Dead and wounded men are lying in Poffenberger's door-yard. The ground is stained with blood. Two noble white horses are there, one with his head smashed, the other with his neck torn, - both killed by the same shot. There are dead men in the turnpike. Gibbons's brigade is behind the stone wall. The toll-house is riddled with bullets. There are flattened pieces of lead among the stones. The trees are scarred. There are fragments of shells. The ground is strown with knapsacks, guns, belts, canteens, and articles dropped in the fight. "I guess you are about near enough. This is the front line," says a soldier. I think so, too, for the bullets are singing over our heads and past us. I go up through the woods, south of Poffenberger's, to Miller's cornfield. The contest has lost some of its fury. The Rebels have been repulsed, and both sides are taking breath. Mansfield's corps is in the woods, east of Miller's. Sedgwick's division is in the cornfield, behind the batteries of Cothran, Woodruff, Mathews, and Thompson. The batteries are pouring a constant stream of shells into the woods beyond the church. The Union loss has been very heavy, Hooker, Sedgwick, Dana, Hartsuff, wounded, and Mansfield killed. Meade commands Hooker's corps; and Howard, with his one arm, commands Sedgwick's division. He lost his right arm at Fair Oaks, but he is in the saddle again. The Rebel dead are thick around the church, and in the field in front of it, and along the turnpike, mingled with those who have fallen from the Union ranks. Five times the tide of battle has swept over the ground during the morning. The officers point out the exact spot where they stood. They tell what happened. "We stood out there, in the centre of the field," says an officer of the Tenth Maine. "We came up just as Ricketts was giving way. The Rebels were outflanking him, and his troops were streaming through the cornfield. The Rebels were pushing north towards Miller's. Our line of march was towards the west, which brought us partly in rear of their line. Those dead men that you see out there belonged to the Twentieth Georgia. They were on the right of the Rebel line. We gave them a volley right into their backs. They didn't know what to make of it at first. They looked round, saw that we were in their rear, then they cut for the woods. It forced back the whole Rebel line. Just then Corporal Viele, of Company K, of our regiment, and a corporal of the Second Massachusetts, dashed after them, and captured the colonel of the Twentieth Georgia, and a lieutenant." And Lieutenant-Colonel Dwight, of the Second Massachusetts, captured a battle-flag," says a soldier of that regiment, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. "He brought it in under a shower of bullets, waving it over his head. He got clear back to the lines, and then was wounded, they say mortally." THE CENTRE. There was a lull in the battle after the terrible fight around the church. General French's division, of Sumner's corps, followed Sedgwick across the Antietam. The division, after crossing the stream, turned to the left, marching through the fields towards the house of Mr. Muma. Richardson, as soon as he crossed the bridge, filed to the left, moved along the bank of the river, crossed a little brook which springs from the hillside near Rulet's, encountered Hill's skirmishers, drove them up the ravine, and formed his line under cover of a hill. French is in the ravine. Half of his division is north of the brook, the other half south. He has Weber's, Kimball's, and Morris's brigades. He forms his brigades, as Sedgwick did his, in three lines, Weber in front, Morris in the second, and Kimball in the third line. Morris's men have never been under fire. They are new troops. They have heard the roar of battle through the morning, and now, as they advance across the fields, the Rebel batteries on the hills all around Rulet's house open upon them, gun after gun, battery after battery. The hillside grows white. A silver cloud floats down the ravine. They are so near that it infolds them. There are flashes, jets of smoke, iron bolts in the air above, also tearing up the ground or cutting through the ranks; they feel the breath of the shot, the puff of air in their faces, and hear the terrifying shriek. A comrade leaps into the air, spins round, or falls like a log to the ground. They behold a torn and mangled body. They saw not the shot which wounded him. It is a terrible experience, yet they bear the trial firmly. They drop upon the ground while the lines are forming, and the shells do them little damage. Hill has his front line in the ravine by Muma's. The Rebel soldiers have an excellent opportunity to fill their canteens from the cool water bubbling up from his spring-house. The sharpshooters are in Muma's chambers, firing from the windows at French's troops as they advance over the field east of the house. There is a graveyard east of the house, and the skirmishers lie behind the graves, their muskets resting upon the white headstones. French's division joins Sedgwick's; it faces south-west, while Richardson's faces west. French arrives while Sedgwick is having the great struggle in front of the church. Kirby's, Bartlett's, and Owen's batteries of Sedgwick's division are on the hillside east of Miller's field, raking the Rebel lines. The Rebels occupying Muma's house and barn annoy Sumner's artillerymen, who in turn aim their guns at the buildings. A shell bursts in the barn and sets it on fire. A black cloud rises. The flames burst forth. The Rebels, finding the place too hot for them, apply the torch to the house, and retreat to Rulet's orchard. The dark pillar of cloud, the bright flames beneath, the constant flashing of the artillery, and the hillsides alive with thousands of troops, their banners waving, their bayonets gleaming, are a scene of terrible grandeur. Weber's brigade advances steadily, throwing down the fences, scaling the stone-walls, preserving a regular line. Not so with Morris's, which are thrown into confusion. The time has come to strike a great blow. "Tell General Kimball to move to the front, and come in on the left of Weber," was French's order to General Kimball. The brigade swings towards the south, past Morris's brigade, enters the ravine, and pushes on towards Rulet's. |