The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1862-09-26
THE GREAT BATTLE ON THE
POTOMAC,

columns this morning with an admirable
description of the battle of Antietam,
that great battle of last Wednesday, by
the correspondent Of the New York Tri-
bune. 1t is one of the finest pieces of
battle painting we ever saw. The cor
respondent had a piece of his coat torn
from his shoulders by shell, and his
horse badly wounded by rebel bullets:
The plan was generally as follows:
Hooker was to cross on the right, estab-
hsh himself on the enemy's left if posi-
Bile, aanking his position, and to open
the fight Sumner, Franklin and Mans
field were to send their forces also to the
right, cooperating with and sustaining
Hooker's attack while advancing also
nearer the center The heavy work in
the center was left mostly to the batter
les, Porter massing his infantry supports
in the hollOws. On the left Burnside
was to carry the bridge already referred
10, advancing then by a road which en-
ters the pike at Sharpsburg, turning at
once the rebel flank and destroying his
line of retreat Porter and Sykes were
held in reserve. 1t is obvious that the
complete success of plan contemplating
widely divergent movement of separate
corps, must largely depend on accurate
timing, that the attack should be simul-
| taneous and not successive
Hooker moved on Tuesday afternoon
\ at four, crossing the creek at a ford above
the bridge and well to the right, without
| <,,,1oe;t;on Eror4;nc, soutb v,,aet HE linz
advanced not quite on the rebel flank
but overlapping and threatening it
Turning from the road, after passing the
stream, he sent forward cavalry skir-
mishers straight into the woods and over
the fields beyond Rebel pickets with
drew slowly before them, firing scatter
ing and harmless shots. Turning again
to the left, the cavalry went down on the
rebel flank, coming suddenly close to a
battery which met them with unexpected
grape and canister. 1t being the ma
tare of cavalry to retire before batteries,
this company Loyalty followed the law of
its being, and came swiftly back withou.
pursuit
Artillery was sent to the front, infan-
try was rapidly deployed, and skirmish-
ers went out in front and on either flank
The corps moved completely, Hooker, as
!. usual, accommodating inoperson. They
came at last to an open grass-grown field
inclosed on two sides with woods, pro-
tected on the right by hill, and entered
through a cornfeld in the rear. Skir-
mishers entering these woods were in
stantly met by rebel shots, but held their
ground, and as soon as supported, ad-
vanced and cleared the timber Beyond,
on the left and in front, volleys of mus
kerry opened heavily, and battle seem
ed to have begun little sooner than
was expected 48ala o. g1tIsf ~
General Hooker formed his line with
precision and without hesitation Rick
etts' division went into the woods on the
. left in force Meade, with the Pennsyl-
yania reserves, formed in the center
Doubleday was sent out on the right,
J planting his batteries on the hill, and
opening at once on a rebel battery that
began to enfilade the central line II
was already dark, and the rebel position
could only be discovered by the fash oi
their guns They pushed forward boldly
on the right, after losing ground on the
other flank, but made no attempt to re
gain their first hold on the woods. The
fight flashed, and glinimered, and faded
, and finally went out in the dark.
Hooker had found out what he wanted
to know When the firing ceased the
hostile lines lay close to each other
their pickets being so near that six reb
els were captured during the night. Il
was inevitable that the fight should re
commence at daylight Neither side haC
suffered considerable loss it was skir
mish-not battle. "We are through
for tonight, gentlemen" remarked thC
General; "but tomorrow we fight tht
; battle that will decide the fate of the Re
public"
Not long after the firing ceased j
sprang up again on the left Gen Hool;
er, who had taken up his headquarteri
= in barn, which had been nearly the 70
Gus of the rebel artillery, was out a
: once. First came rapid and unusuall,
frequent picket shots, then several heav,
volleys. The General listened momen
and smiled grimly. eve have no troop
y there; the rebels are shooting each 9th
er; it is Fair Oaks again. So every
! body lay down again; but all the nigh
e through there were frequent alarms.
'e Mcclellan had been informed of tn
nights work, and of the certaintie
, awaiting the dawn. Sumner was ordere
to move his corps at once, and was e1
pected to be on the ground at daylight
il From the extent Of the rebel lines deve
/ oped in the evening, it was plain tha
n they had gathered their whole army bt
A hind the heights, and were waiting fc
AZ the shock.
The battle began with the dawn. Mo
ming found both armies just as they ha
ID slept, almost close enough to look int
each others eyes. The left of Meade
reserves and the right of Ricketts, lin
= became engaged at nearly the same MI
ment, one with artillery, the other wit
- infantry. A battery was almost immed
ately pushed forward beg ond the centr;
IS. woods, over plowed field, near the to
of the slope where the corn-feld begal
On this open field, in the corn beyon,
u. and in the woods which stretched 70
ward into the broad fields. like mr.,