1862.]

HOOKER WOUNDED-SEDGWICK.

321

possible to dislodge the enemy from their strong posi-
tions in the woods, while their fire was telling fearfully
on the exposed Union line.

About nine o'clock, Hooker was wounded and carried
from the field. Sumner, who had been ordered forward
to support the attack on the right, arrived about the
same time, and assumed command on that scene of ac-
tion. Thus far, the fighting had been on the Union
right and the Confederate left. Four corps of the Union
army had been spectators of a terrible conflict for four
hours, without firing a gun, or even making a demon-
stration to prevent the Confederates on their right and
centre from detaching largely to support their left.
General Sumner afterwards said: "I have always be-
lieved, that instead of sending these troops into the ac-
tion in driblets, had General McClellan authorized me to
march these forty thousand on the left flank of the
enemy, we could not have failed to throw them right
back in front of the other divisions of our army on the
left." (Reports on the Conduct of the War, vol. I.,
p. 368).

Sumner threw Sedgwick's division across the open field, over which the battle had advanced and receded all the morning, and into the woods beyond-where Crawford had been fighting-and, driving the exhausted Confederates before him, got possession of the coveted woods around the Dunker Church. French's division closed up on the left of Sedgwick, and Richardson's division on French's left. Prospects of a Federal victory were brightening, and the troops of Jackson and Hood, who had borne the heat and burden of the rebel battle, were retiring in disorder. The left of the Confederate line had been borne back until it was almost perpendicular to the position it occupied when the battle opened. At this auspicious moment, the divisions of of McLaws and Walker, just returned from Harper's Ferry, were hurled upon Sedgwick's division. Jack

son's and Hood's men, reanimated by these fresh arrivals, rallied again, and their united onset swept Sedg wick back out of the woods, across the open field and to the east side of the road, the position from whence Hooker had opened the fight in the morning. The Confederates made no pursuit beyond the road, but retired to the position held by Jackson in the morning—apparently contented to hold their own ground.

Meantime, French had advanced against the Confederate division of D. H. Hill, and drove it back in disorder to a sunken farm road, running easterly from the Sharpsburg Road, and some two feet below the surface of the adjacent land. In this the Confederates rallied and made a stand. It proved to be the most horrible death-trap men ever entered. French and Richardson were now both advancing against this line, and Thomas Francis Meagher, who commanded one of the brigades of Richardson's division, got possession of a crest overlooking the sunken road, and opened a murderous fire upon the unfortunate men who had rashly taken refuge in it. The Confederates fought desperately and inflicted heavy loss on Meagher, but they, themselves, were being slaughtered. Meagher's ammunition being nearly expended, Caldwell, who commanded another of Richardson's brigades, came to his relief. Meagher broke by companies to the rear, and Caldwell by companies to the front, and there was scarcely a moment's cessation of the Union fire. The rebels were re-enforced by General Anderson, and efforts were made to flank the Union forces, but they were defeated by the manœuvres of Colonel Gross of the Fifth New Hampshire, and by Brook, French and Barlow-the latter of whom captured three hundred prisoners and two colors. The Federals now advanced and carried the sunken road, and captured a large number of prisoners. The road itself was a sickening sight, filled as it was with rebel dead and wounded.

1862.

BURNSIDE'S SUCCESS--DRIVEN BACK.

323

Three corps of the Army of the Potomac had not yet participated in the battle. The three which had been engaged were now resting on their arms, and there was a lull in the conflict. Burnside still lay on the east side of the Antietam; Porter, with fifteen thousand men, was on the same side of the river, and opposite the Union centre; Franklin, with the divisions of Slocum and W. F. Smith, arrived about one o'clock. Soon after one Burnside put his columns in motion, and carried the bridge in his front and crossed the river. Pushing on for the high ground in front of him he drove the enemy back and captured a battery, which had been doing serious execution on the Union troops. At this juncture, the Unionists experienced another of the bitter fruits of the tardiness of the Federal commander. Just as Burnside had obtained a foot-hold on the west side of the river, and had won his initial point, the division of A. P. Hill, which Jackson had left behind to receive the surrender of Harper's Ferry, arrived upon the field, and throwing his troops into the conflict, Burnside was driven back, the battery recaptured and Burnside forced to take shelter under the bluff near the Antietam. Here, as on the right, the Confederates made no attempt to penetrate the Union lines, being content to hold their own ground. There can be no doubt but that this policy was dictated by the inferior numbers of the rebel army, and the desperate situation in which they would have been placed by a defeat.

The repulse of Burnside concluded the battle of Antietam. When the last shot had been fired neither party could claim a victory. The Confederates had stood upon the defensive from the beginning, and the Federals had gained no vital point anywhere on their line. The two armies held, substantially, the same ground they occupied at the beginning of the battle. Another day, and greater concert of action, were necessary to such a result as would justify the Union commander in

claiming a victory. He was strong enough, even yet, to crush the enemy, if he would but hurl his whole army upon him, and forbear frittering away his strength by fighting in "driblets." McClellan was too thoughtful of reverse-too apprehensive of disaster-too timid for a successful commander. He impaired his effective force by holding half his army in reserve to cover his retreat in case of disaster. His apprehensions magnified his adversary's numbers until he credited him with two men for every one he had in the field. Under a really able and bold leader of the Union army, General Lee never could have escaped from the position he had put his forces in at Antietam. But, if the Federal Commander-in-Chief had been distinguished for such qualities, it is not likely Lee would have put his forces in that situation.

CHAPTER XXIV.

AFTER THE BATTLE-POLLOCK AND HIS DOG-UNION RE-ENFORCEMENTSLEE WITHDRAWS-LOSSES-MCCLELLAN'S DISPATCH-CRITICISEDGRIFFIN CAPTURES A REBEL BATTERY-PORTER AMBUSHED-LEE'S

COM

POSITION-MCCLELLAN STATIONARY-GIVES HIS REASON-SOME
MENTS THEREON-LOSSES OF DIFFERENT CORPS-CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN HALLECK AND MCCLELLAN-A LITTLE IRONY-RELATIVE
CONDITION OF THE TWO ARMIES-DISADVANTAGE OF FEDERAL SYSTEM-
AGAIN ON THE MARCH-MCCLELLAN REMOVED-BURNSIDE APPOINTED
-A JUST ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF-NEWS OF COL. PRATT'S DEATH-
ORDER THEREON-RESOLUTIONS BY OFFICERS-GENERAL PATRICK RE-
SIGNS COMMAND OF BRIGADE-GENERAL PAUL HIS SUCCESSOR.

THE morning of the eighteenth found the two armies occupying the same positions they held at the conclusion of the battle, the evening before. The interval between the picket lines was the narrow strip of ground over which the contending forces had fought, and it was covered with the dead and wounded of both armies. Some attempts were made by the officers of the "Twentieth" to remove their wounded, but the moment they exposed themselves on the field, the hissing of musket balls around them admonished them of the dangerous enterprise upon which they had entered, and they were obliged to abandon the undertaking.

The circumstances referred to in the following excerpt from the Baltimore American of Sept. 23d, 1862, and in the statement following it, will be remembered by the veterans of the "Ulster Guard."

"Passing back again through the woods two Rebel Colonels and one Brigadier were found on the ground, and interspersed with the multitudes of their fallen were so many of those in the National uniform that at a glance one might see how fearful was the cost of the victory. Upon one dead body was found a large black dog,