of An- mile or thereabout from the rear of the Confederate left was a meeting-house known as the Dunker Church. It was enveloped in a skirt of woods, which, extending in a rudely circular form northward, inclosed a cultivated area, across which, like a diameter, the Hagerstown Road passed. In the woods, near the church, were ledges of limestone, affording an excellent breastwork-a rocky citadel. The middle part of the area was a corn-field; its eastern side had been recently plowed. This area, encircled by woods, was the focus of the battle of Antietam.

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LONGSTREET

CONFEDERATE LINE SEPTEMBER 16.P.M.

CONFEDERATE

LINE

SEPI P.M.

SHARPSBURG

SHEPHERDSTOWN
ROAD

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BURNSIDE

BRIDGE

PORTER

NATIONAL LINE SEPTEMBER

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.

plan for the impending engagement was to attack the enemy's left with the corps of Hooker and Mansfield, supported by Sumner's, and, if necessary, by Franklin's; and as soon as matters looked favorably there, to move the corps of Burnside against the enemy's extreme right, upon the ridge running to the south and rear of Sharpsburg, and, having carried that position, to press along the crest toward their left, and, whenever either of these flank movements should be successful, to advance his centre with all the forces then disposable.

On the afternoon of the 16th Hooker accordingly cross

Approach of the na

ed the Antietam, and, advancing southwesttional right wing. wardly, came to the eastern edge of what has been described as the battle-area. He lay there in the woods that night, for the Confederates had sent two brigades across from the Dunker Church, and they were just in front of him. Mansfield's corps had followed Hooker, and lay a little in his rear. Sumner was ready to follow them at daybreak. On the Confederate side, during the night, Hood's division had been relieved by a part of Jackson's corps.

The battle of
Antietam.

As soon as he could see, Hooker made so furious an attack, supported by batteries on the east side of the Antietam, that Jackson's brigades could not retain their hold, but were expelled with severe loss across the corn-field of the battle-area, over the Hagerstown Road, and into the woods beyond the Dunker Church, in which were their reserves. These, issuing forth, after an infuriated struggle, succeeded in checking Hooker's advance. The antagonists, fighting in a cloud of sulphury smoke, almost exterminated each other. Jackson says: "The carnage on both sides was terrific-more than half the brigades of Lawton and Hays were either killed or wounded, and more than a third of Trimble's; all their regimental commanders, except two, were either killed or wounded." It was necessary to withdraw the wreck of regiments to the rear, and replace it by Hood's division. On the other side, Hooker's corps was nearly destroyed.

Charges of the national right and Confederate left.

Mansfield's corps had now (73 A.M.) reached the field, and had made its way down to the Hagerstown Road, where it was met by the division of D. H. Hill, which had come out of the woods at the Dunker Church. Another furious encounter ensued: the valley was filled with smoke. Out of the battle-din-the yells of the Confederate, the cheers of the national troops-down in the

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