e and filled
the air with bursting shells over our heads. One and another was carried
to the rear, wounded, and the line became very restive. We were required
to lie perfectly quiet. We found this very much more trying than being
at work, and the line began to show symptoms of wavering, when General
Kimball, who with his staff had dismounted and was resting near us,
immediately mounted his horse and, riding up and down the line, shouted:
"Stand firm, trust in God, and do your duty."

It was an exceedingly brave act, and its effect was electric upon the
men. There was no more wavering, and the rebel battery, evidently
thinking they had not found the "supports," soon ceased firing upon us.
It was now near night and the firing very perceptibly slackened in our
vicinity, though a mile or more to the left it still continued very
heavy. This, we afterwards learned, was the work at what has passed into
history as "Burnside's" bridge--the effort of Burnside's corps to
capture the stone bridge over Antietam creek, near the village of
Sharpsburg, and the heights beyond. These were gallantly carried after a
terrific fight quite late in the afternoon.

Our work, so far as this battle was concerned, was done. We rested "on
our arms" where we were for the next forty-eight hours, expecting all
the next day a renewal of the fighting; but nothing was done in our
neighborhood beyond a few shots from the battery we were supporting. On
the second day it became known that Lee had hauled off, and there was no
immediate prospect of further fighting. Our companies were permitted to
gather up their dead, and burying parties were organized.

We were allowed to go over the field freely. It was a gruesome sight.
Our own dead had been cared for, but the rebel dead remained as they had
fallen. In the hot sun the bodies had swollen and turned black. Nearly
all lay with faces up and eyes wide open, presenting a spectacle to make
one shudder. The distended nostrils and thickened lips made them look
like negroes, except for their straight hair. Their limbs and bodies
were so enlarged that their clothing seemed ready to burst. Some ghouls
had been among them, whether from their own lines or from ours, could
not be known, but every man's pockets had been ripped out and the
contents taken.

In company with Captain Archbald I went over the position occupied by
our regiment and brigade, the famous "sunken road,"--that is, the lane
or road extending from