The Rebel brigade holding the bridge was commanded by General Toombs. Before the arrival of A. P. Hill, the force of the enemy on this part of the field was about six thousand.
So vigorous was Burnside's attack, that nothing but the arrival of Hill prevented an irretrievable defeat.[70]
Burnside received his orders at ten o'clock.[71] Hooker had been at it all the morning. Standing by his head-quarters, Burnside could see the dark lines moving to and fro on Miller's field. Mansfield was going up the slope. Sumner was crossing the Antietam. The batteries all along the line were thundering.
"You are to carry the bridge, gain the heights beyond, and advance along their crest to Sharpsburg, and reach the rear of the enemy," was the order from General McClellan to General Burnside. Easily ordered; not so easily accomplished. Burnside has less than fourteen thousand men to accomplish a task harder than that assigned to any other commander. He must carry the bridge, gain the ridge, then move over an open field to attack the heights beyond, which are steeper and more easily defended than the ledges by the church, or the hills west of the sunken road. It is by nature the strongest part of the line.
Burnside's batteries opened with renewed vigor. Cox, commanding the corps (Burnside commanding the left wing), detailed Colonel Kingsbury with the Eleventh Connecticut to act as skirmishers, and drive the Rebel sharpshooters from the head of the bridge.
A short distance—a third of a mile—below the bridge there is a ford. Rodman's division was ordered to cross at that point, while Crook and Sturgis were ordered to carry the bridge.
The Eleventh Connecticut advanced, winding among the hills, deploying in the fields, firing from the fences, the trees, and stone walls. But from the woods, the quarry, the wall upon the crest of the hill, the road upon the western bank, they received a murderous fire. Crook's column, which had been sheltered by a ridge, marched down the road. The cannon upon the opposite bank threw shells with short fuses. The column halted and opened fire. Sturgis's division passed in their rear, and reached the bridge, under cover of the hot fire kept up by Crook.
The Second Maryland and Sixth New Hampshire charged upon the bridge. Instantly the hillside blazed anew with musketry. There were broad sheets of flame from the wall upon the crest, where the cannon, double-shotted, poured streams of canister upon the narrow passage. The head of the column melted in an instant. Vain the effort. The troops fell back under cover of the ridge sheltering the road leading to Rohrbach's.
General McClellan sent an aide to General Burnside with the message:—
"Assault the bridge and carry it at all hazards."