Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/374

346 arrival of A. P. Hill, R. H. Anderson and McLaws. Later in the day, in a letter to President Davis, he wrote: "This victory of the indomitable Jackson and his troops gives us renewed occasion for gratitude to Almighty God for His guidance and protection."

The great military engineer who commanded the Confederate forces now gathering at Sharpsburg, had had ample time to examine the position he had chosen and to reach conclusions, from its topographic conditions and those in front of it, as to the direction from which his adversary would probably make his attack; and he was doubtless well satisfied that these conditions would bring the attack upon his left, which, by military rule, would be held by the "indomitable Jackson." He at once gave orders for that victory-compelling leader to move toward Hagerstown and take position guarding the left of his army. With his usual caution, Jackson had brought his troops to the vicinity of Sharpsburg by a concealed way, and he now, in like manner, marched them into position, at and beyond the Dunker church, and gave his men opportunity to rest and prepare for the coming conflict.

McClellan, in person, came to the front on the morning of the 16th, and when the fog lifted from the valley of the Antietam, he carefully examined, from the hill-crowning Try house, the long and bold stretch of commanding ridge which Lee occupied, and hastened to report to Washington that he was confronted not only by a "strong position," but by a "strong force." He spent the day putting his formidable army in position and extending both its flanks beyond those of the opposing one. As Lee had anticipated, late in the afternoon of this day, McClellan sent Hooker's corps, followed by Mansfield's, across the Antietam, by way of the stone bridge at Try's mill, some distance beyond Lee's left, where they went into bivouac. The ever-watchful Stuart quickly informed Lee of this movement, and confirmed his views as to the direction from which he would be attacked.

There were three bridges across the Antietam by which an attack could be made. The one on Lee's right, now known as the "Burnside bridge," was about a mile to the southeast of Sharpsburg. About a mile below that the river was fordable. On the road leading north of east from Sharpsburg to Boonsboro was another bridge, opposite the center of