"* (* Battles and Leaders
volume 2 page 667.) But when night fell upon the field the only
interchange of hostilities had been a brief engagement of artillery.
McClellan's advance, owing to the difficulty of passing his great
army through the mountains, and to the scarcity of roads, had been
slow and tedious; in some of the divisions there had been unnecessary
delay; and Lee had so disposed his force that the Federal commander,
unenlightened as to the real strength of his adversary, believed that
he was opposed by 50,000 men.
September 16.
Nor was the next morning marked by any increase of activity.
McClellan, although he should have been well aware that a great part
of the Confederate army was still west of the Potomac, made no
attack. "It was discovered," he reports, "that the enemy had changed
the position of some of his batteries. The masses of his troops,
however, were still concealed behind the opposite heights. It was
afternoon before I could move the troops to their positions for
attack, being compelled to spend the morning in reconnoitring the new
position taken up by the enemy, examining the ground, and finding
fords, clearing the approaches, and hurrying up the ammunition and
supply trains.
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