Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/598

 562 ANTIETAM by the greatest bravery, but when it ceased Sumner's entire corps was also defeated, and the enemy's line completely restored. By 11 o'clock half of the Union army and nearly all of the confederate army had been engaged. The latter, standing in a close and compact line, on its own chosen ground, had been able to act as a unit, while the former at the out- start was divided by the Antietam, and had spent its force in gallant but disconnected at- tacks, resulting in defeat by detail, accom- panied by an immense loss of life. Had Lee known at any time during the afternoon the extent of the injury he had inflicted upon the right wing of the Union army, and as- sumed the offensive, it is scarcely to be doubted that he would have gained a complete victory notwithstanding the timely arrival of Franklin's corps on that part of the field. Neither Burn- side's nor Porter's corps had yet been seriously engaged, although the former had been ordered to attack simultaneously with the other corps. His failure to carry the bridge in his front and to effect a lodgment beyond was due to the fact that it was swept by the sharpshooters of the enemy's right, occupying the commanding hillocks close to the borders of the creek. The confederate position here was very strong, and, being covered by the Antietam, almost entire- ly impassable in this portion of its course, was practically unassailable. Burnside advanced promptly as ordered, but his foremost troops encountered such a galling fire that they could not even reach the bridge, much less carry it. After several hours' delay Burnside succeeded in throwing one brigade across the creek by a ford which had been discovered some distance below, thus relieving the pressure in his front, and permitting the main body of his corps to cross by the bridge and to secure a good posi- tion on the right bank of the creek. After reforming his lines Burnside advanced, car- ried the heights beyond, and pressed back the enemy's right several hundred yards ; but his attack not being supported by detach- ments from the other parts of the army, as it should have been, he was defeated and driven back almost to the creek, as the other corps had been. Night ended the conflict with both armies concentrated and confront- ing each other on the W. side of the Antie- tam. On the 18th McClellan stood on the de- fensive. During the day he received the re- enforcement of two strong divisions under Humphreys and Couch, and then resolved to attack the next day A but meantime Lee had made good his retreat to the south side of the Potomac. McClellan's loss in this action was 2,010 killed, 9,416 wounded, and 1,048 missing ; total, 12,469. Lee's army, having fought on the defensive throughout, and frequently under cov- er, is estimated by confederate writers to have lost only about 9,000. This battle was follow- ed rather by negative than positive military re- sults. The confederate army retired to Vir- ginia and assumed a defensive attitude; the ANTIGONUS people of Maryland did not rise in rebellion, and the national capital did not fall into the hands of the invaders. On the other hand, the political measure which followed it was positive and far-reaching in its effects. Presi- dent Lincoln had made a solemn vow that if Gen. Lee was driven back from Maryland, he would crown the result by issuing a proclama- tion abolishing slavery, which was done, at least conditionally, on the 22d day of Septem- ber, 1862. ANTIGONE, one of the tragic characters in the Greek legends, a daughter of CEdipus by his mother Jocasta. When (Edipus, after dis- covering that he had killed his father and mar- ried his mother, put out his eyes in despair and went to Attica, Antigone guided him on the way and attended on him till his death. She then returned to Thebes, where Hsemon, son of the tyrant Creon, became enamored of her. The brothers of Antigone, Polynices and Eteocles, having fallen in the war for the pos- session of Thebes, and she having attempted to bury Polynices in defiance of an edict of Creon, the tyrant ordered her to be buried alive or to be shut up in a cave, and Haemon slew himself by her side. The story of Antigone was a favorite subject with the great tragic poets of Greece, and is told with some variations. ANTIGONUS. I. The Cyclops (so called from having lost an eye in battle), a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great, and subse- quently king of Asia, slain at the battle of Ipsus in Phrygia in 301 B. C. At the dis- tribution of Alexander's empire, Antigonus received as his share the greater Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia. Attacked by Per- diccas, he took refuge at the court of Antip- ater, regent of Macedonia and Greece. On the death of Perdiccas in Egypt (321), An- tipater made a new distribution of the Asiatic provinces. Antigonus had Susiana added to his former dominions, and to him was commit- ted the charge of annihilating Eumenes, the ally of Perdiccas. By bribing one of his offi- cers, Antigonus gained a victory over Eumenes and shut him up in the fortress of Nora in Cappadocia. In the mean time Antipater died (319), and Antigonus in his turn began to as- pire to that universal dominion at which Per- diccas had aimed. First destroying Eumenes (316), he occupied Susa, the Persian capital, and wrested Babylonia from Seleucus. A co- alition was now formed against him by Seleu- cus, Ptolemy of Egypt, Lysimachus of Thrace, and Cassander, the son of Antipater ; but An- tigonus, with the aid of Aristodemus of Mile- tus, succeeded in combining many of the Hel- lenic cities in his support, and, though Seleu- cus recovered Babylonia, the Macedonian gar- risons were expelled from the Peloponnesus, Euboea, Thebes, and the greater part of Phocis and Locris. After a truce of one year, during which Cassander murdered Eoxana and the young Alexander (311), the war broke out again. The restored Athenian democracy paid