It was a critical moment for the Confederates. Aware that loss of the Sunken Road might bring disaster, Lee ordered forward his last reserve—the five brigades of Maj. Gen. R. H. Anderson’s division. At the same time Brig. Gen. Robert Rodes of Hill’s division launched a furious attack to hold the Federals back until Anderson’s men could arrive. This thrust kept French’s men from aiding Richardson, who even now prepared to assault the Confederates in the road.
As French’s attack halted, Richardson swept forward in magnificent array. Richardson was a tough old fighter—bluff and courageous, a leader of men. One of his officers recalled his leading the advance, sword in hand: “Where’s General ——?” he cried. Some soldiers answered, “Behind the haystack!” “G— d— the field officers!” the old man roared, pushing on with his men toward the Sunken Road. In three units they passed to the east of the Roulette farmhouse and charged the Confederates at the crest of the ridge.
As the struggle increased in fury, R. H. Anderson’s brigades arrived in the rear of Hill’s troops in the road. But Anderson fell wounded soon after his arrival, and suddenly the charging Confederate counteroffensive lost its punch. By a mistaken order, Rodes’ men in the Sunken Road near the Roulette lane withdrew to the rear. A dangerous gap opened on the Confederate front. The artillerist Lt. Col. E. P. Alexander wrote later, “When Rodes’ brigade left the sunken road ... Lee’s army was ruined, and the end of the Confederacy was in sight.”
Union Col. Francis Barlow saw the gap in the Confederate front opened by Rodes’ withdrawal. Quickly swinging two regiments astride the road, he raked its length with perfectly timed volleys. Routed by this devastating enfilade, the Confederate defenders fled the road and retreated south toward Sharpsburg. Only a heroic rally by D. H. Hill’s men prevented a breakthrough into the town.
The Sunken Road was now Bloody Lane. Dead Confederates lay so thick there, wrote one Federal soldier, that as far down the road as he could see, a man could have walked upon them without once touching ground.
On the Firing Line. By Gilbert Gaul. Courtesy, Library of Congress.
Bloody Lane. Courtesy, Library of Congress.
The Federals had suffered heavily, too. Their bodies covered the approaches to the ridge. In the final moments, while leading his men in pursuit, Colonel Barlow had been seriously wounded; and shortly after, his commander, General Richardson, had fallen with a mortal wound.