Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 31.djvu/52

 44 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Hamilton states that " the great battle was won in one day's fight, routing the late victorious enemy."

Brigadier- General Francis Winthrop PaJfrey, United States army, a friend of McClellan, writes in the Scribner Series Campaigns of the Civil War, page 64:

"General Lee reported his forces as less than 40,000, while his adjutant-general, Colonel Taylor, gives the exact number as 35.255; " and on page 65: " McClellan states in his official report that he had 87, 164 men. Fourteen thousand of these, making a charge, were repulsed, staggered, reeled and recoiled in great disorder."

On page 83, General Sumner writes:

"Hooker's Corps was not only repulsed, but gone, routed, dis- persed. General Ricketts, the only officer we could find, said that he could not raise 300 men of the corps. Hooker had been wounded."

On page 69:

" There were six corps and the cavalry division of 4,320 men, in all 87,164 men. The First, Second, Ninth and Twelfth Corps did most of the fighting. The Fifth and Sixth (page 120) lost less than 600 men, while the total (page 117) loss in killed, wounded and missing was 12,469, which, with the exception of the 600, fell upon the First, Second, Ninth and Twelfth Corps (page 69), which had engaged a total of 56,614 men, McClellan reporting their loss as be- ing 20 per cent."

General Hamilton states that " the Confederate loss was more than 18,000 men (an absurd estimate), with great loss of cannon, ammu- nition and colors; that they were routed at the bridge, which was held by Burnside."

On page 116, Palfrey states:

" The truth is that the Confederate batteries were extremely well taken care of by their infantry; as a rule they seldom lost a gun."

Colonel Long's Life of General Lee states:

"About i o'clock the battle on the left ceased. The Federals had been repulsed at every point. Then Burnside with 20,000 fresh troops forced the passage at the bridge and at the ford below. A. P. Hill, arriving with 4,500 men, delivered such destructive volleys that the Federals were forced to retire as suddenly as they appeared, recrossing the Antietam. Thus closed the battle. General Lee re- mained in position during the i8th prepared for battle."