esume the story of the battle. We were on the march about six
o'clock and moved, as I thought, rather leisurely for upwards of two
miles, crossing Antietam creek, which our men waded nearly waist deep,
emerging, of course, soaked through, our first experience of this kind.
It was a hot morning and, therefore, the only ill effects of this wading
was the discomfort to the men of marching with soaked feet. It was now
quite evident that a great battle was in progress. A deafening
pandemonium of cannonading, with shrieking and bursting shells, filled
the air beyond us, towards which we were marching. An occasional shell
whizzed by or over, reminding us that we were rapidly approaching the
"debatable ground." Soon we began to hear a most ominous sound which we
had never before heard, except in the far distance at South Mountain,
namely, the rattle of musketry. It had none of the deafening bluster of
the cannonading so terrifying to new troops, but to those who had once
experienced its effect, it was infinitely more to be dreaded. The
fatalities by musketry at close quarters, as the two armies fought at
Antietam and all through the Civil War, as compared with those by
artillery, are at least as 100 to 1, probably much more than that.

These volleys of musketry we were approaching sounded in the distance
like the rapid pouring of shot upon a tinpan, or the tearing of heavy
canvas, with slight pauses interspersed with single shots, or desultory
shooting. All this presaged fearful work in store for us, with what
results to each personally the future, measured probably by moments,
would reveal.

How does one feel under such conditions? To tell the truth, I realized
the situation most keenly and felt very uncomfortable. Lest there might
be some undue manifestation of this feeling in my conduct, I said to
myself, this is the duty I undertook to perform for my country, and now
I'll do it, and leave the results with God. My greater fear was not that
I might be killed, but that I might be grievously wounded and left a
victim of suffering on the field.

The nervous strain was plainly visible upon all of us. All moved
doggedly forward in obedience to orders, in absolute silence so far as
talking was concerned. The compressed lip and set teeth showed that
nerve and resolution had been summoned to the discharge of duty. A few
temporarily fell out, unable to endure the nervous strain, which was
simply awful. There were a few others, it mu