Occasionally the boom of artillery was heard, and during the night there were repeated alarms, so that the soldiers on either side obtained but little rest. The hostile pickets on one portion of the line were so near each other, that during the night six of the enemy were captured.
CHAPTER II.[ToC]
1862.
THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
The next morning dawned beautifully; little did we imagine that that bright sun would be obscured by the smoke of battle, the field we trod ploughed with shot, flow with blood, and planted thick with the dead. Scarcely had the sun risen when a shell from the enemy dropped not far from our force, which was quietly resting upon their arms near the crest of a low knoll a short distance from the enemy's position. Immediately another followed, a twelve pounder crashed diagonally through the Eighth Connecticut, killing three men instantly, and wounding four in Company D.
The position was changed for one less exposed, but in getting there the troops were obliged to pass under a deadly fire from a rebel battery stationed at short range distance. In this undertaking the Sixteenth lost three wounded. We lay here perhaps two hours, and had a good view of the battle on the right, which had by this time assumed a fearful magnitude. Along the western banks of the Antietam River, there runs, with a gradual rise of undulating ground, a crescent-shaped ridge, presenting its concave side to the river. The top of this ridge spreads out into a broad tableground of forests and ravines. A series of timbered-covered hills surrounded this ridge; some of the adjacent hills had been cleared of the forest, and were covered with orchards and cornfields, enclosed with fences of rails or stone. Behind this ridge runs the road from Hagerstown to Sharpsburg and Shepardstown. Sharpsburg is just in the rear of the ridge.
Along these hills the rebel lines were posted, four miles in extent. Their position was exceedingly strong, protected by ravines and forests. Every commanding crest bristled with artillery, and the forests were planted thick with infantry. The extreme right of the rebel line was within three-fourths of a mile of the Potomac; in front, and along their left flank, flowed the Antietam, winding through a wooded ravine, with banks too high and with waters too deep to permit a crossing, except at two fords, at some distance from each other. Between these distant fords there were three bridges; on the right, at the center, and on the left. These bridges were strongly guarded. The federal troops were on the east side of the Antietam, behind a low range of hills, lying at the base of the Blue Ridge. These eminences were generally commanded by the heights held by the rebels. General Lee had certainly chosen a very strong position.