Here, at “Bloody Lane” in the sunken road, was delivered the most telling blow of which the
Federals could boast in the day's fighting at
Antietam, September 17, 1862.
In the lower picture we see the officers whose work first began to turn the tide of battle into a decisive advantage which the Army of the Potomac had every reason to expect would be gained by its superior numbers.
On the
Federal right
Jackson, with a bare four thousand men, had taken the fight out of
Hooker's eighteen thousand in the morning, giving ground at last to
Sumner's fresh troops.
On the
Federal left,
Burnside (at the lower bridge) failed to advance against
Longstreet's Corps, two-thirds of which had been detached for service elsewhere.
It was at the center that the forces of French and
Richardson, skilfully fought by their leaders, broke through the
Confederate lines and, sweeping beyond the sunken road, seized the very citadel of the center.
Meagher's Irish Brigade had fought its way to a crest from which a plunging fire could be poured upon the
Confederates in the sunken road.
Meagher's ammunition was exhausted, and
Caldwell threw his force into the position and continued the terrible combat.
When the
Confederates executed their flanking movement to the left,
Colonel D. R. Cross, of the Fifth New Hampshire, seized a position which exposed
Hill's men to an enfilading fire.
(In the picture
General Caldwell is seen standing to the left of the tree, and
Colonel Cross leans on his sword at the extreme right.
Between them stands
Lieut.-Colonel George W. Scott, of the Sixty-first New York Infantry, while at the left before the tent stands
Captain George W. Bulloch, A. C.S.
General Caldwell's hand rests on the shoulder of
Captain George H. Caldwell; to his left is seated
Lieutenant C. A. Alvord.)
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The harvest of “bloody Lane” |
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