The National tribune., 1907-12-26

few rods away. burst out upon the len
| flank, and men went down before it like
grain before the sickle. The awful blast
struck the division in front and rear as
well as flank and from its formation it
was absolutely unable to make reply.
/ The goth Mass. was the only regiment
that could make a return fire. which it
/ did by instantly facing to the rear. With
the other regiments. among which were
some of the very best in the Army of
| the Potomac. such as the 1st Mimi,
| 18th, 18th and goth Mass, We're unable
to change front before that fierce sirocco
of death. Almost 1000 men We're killed
! or wounded within the space of a min
ute. The PENNSYLVANIA Brigade broke
in spite of Summers heroic efforts to
make the change OF front. and the
whole formation crumbled away toward
the road where Sumner and SedgwiclS
rallied their men, while some of our
batteries, getting an inkling of what was
| happening. poured in a fire which
checked the victorious Confederates.
| Cen Williams. Of the Twelfth Corps.
tried to help out. and sent forward Cor
don's Brigade to attack the flank of the
enemy. who soon had on his hands a
very heated contest, which he MAIN
tanned with credit to himself against
superior forces for some time before he
gave the order to retire. Sedgwick's
men rallied quickly into line facing
south and east of the turnpike.
1t was now 10 O'Clock. and substan-
tally all the ground gained since the
| battle opened in the morning had been
lost. Gen. Mcclellan states the less Of
Sedgwick's Division as 355 killed. 1919
wounded and 321 missing, or a total of
2,255 out of a strength of not over
5000 The Confederates fell back for
fear of advancing too far and reformed
their line in the West Woods where
they were shelled by the Union guns to
very little effect, as they could protect
| themselves quite effectively behind the
woods and limestone lodges
BaIdy smith Enters.
| Upon arriving from Crampton's Gap,
| Gen. w. f. Smith, commanding the Sec
| Ond Division of the Sixth Corps, had
gone into position on the banks of the
| Antietam, near the. Stone Bridge, but
presently was double-quicked off TO the
right to help Sumner out. His leading
/ brigade was commanded by Hancock.
who saw with a soldiers eye where he
was most needed, and sent forward his
men to save two of Summers batteries,
which the enemy was trying to take.
Hancock formed his line within canister
| distance of the woods. and brought up
to it, Cowan's, Franks and Cothrans
| Batteries. with the 10th Pa, 43d N Y,
| 18th Pa. 6th Me. and 5th Wis. judi
ciously placed to support the batteries.
| The enemy rushed out two batteries
against him. but his batteries and the
| infantry fire speedily disposed of these,
and SO skilful were Hancock's dispose
tions that he maintained his ground and
| inflicted heavy loss, with but little to his
own men. Brookss Brigade of Smiths
/ Division was sent to French, and Ir-'
wins Brigade, the Third of Smiths Di-
vision, went into line on the left of Ham
cock.
| French's Share of the Fight.
Why French did not follow closely
upon Sedgwick has never been explain
ed. About one mile from the ford he
faced to the left, and moved in three
| lines against the enemy with direction
upon the Rullet House. about one-Iialf
mile from the bunker Church. d. II.
Hill had his five brigades forming the
left center of the Confederate line and
extending from the bunker Church, on
the north, to near Sharpsburg These had
| the advantage of the "sunken road
mentioned previously D. H Hill saws
| that French's Division deployed before
him in three beautiful lines with all
| the precision of parade day. The
| formation was in open fields, where it
could be seen, and Hill laments that he
had no artillery with which to destroy
this thrilling pageant. There at once
| broke out struggle as bitter as that of
| the terrific fighting an hour before fur
| ther to the right
Freed from anxiety as to Sedgwicks
| Hooker and Mansfield the enemy threw
| their whole strength in front on French,
| who began a desperate resistance On
the other hand, Richardson arrived with
his division to French's assistance, and
| all of w H. Smiths Division was now
| put in. The enemy was steadily pressed
| back, foot by foot, and in spite of his q
! EXTREMIST efforts the ''sunken road"
was piled so full of corpses as to excite
| horror in all who saw it, both sides
uniting in speaking of it as the bloody
lane This success was purchased at
| frightful cost to ourselves as well as to
the enemy. Gallant l. B. Richardson
was mOrtally wounded, Barlow was des-
perately so, and Hancock was sent to
take Richardson's place. Barlow. who
commanded the 61st and 64th N Y,
commended himself for soldiership that
day by seeing with a quick eye the con-
| flct of the ..sunken road" and throwing
his whole command in that direction,
delivered a slaughtering enfilading fire.
All of the enemy remaining alive soma
| 800, he took prisoners with two regi-
mental colors
The crisis was over by l o'clock. and
the fighting dwindled down to a noisy
but ineffective artillery fire, with the =
enemy retiring to stronger positions.
and it must be said Richardson's Divi-
sion, for some unaccountable reason,
retiring after its success to line on the
crest of a hill and the Piper farm
(To be continued.)