Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-10-07
THE Hattie OF suARPsRURG
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] SHARPsBURG, Nd September Is, 1862 The
tiercest and most hotly contested battle of the
war was fought here yesterday. Il commenced
st early dawn, the enemy being the attacking
party, and lasted, with occasional breathing in
tervss, until it was quite dark. Whether we
consider the numbers engaged, the hercenesS OF
the assault the dogged courage Of the Conied-
crates or the almost unparalleled duration Of the
! tight Il must be regarded as one of the most eI-
tTa0rdinaTy battles of modern times. In no ln-
stance, since the revolution was insugUTatsd,
has either party had engaged as many as 100000
men at any one time. At Richmond, each side
had, all counted, perhaps as many as 100000 f;
but no one Of the series Of battles fought around
that city was anything like that number en-
gagged, either on the part Of the COutedeTates or
the Federals. l had estimated the force Of the
enemy here st too high figure probobly; but
if It be rackoned at l25 600 men, and our own
at two-thrds Of that number-say S0,000-we
have two tremendous armies, such indeed as
have not been seen on any battle field in this
war. The enemy had brought up the last man
ne could get. The coasts Of Virginia, North
Csrolins, South Carolina and Georgia had been
stripped of the troops sent 70 desolals them
Northwestern Virginia had been abandoned by
Cox and his command, and all the new vOlun-
teers, except enough 10 garrison the works about
Washington, had been sent to Mcclellan.
These, with the army he brought wiki him from
the Peninsula now recruited and prepared Tor
fresh labors, and Burnside's seasoned corps,
gave him an army formidable alike in numbers
and material
His artillery was on 8 scale commensurate
with the great army be commanded. 1t was
really superb, whether we regard the number of
batteries engaged and the range and cali0Te of
the guns, or the splendid manner In which they
were handled. The men fought well, tOo-bet-
ter, IN fact, than the FedeTals have ever done
before, except at Shiloh; aud the new volunteers
did about as well as the older troops. They are
Of better class of men, and make up in spirit
and intelligence what they lack in drilling and
discipline There can be no doubt upOa this
point; since we took some Of them prisoners and
know they fought well before they yielded. The
Federals, doubtless, had been taught to feel That
cur movement into Maryland was an invasion
Of their SOIL and thst every blow sHucS within
its limits was a blow in defense Of their 0wr
homes far away in New England and along tho
banks Of the Hudson and the SchUylkih. There
are but few, if any races, however cOwaTdly and
despicsble. that will lot fight the Invader of
their homes; even the worm we tread upon
turns to sting the heel that cTushes it 70 death.
Mcclellan commanded in person the enemy's
right, (our left,) besides exercising general su-
.1pervision over the whole field; Burnside on the
leLL anu DuulGl III LAC GcAbDA OA Ctu blOo
Longstreet commanded the right wing, Jackson
the left, and D. II. Hill the center-ths whole
being under the calm and watchful eye Of Gen
eral Lee. This order Of battle brought McCel-
Ian and Jackson face to face, L0ngstreet and
Burnside, and Hill and Sumner. Thus pitted
and matched, the battle was opened as soon as
there was sufficient light 10 point gun, and
continued for fourteen long and weary hours 1t
was dry snd dusty beneath, but cloudy and
pleasant above. The enemy had availed him
self of the darkness Of the preceding night TO
post his batteries at commanding points. This
he was the more able to do, since he had sub
iectsd Us to a heavy csnnOnsde the day before,
and thus forced us to develop our lines and p0-
siti0ns.
The battle-ground was along The banks of the
Autietam river, Just in ffoLt Of SharDsburg
This lovely stream runs due south along the
foot Of the Blue Ridge, and empties its crystal
waters into the Potomac a short distance above
HsTper's Ferry. The Confederates held the
western side OF the river, except for short dis
tsDce on the left and above, where the enemY's
lines crossed it, aud the Federals held the east
ern side next to the mountain. Indeed, the gen
ersl conhguration of the country, and IS well as
the positions of the two armies, recalls to mind
tae Clickahozainy and the james river. and the
position Of the C0mbatants in front of Richmond,
except that the enemy had the Blue Ridge at his
back here, whilst his lines were thrown forward
across the Antietam on our left instead of our
right as on the Chickahominy. With this OK
eeption, the lines of the enemy closely hugged
the east bank of the river, which is shallow
easily fordable except for artillery and not more
than thirty feet IN width. On the swelling ele-
vstions between the stream and the Blue Ridge
the Federal batteries were planted, whilst ours
occupied the hills on the Sharpsburg side. The
distance from ShsTpsburg across TO the base of
the mountains does not exceed a mile and
half, and the river is about midway between
the tive. On our right was wide stone bridge
which it was important that We should hold
The ground was mostly open, but very uneven
The respective positions Of the two armies
we're equally strong, except in this, that the enc
my had his back against the Blue Ridge, whicn
would under almost any circumstances prevent
rcut on his part or pursuit on ours.
The battle was opened by Mcclellan both
with artillery aud small arms on our left, where
fierce and nearly successful assault was made
upon Jackson. Column after column was
brought up and hurled against the Stouewall
corps, which had been marching and fighting
almost daily since il left Richmond, and for two
hours or more our ranks were slowly forced back
by the overwhelming numbers brought against
them. Jackson reached his position ths night
before when It was quite dark and consequently
was entirely ignorant Of the topography of the
field. The old Stonewall brigade yielded the
ground inch by inch, and Egelrs division, now
commanded by LsWton, the best officer probably
under Jackson, fought desperately. This divi-
sion embraces some of the best regiments in the
army, iuciuding the uDcouquerable 10Th Georgia.
Our ranks suffered terribly, and many brave
spirit was made to bite the dust Among others,
I may mention Brig. Gen Lswton, who received
a painful wound in the leg, and Colonel Mar
cellus Douglass, of the 18Th Georgia, command
ing Lawton's old brigade. Seeing be was NOR
tally wounded Douglass refused to be removed,
preferTiHg as be said, TO die upon the field. His
body was subsequently recovered and taken TO
the Virginia side.
Meanwhile, and almost simultaneous with the
attack on the left, Samaer opened terrific fire
on Oar center which was followed by a ike
assault on our right by Bnrnsides corps 1t
was sn indescrlbably sublime scene when the
tide Of fire and smoke swept slowly and msjas-
ticsly from the left down the valley past the
center, and on to the eZtrems right The sol
enan Blue Ridge formed an appropriate back
ground to the awful spectacle. The elevations
upon which the batteries were planted, were
crowned with wreaths of smoke of most fan tss-
lic shapes, nearly concesling " the valley of
death below, where the infantry were engaged
n fearful struggle. Each party had, proba-
bly,, as many as two hundred pieces of artillery
on the field, though but little over half that
number was brought into action at the same
instant, either by the CCnfederates or Federals
But think Of two hundred cannon of every
available calibre engaged in deadly conflict at
short range The Federals directed their
pieces chiefly at our batteries, and some times
the latter were so inveloped in sonks from their
own discharges, and the bursting shells from
TIE enemy's guns, that they were completely
lost to sight Our own pieces, on the contrary,
were pointed at the infantry columns of the
Federals, by special order OF General Lee. Ar
dllery duels, 50 called, accomplish little, except
to enable the parties to display their gunner
ship. In the present instance, the departure
! irom the old rule was productive Of most bene-
fcial results in tnat the enemys ssssulting col
umns were repeatedly repulsed by the well di-
rected FIRE Of our artil.eTists,