with the men half clad and half barefooted,
Lee was ordered to invade Maryland. It was a political move, undertaken
without the approval of the Commander.

As the gray lines swept Northward to cross the Potomac into Maryland,
Lincoln was jubilant. To Hay, his young secretary, he whispered:

"We've got them now, boy. We've got them! The war must speedily end. Lee
can never get into Maryland with fifty thousand effective men. The river
will be behind them. I'll have McClellan on him with a hundred thousand
well-shod, well-fed, well-armed soldiers and the finest equipment of
artillery that ever thundered into battle.

"McClellan's on his mettle. His army will fight like tigers to show their
faith in him. They were all against me when I removed him. Now they'll
show me something. Mark my words."

Luck was with McClellan. By an accident Lee's plan of campaign had
fallen into his hands. Yet it was too late to forestall his first master
stroke. In the face of a hostile army of twice his numbers Lee divided
his forces, threw Jackson's corps on Harper's Ferry, captured the town,
Arsenal and Rifle Works, twelve thousand five hundred prisoners and vast
stores of war material. Among the booty taken were new blue uniforms
with which Jackson promptly clothed his men.

Lee met McClellan at Antietam and waited for Jackson to arrive from
Harper's Ferry.

When McClellan's artillery opened in the gray dawn, more than sixteen
thousand of Lee's footsore men had fallen along the line of march unable
to reach the battlefield. The Union Commander was massing eighty-seven
thousand men behind his flaming batteries. Lee could count on but
thirty-seven thousand. He gave McClellan battle with his little army
hemmed in on one side by Antietam Creek and on the other by the sweeping
Potomac.

The President in Washington received the news of the positions of the
armies and their chances of success with exultation. As the sun rose
a glowing dull red ball of fire breaking through the smoke of the
artillery, Hooker's division swept into action and drove the first line
of Lee's men into the woods. Here they rallied and began to mow down the
charging masses with deadly aim. For two hours the sullen fight raged in
the woods without yielding an inch on either side. Hooker fell wounded.
He called for aid. Mansfield answered and fell dead as he deployed his
men. Sedgwick's Corps charged and were caught in a trap between two
Confederate brigades conceal