Evening star., 1937-09-17

and kept them back Meanwhile, r.
H. Anderson and Gen. Hood came to
the support OF the fearfully pushed
Confederate center.
The Federals made still other at
tacks on that thin gray line, which
continued to hold on in do die des-
peration.
The Federals tried Jackson's line.
They tried the center, then made
their final, grand attack under Burn
side on Longstreet's right, where Gen.
Toombs, with only 400 weary, footsore
soldiers, met the Federal 9th Corps
delaying the crossing Of the Antietam
long enough to save that part Of the
battle. Calamity as Toombs fought,
he was gradually pushed back. But at
the last moment A. P. Hill and D. H.
Hill came in to reinforce him.
Thus the Federals were driven back,
and when the battle closed Lee held
the field. But it was victory at great
cost. Thousands of Confederates we're
dead and gallant commands had been
torn into fragments. Lee had sent in
the last of his reserves and held on
only by valor and skill unmatched in
the annals of war.
Aid to Families Hit by Fire.
After the terribly strain of the
battle, when the attacks ceased and
the weary generals repaired to Lees
headquarters to report, Longstreet
was delayed in giving aid to families
whose homes had been set on fire
by shells and in caring for wounded
men found hidden away under stone
walls and in fence corners; so that
all the other officers had arrived,
made their reports and were lounging
around on the sod, when Longstreet
rode up.
Gen Lee walked forward as he dis
mounted and cried out:
Here is my old war horse"
Rumor had gone out that Long
street had been wounded and the
lateness Of his arrival at headquarters
tended to confirm it. Lee was never
demonstrative man, but now in
thankful relief he threw his arms
around Longstreet and Rugged him.
MY old war horse" he repeated af-
'fectionately.
To Gen. Longstreet that greeting
made up for any slight on his judg-
ment in sending Jackson for the pub
licly brilliant feat OF taking Harpers
Ferry, after Longstreet opposed it..
Due to the consequent unfortunate dis
positions in adjusting the movement
OF the rest OF the army to jackson,
Mcclellan had Lee hors de combat at
Antietam as we have seen.
BY this time Lee must have realized
that Longstreet was not only right
about Harpers Ferry, but that he had
been right in advising retreat across
the Potomac without battle, instead of
making the stand at Sharpsburg. His
army had been shattered in the blood
lest single days fighting on the North
American continent, in which he had
lost, in killed or wounded, third Of
the total force engaged, while the
Federals had lost only about one-sixth
Va tAiClI lOI &c.
One Of Tragedies Of War.
1t was one OF the tragedies of war
that the Southern mountaineer who
mad run ahead on the march to An
tletam. to see II Longstreet was along.
was left among the unknown dead on
Maryland's September field.
After the close of the re-enact-
ment, one of Longstreets boys, bowed
by the weight Of 90-odd years, found
me on the crest of the hill from which
old Pete" directed the battle on that
long-gone day. He said:
Pretty soon now I'll be going to
Join my old commander. I'm thank
ful that Providence spared me to see
my country become the greatest Ma
ton OF the earth. and to realize that
1t was best for the South, as we'll for
the North that Lee had to retreat
from Antietam. 1 am proud that
mad sons and grandsons to fight under
the Stars and Stripes in the Spanish
American and World Wars. But the
world will never see another army like
the Army Of Northern Virginia."