The
enemy, however, showed no signs of making good his opportunity;
Early's brigade was close at hand, and Lee had promised further
reinforcements.
A glance southward showed that there was no reason for despair. Over
all the field lay the heavy smoke of a great artillery battle. From
near the Dunkard Church to the bluff overhanging the Antietam, a
distance of two miles, battery on battery was in line. Here were
Longstreet's artillery under Stephen Lee, together with the
six-and-twenty guns of Cutts' reserve battalion, forty-eight guns in
all; the divisional batteries of D.H. Hill, and the Washington
artillery of New Orleans,* (* Both D.H. Hill and the Washington
artillery had sixteen guns each.) and in addition to these eighty
guns others were in action above the Burnside Bridge. An array even
more formidable crowned the opposite crest; but although the
Confederate batteries, opposed by larger numbers and heavier metal,
had suffered terribly, both in men and in materiel, yet the infantry,
the main strength of the defence, was still intact.* (* "Our
artillery," says General D.H. Hill, "could not cope with the superior
weight, calibre, range, and number of the Yankee guns; hence it ought
only to have been used against masses of infantry.
Pages:
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198