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Flushed with his recent victories, Lee was marching into Maryland, and must be met and checked by the remnants of Pope's army and the Army of the Potomac. It is touching to read of the men's joy and renewed confidence when they knew that "Little Mac" was again in command. The magnetism was like that ascribed to Napoleon. Organizing as he proceeded, he marched into Maryland parallel with Lee, who had advanced as far as Frederick. Lee was disappointed by the coolness of his reception, and on the approach of McClellan fell back to Turner's and Crampton's gaps in the South mountain, where he was defeated and driven from the former by Reno's corps, and from the latter by Franklin on 13 and 14 September McClellan was now to encounter the full force of the enemy on Antietam creek, a small tributary of the Potomac, which it joins about seven miles north of Harper's Ferry.
By the failure of General Miles to fortify Maryland heights, and in spite of the entreaties of McClellan that Harper's Ferry should be abandoned and its garrison added to his army. Jackson captured the post on 13 September and took 11,500 prisoners. He was thus enabled to join forces with Lee at Antietam. On the 16th Lee had only two divisions across the Potomac, but the National army did not come into position till the 17th. McClellan placed Hooker and Mansfield on the right, next came Sumner, with Franklin as a support, Burnside was on the left, and Porter in the centre. Lee had placed his army in the acute angle enclosed by the Potomac and the Antietam on the heights between the two streams, to the right and left of the Boonsboro road, he had posted Long-street and Hill, with Hood on the left. In the centre of the position was the Dunker church, which seemed an objective point for both armies.
Three stone bridges cross the Antietam, and there are also several fords. The bridge on the left was in front of Burnside, the central one in front of Porter, and the right opposite Hooker and Mansfield. McClellan's plan was for Hooker to cross and attack the enemy's left, supported if necessary by Sumner and Franklin, and upon the apparent success of that attack Burnside was to cross the bridge in his front, press the enemy's right, passing if possible to the south and rear of Sharpsburg. At daylight on the morning of the 17th Hooker, followed by Mansfield, having crossed the stream, made so furious an attack upon Hood and Jackson that they were driven back beyond the Dunker church. Re-enforced by D. It. Hill, the Confederates returned the attack, and drove Hooker back in turn. Then Sumner came up, moved forward, was driven back, and again, with Franklin's aid, forced them beyond the Dunker church. Sumner even attempted to move, with a portion of his corps, to the left upon Sharpsburg, but he could only hold his ground. But the movements on the left were less fortunate. Burnside had been ordered at 8 A. M. to take the stone bridge, and aid the general movements by occupying the heights beyond. The approach to the bridge being swept by the guns of the enemy, the order to take it was not obeyed until 1 o'clock, when the Confederates had so strengthened their position beyond it that it was impossible to dislodge them. Thus it happened that the principal fighting was on the right, where Mansfield was killed, and Hooker wounded. The desperate attempts of the enemy to pierce the National line on the right and centre were foiled. In spite of repeated orders, the failure of Burnside's corps to take the lower stone bridge invalidated McClellan's combinations, and to some extent neutralized his success. Had it been carried early in the day, Lee might have been driven pell-mell into the Potomac. As it was, when we consider all the circumstances, the forcing back of the Confederate line, and their inability to make any effect upon the National line, the engagement at Antietam, so often regarded as only a drawn battle, must be looked upon as a decided success. About 13,000 men fell on each side, but McClellan retained the field when the enemy, his plans entirely foiled, sullenly withdrew. As an offset to the disaster of Harper's Ferry, McClellan had, in this brief campaign, taken 13 guns, 39 colors, upward of 15,000 stand of arms, and more than 6,000 prisoners, while he had not lost a gun or a color.
No swift pursuit was attempted, and Lee crossed the Potomac at his leisure on the 19th. McClellan then followed, advancing his army between Longstreet's corps and the main body under Lee, and halted at Warrenton to recruit, while the powers at Washington, withholding all praise for what he and his army had achieved, were scolding him for his delay. He needed supplies of all kinds, and with regard to the arrival of these there has since been a long controversy. He believed that what time was lost in immediate pursuit of the enemy would be more than compensated by the concentration, freshness, equipments, good spirits, and recovered morale of his army. Urgent orders were sent him to move on, and irritating insinuations were hurled upon him. At last an order from the President came on 7 November, relieving McClellan of the command, and conferring it upon General Burnside, who then (as he had before) declared his unfitness for it and his indisposition to accept it. McClellan was directed to await orders at Trenton, New Jersey, and afterward at New York.
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