This building is on elevated ground. It was the pivot on which the fortunes of the day swung to and fro, where hinged the destiny of the nation. There Jackson's right wing joined D. H. Hill's division. There, around the church, fifty thousand men met in deadly strife.
The land slopes towards the east. Rivulets spring from the hillside, and flow towards the Antietam. Seventy or eighty rods east of the church is the residence of Mr. Muma. There is a graveyard north of his dwelling, white headstones marking the burial-place. There is a farm-road leading past his house to Mr. Rulet's beyond. It winds along the hillside into the ravine by Mr. Rulet's. There are branch roads; one leading to Sharpsburg, one down the hill to the middle bridge across the Antietam. The farms of Mr. Muma, Mr. Rulet, and Dr. Piper are broken lands, hills, ravines, corn and wheat fields, orchards, pastures, and mowing-grounds. D. H. Hill occupied the high grounds on Mr. Muma's farm; Longstreet held Rulet's, Dr. Piper's, Sharpsburg, and the hills south of the town.
Standing by the church and looking north, we see Poffenberger's house, three fourths of a mile distant; northeast we see Hoffman's farm, a mile and a half distant. Looking directly east over the house of Mr. Rulet, we behold the Antietam, one mile distant, with General McClellan's head-quarters on the hill beyond.
Southeast, a mile and a quarter distant, is the middle bridge on the Boonesboro' pike. Directly south, along the Hagerstown turnpike, is Sharpsburg. Lee's head-quarters are in a field west of the town. Two miles distant, at the base of Elk Ridge, is the lower bridge. There the banks of the river are high, sharp, and steep. Behind the church are limestone ledges; in the woods, strong natural defenses.
These are the main features of the field:—
Hoffman's farm.
Poffenberger's house, the ridge behind it, the woods, and cornfields west of it.
Miller's house, the cornfield east, the mown field south, the turnpike and the woods west.
The church, the field in front, the woods behind it.
Muma's farm, Rulet's house, the orchard around it, the farm-road, and cornfield west of it.