son's and Hood's men, reanimated by these fresh arrivals, rallied again, and their united onset swept Sedgwick back out of the woods, across the open field and to the east side of the road, the position from whence Hooker had opened the fight in the morning. The Confederates made no pursuit beyond the road, but retired to the position held by Jackson in the morning-apparently contented to hold their own ground. Meantime, French had advanced against the Confederate division of D. H. Hill, and drove it back in disorder to a sunken farm road, running easterly from the Sharpsburg Road, and some two feet below the surface of the adjacent land. In this the Confederates rallied and made a stand. It proved to be the most horrible death-trap men ever entered. French and Richardson were now both advancing against this line, and Thomas Francis Meagher, who commanded one of the brigades of Richardson's division, got possession of a crest overlooking the sunken road, and opened a murderous fire upon the unfortunate men who had rashly taken refuge in it. The Confederates fought desperately and inflicted heavy loss on Meagher, but they, themselves, were being slaughtered. Meagher's ammunition being nearly expended, Caldwell, who commanded another of Richardson's brigades, came to his relief. Meagher broke by companies to the rear, and Caldwell by companies to the front, and there was scarcely a moment's cessation of the Union fire. The rebels were re-enforced by General Anderson, and efforts were made to flank the Union forces, but they were defeated by the manœuvres of Colonel Gross of the Fifth New Hamp-shire, and by Brook, French and Barlow-the latter of whom captured three hundred prisoners and two colors. The Federals now advanced and carried the sunken road, and captured a large number of prisoners. The road itself was a sickening sight, filled as it was with rebel dead and wounded. 1862. BURNSIDE'S SUCCESS--DRIVEN BACK. 323 Three corps of the Army of the Potomac had not yet participated in the battle. The three which had been engaged were now resting on their arms, and there was a lull in the conflict. Burnside still lay on the east side of the Antietam; Porter, with fifteen thousand men, was on the same side of the river, and opposite the Union centre; Franklin, with the divisions of Slocum and W. F. Smith, arrived about one o'clock. Soon after one Burnside put his columns in motion, and carried the bridge in his front and crossed the river. Pushing on for the high ground in front of him he drove the enemy back and captured a battery, which had been doing serious execution on the Union troops. At this juncture, the Unionists experienced another of the bitter fruits of the tardiness of the Federal commander. Just as Burnside had obtained a foot-hold on the west side of the river, and had won his initial point, the division of A. P. Hill, which Jackson had left behind to receive the surrender of Harper's Ferry, arrived upon the field, and throwing his troops into the conflict, Burnside was driven back, the battery recaptured and Burnside forced to take shelter under the bluff near the Antietam. Here, as on the right, the Confederates made no attempt to penetrate the Union lines, being content to hold their own ground. There can be no doubt but that this policy was dictated by the inferior numbers of the rebel army, and the desperate situation in which they would have been placed by a defeat. The repulse of Burnside concluded the battle of Antietam. When the last shot had been fired neither party could claim a victory. The Confederates had stood upon the defensive from the beginning, and the Federals had gained no vital point anywhere on their line. The two armies held, substantially, the same ground they occupied at the beginning of the battle. Another day, and greater concert of action, were necessary to such a result as would justify the Union commander in claiming a victory. He was strong enough, even yet, to crush the enemy, if he would but hurl his whole army upon him, and forbear frittering away his strength by fighting in "driblets." McClellan was too thoughtful of reverse-too, appréhensive of disaster-too timid for a successful commander. He impaired his effective force by holding half his army in reserve to cover his retreat in case of disaster. His apprehensions magnified his adversary's numbers until he credited him with two men for every one he had in the field. Under a really able and bold leader of the Union army, General Lee never could have escaped from the position he had put his forces in at Antietam. But, if the Federal Commander-in-Chief had been distinguished for such quali ties, it is not likely Lee would have put his forces in that situation. CHAPTER XXIV. COM AFTER THE BATTLE-POLLOCK AND HIS DOG-UNION RE-ENFORCEMENTS- THE morning of the eighteenth found the two armies Occupying the same positions they held at the conclusion of the battle, the evening before. The interval between the picket lines was the narrow strip of ground Over which the contending forces had fought, and it was covered with the dead and wounded of both armies. Some attempts were made by the officers of the "Twentieth" to remove their wounded, but the moment they exposed themselves on the field, the hissing of musket balls around them admonished them of the dangerous enterprise upon which they had entered, and they were obliged to abandon the undertaking. The circumstances referred to in the following excerpt from the Baltimore American of Sept. 23d, 1862, and in the statement following it, will be remembered by the veterans of the "Ulster Guard." "Passing back again through the woods two Rebel Colonels and one Brigadier were found on the ground, and interspersed with the multitudes of their fallen were so many of those in the National uniform that at a glance one might see how fearful was the cost of the victory. Upon one dead body was found a large black dog, dead also from some chance shot which had struck him whilst stretched upon his master's corpse caressingly, his fore-paws across the man's breast. Ride where one might for a space of perhaps a mile and a half in width in places, and four or five miles in length, the dead were on every side, interspersed with the arms that had fallen from their hands. Shattered cannon wheels and caissons, and enormous quantities of round shot and conical shell gave more evidence of the deadly storm that had come with destruction in its track." "MR. EDITOR: In a communication on the recent battle near Sharpsburg, published in the Baltimore American of the 23d of September, is the above paragraph. "The dog referred to was a voluntary attache of the Twentieth Regiment, and had passed through one battle with us unharmed, previous to that in which he lost his life. He was a beautiful Newfoundland, and joined the regiment on its march somewhere this side of Frederick, and remained with it up to the time of his death on the Sharpsburg battle-field. "I noticed him particularly in the battle of South Mountain, where, standing with the men, he seemed indifferent alike to the whistling of the enemies' bullets around him, and to the rattle of our own arms. He came on with us, and his fidelity to his new friends cost him his life on Wednesday. I saw him early in the action, apparently an unconcerned spectator of the combat. Later in the day, when I again observed him, he was lying upon the ground, somewhat to the left of the regiment and near the body of W. J. Pollock, of Co. H. Man and beast were both dead. "I doubt not the dog had received his food of Pollock while with us, and was with him when he fell, or subsequently placed himself by his side and remained there until shot. The incident made a very strong impression |