Warner, "but as it's so late in the
day I don't think it can be a general attack. Still, I know that our
division is going to cross the Antietam. Up here the stream is narrower
than it is down below, and the banks are not so high. Look, the colonel
is beckoning to us! Here we go!"

They sprang upon their horses, and a great corps advanced toward the
Antietam, far above the town of Sharpsburg. The sun had declined in the
West, and a breeze, bringing a little coolness, had begun to blow. They
did not see much preparation for defense beyond the river, but as
they advanced some cannon in the woods opened there. The Union cannon
replied, and then the brigades in blue moved forward swiftly.

The officers and the cavalry galloped their horses into the little river
and Dick felt a fierce joy as the water was dashed into his face. This
was action, movement, the attack that had been delayed so long but
which was not yet too late. He thought nothing of the shells hissing and
shrieking over his head, and he shouted with the others in exultation as
they passed the fords of the Antietam and set foot on the peninsula. The
cannon dashed after them through the stream and up the bank.

A heavy rifle fire from the woods met them, but the triumphant division
pressed on. They were held back at the edge of the woods by cannon
aiding the rifles, and for some time a battle swayed back and forth,
but the Confederate resistance ceased suddenly. Infantry and batteries
disappeared in woods or beyond a ridge, and then Dick noticed that
night was coming. The sun was already hidden by the lofty slopes of the
western mountains, and there would be no battle that day. In another
half hour full darkness would be upon them.

But Dick felt that something had been achieved. A powerful Union force
was now beyond the Antietam, with its feet rooted firmly in the soil
of the peninsula. It looked directly south at the Confederate army and
there was no barrier between. Lee would have to face at once, Hooker on
the north and McClellan on the east across the Antietam. The Union army
had been numerous enough to outflank him.

Dick was quite sure of success now. They had lost two of the most
precious of all days instead of one, but they had closed the gap on the
north, through which Lee's army might march in an attempt to escape. It
was likely, too, that the last of Jackson's men would come that way and
the Union force would cut them off from Lee. Two entire army