[
210]
McLaws's.
The Richmond Enquirer of the 23d (four days after the battle) says it has “authentic particulars” of the battle; and that “the ball was opened on Tuesday evening about 6 o'clock, by all of our available force, 60,000 strong, commanded by
Gen. Robert E. Lee in person.”
And this seems to be the more probable aggregate.
Pollard, in his “Southern history of the
War,” says of this battle: “It was fought for half the day with 45,000 men on the
Confederate side; and for the remaining half with no more than an aggregate of 70,000 men.”
Gen. McClellan makes his entire loss in this battle 12,469: 2,010 killed, 9,416 wounded, and 1,043 missing; and says his army counted and buried “about 2,700” of the enemy, beside those buried by themselves: whence he estimates their total loss as “much greater” than ours.
As the
Rebels fought mainly on the defensive, under shelter of woods, and on ground commanded by their artillery, this might seem improbable.
But
Lee (writing his report on the 6th of March following) is silent as to his losses, while the account of them given as complete in the official publication of “Reports of the Operations of the Army of Virginia, from June, 1862, to Dec. 13th, 1862,” is palpably and purposely an under-statement.
That account makes the total Rebel loss in the
Maryland battles only 10,291: viz., killed, 1,567; wounded, 8,724; and says nothing of missing; while
McClellan gives details of considerable captures on several occasions, and sums up as follows:
Thirteen guns, 39 colors, upward of 15,000 stand of small arms, and more than 6,000 prisoners, were the trophies which attest the success of our arms in the battles of South Mountain, Crampton's Gap, and Antietam.
Not a single gun or color was lost by our army during these battles.
And the reports of
Lee's corps or division commanders give the following aggregates:
| | Killed. | Wounded. | Missing. | Total. |
| Longstreet's | 964 | 5,234 | 1,310 | 7,508 |
| Jackson's. | 351 | 2,080 | 57 | 2,438 |
| D. H. Hill's | 464 | 1,852 | 925 | 3,241 |
| A. P. Hill's1 | 63 | 283 | -- | 346 |
| | | | | |
| Total | 1,842 | 9,399 | 2,292 | 13,533 |
D. H. Hill reports 3,241 disabled, including 4
Colonels, out of less than 5,000; and
Lawton's brigade lost 554 out of 1,150.
Among the
Rebel killed were
Maj.-Gen. Starke, of
Miss.,
Brig.-Gens. L. O'B. Branch, of
N. C., and
G. B. Anderson;
Cols. Douglass (commanding
Lawton's brigade),
Liddell, 11th Miss.,
Tew, 2d N. C.,
Barnes, 12th S. C.,
Mulligan, 15th Ga.,
Barclay, 23d do., and
Smith, 27th do. Among their wounded were
Maj.-Gen. R. H. Anderson,
Brig.-Gens. Lawton,
Rhodes,
Ripley,
Armistead,
Gregg, of
S. C.,
R. Toombs and
Wright, of
Ga.
Lee, of course, did not care to renew the battle on the morrow of such a day; and
McClellan, though reenforced that morning by about 14,000 men, stood still also.
He says he purposed to renew the combat the next morning;
2 but, when his cavalry advance reached the river, they discovered that
Lee had quietly moved off across the
Potomac during the night, leaving us only his dead and some 2,000 of his desperately wounded.
Lee having posted 8 batteries on the
Virginia bluffs of the
Potomac, supported by 600 infantry under
Pendleton,
