Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/400

 394 Southern Historical Society Papers.

until Jackson could capture Harper's Ferry and come to Lee's assistance, General Anderson's command, in common with the other brigades of the divison, was subjected to one of the most trying ordeals of the war. That one division, alone and unaided (until late in the afternoon when Longstreet arrived) stood as firm as the ever- lasting- hills which surrounded it, and resisted the assaults of the larger part of McClellan's whole army, which was hurled against it all day in successive masses. Here, as usual, Anderson distinguished himself, and received the highest encomiums for his dauntless cour- age and skill. The enemy were exceedingly anxious to force the passage of this mountain gap and by overtaking Lee and bringing on a decisive engagement, relieve their beleaguered friends at Har- per's Ferry, who numbered more than eleven thousand men, with thirteen thousand small arms and seventy-three cannon. But the heroic defenders of the pass, though but a handful in comparison with the immense and thoroughly equipped force assailing them, and though subjected to very heavy losses from first to last, yielded not an inch of their ground until nightfall, and then, their purpose being accomplished, retired unmolested to take their place in the ranks of death at Sharpsburg.

The historic battle of Sharpsburg or Antietam — ''this great bat- tle" as General Lee called it in his report — occurred on the 17th day of September, three days after the fight at South Mountain, and D. H. Hill's division, with Anderson's brigade on its right, wearied and worn out by continuous marching and fighting, took position in the centre of the line on the left of the Boonsboro road. Longstreet was on the right, and Jackson, who had captured Harper's Ferry with its little army and all its supplies, occupied the extreme left. McClellan and Lee at last stood face to face.

General McClellan said, before the Committee of Investigation on the Conduct of the War: "Our forces at the battle of Antietam were: total in action, eight seven thousand one hundred and sixty- four."

General Lee, in his report, says: " This great battle was fought by less than forty thousand men on our side" — that is to say, that the (Confederates were outnumbered by more than two to one. The first assault was made on the Confederate left, where Jackson was posted, and the unequal struggle between the six thousand men under him and the eighteen thousand of the attacking columns was one of the most desperate and sanguinary of the war, as the list of casualties abundantly proves, but the enemy were repulsed.