In three distinct localities the battle waxed fierce from dawn to dusk on
that terrible day at Antietam, September 17, 1862. First at the Federal
right around the Dunker church; then at the sunken road, where the centers
of both armies spent themselves in sanguinary struggle; lastly, late in
the day, the struggle was renewed and ceased on the Sharpsburg road. When
Burnside finally got his troops in motion, Sturgis' division of the Ninth
Corps was first to cross the creek; his men advanced through an open
ravine under a withering fire till they gained the opposite crest and held
it until reënforced by Wilcox. To their right ran the Sharpsburg road, and
an advance was begun in the direction of the Sherrick house.
[Illustration: GENERAL A. P. HILL, C. S. A.]
The fighting along the Sharpsburg road might have resulted in a
Confederate disaster had it not been for the timely arrival of the troops
of General A. P. Hill. His six brigades of Confederate veterans had been
the last to leave Harper's Ferry, remaining behind Jackson's main body in
order to attend to the details of the surrender. Just as the Federal Ninth
Corps was in the height of its advance, a cloud of dust on Harper's Ferry
road cheered the Confederates to redoubled effort. Out of the dust the
brigades of Hill debouched upon the field. Their fighting blood seemed to
have but mounted more strongly during their march of eighteen miles.
Without waiting for orders, Hill threw his men into the fight and the
progress of the Ninth Corps was stopped. Lee had counted on the arrival of
Hill in time to prevent any successful attempt upon the Confederate right
held by Longstreet's Corps, two-thirds of which had been detached in the
thick of the fighting of the morning, when Lee's left and center suffered
so severely. Burnside's delay at the bridge could not have been more
fortunate for Lee if he had fixed its duration himself. Had the
Confederate left been attacked at the time appointed, the outcome of
Antietam could scarcely have been other than a decisive victory for the
Federals. Even at the time when Burnside's tardy advance began, it must
have prevailed against the weakened and wearied Confederates had not the
fresh troops of A. P. Hill averted the disaster.
[Illustration: AFTER THE ADVANCE]
In the advance along the Sharpsburg road near the Sherrick house the 79th
New York "Highlanders" deployed as skirmishers. From orchards and
cornfields and from behind fences and haystacks the Confederate
sharpshooters opened upon them, but they swept on, driving in a part of
Jones' division and capturing a battery just before A. P. Hill's troops
arrived. With these reënforcements the Confederates drove back the brave
Highlanders from the suburbs of Sharpsburg, which they had reached.
Stubborn Scotch blood would permit only a reluctant retreat. Sharp
fighting occurred around the Sherrick house with results seen in the lower
picture. Night closed the battle, both sides exhausted.
[Illustration: THE SEVENTEENTH NEW YORK ARTILLERY DRILLING BEFORE THE
CAPITAL